Clackamas River

GAGE LOCATION

DAY/YEAR
GRAPHS

CURRENT
STAGE/FLOW

WHAT TIME

Fish Creek at Three Linx

7 30 year

- / -

N/A

Clackamas above Three Linx

7 30 year

3.14 / 2540

4 pm

Clackamas at Estacada

7 30 year

13.04 / 3670

1 pm

Clackamas at Oregon City

7 30 year

26.59 / 4760

4 pm

CITY

Portland

NOAA

Accuweather

TWC

You should find a few hatchery steelhead at the beginning of February, with native winter steelhead arriving late in the month. You'll probably do best after the weather warms up and a little (not a lot) of rain falls.

Both traditional tactics and indicator tactics do well here. Use the latter along rocky areas near the bank where the water is two-four feet deep. The plug pullers, side drifters, and drift anglers usually don't fish those spots.

Steelhead Bunnies and Egg Sucking Leeches are good fly choices for traditional tactics, and Egg Flies or small pink/chartreuse flies work well for indicator fishing.

The stretch between the Feldheimer and Barton boat ramps has good fly water, and the Barton-Carver section is also decent. Some anglers like to fish near McIver Park. Below Carver there is less fly-friendly water. Private property limits access to the Clackamas, so it is difficult for fly anglers to fish this river without a boat. Look for river levels of 12-12.5 feet on the Estacada gage.

The Eagle Creek hatchery run should peak in February (there is not much of a native run in this tributary). Eagle Creek clears quickly after a storm, unlike the mainstem Clackamas. You want to be there within 48 hours after a major rainstorm ends; the sooner the better. Use indicator tactics when fishing Eagle Creek. Look for places where the water slows and deepens or moves at moderate speed through a trough or slot.