The Caddis Fly: Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

The Willamette River and most tributaries will close to chinook fishing this Sunday night. Of the tributaries above Willamette Falls, only the Molalla will remain open for chinook. Below Oregon City, the Clackamas and Sandy rivers shall remain open.

The closure is deemed necessary to allow hatchery managers to harvest 20,000 chinook for future runs. At this time only approximately 5,000 fish have passed the Falls and many of those are native fish returning to the Mckenzie River. Almost 5,000 fin-clipped chinook were already harvested beneath Oregon City before ODFW closed the lower Willamette.–KM