On Oregon’s N .Central Coast the most impressive Winter Steelhead run starts to show up in the month of December as the Salmon runs start to die off. These anadonomous fish will enter the rivers in search of a mate to procreate .These fish will hold in the rivers until they have found there partners and have done there procreation business and then at that time they will either head back down stream to the ocean or they will die and add there bodies back into the system were it will give other sub species nourishment and so ,goes the cycle of life .These magnificent fish will make this trip 4 times before this cycle takes there life.

The winter runs of steelhead will last through March and some times on into the middle part of April, The runs of Native stock fish & the runs of broodstock fish seem to be mixed throughout the season with the peak of the run’s showing mid January through the later part of March.

These magnificent fish tend to weigh from 6lbs. to 20lbs and are quite a blast to catch on light tackle.

The Summer steelhead start to show up around the month of May and the run usually will continue through August.These fish are on an average smaller than the winter fish but just as strong and beautiful.The angling of these fish is done early in the morning & evening due to the fact that during the middle part of the day is usually to warm & sunny and the fish tend to become really finiky.as specially as we get further into the summer months ,These fish tend to weigh in at 4-8lbs. with the occasional fish in the10-12lb.class.

The techniques I use to target these fish are side drifting bait clusters, bobber fishing marabou jigs, and back trolling plugs.