January 2026 Reports
There’s a nice couple of days warm-up underway today and tomorrow with high temps forecast around 40 and it looks like some anglers are targeting this nice weather window. Chance of some rain showers through tonight or tomorrow, but no significant accumulation is expected. Previous rain from a couple of days ago likewise did not amount to all that much, so for now all the waterways are slowly on the drop.
There’s a quick cool down expected after falling temps tomorrow, and then it looks seasonably cold through the upcoming weekend with the chance for some LES for a few inches on NW winds. Although right now it looks like all tribs are open with fishable conditions, another cold snap could ice back up the smaller waterways.
Flows in the Oak are slightly high and look like one click or so less than the turbines being maxed out. Flows consist of all turbine flows with about 2 ft of stained viz. Conditions look real nice by winter time standards and fresh steelhead could show at any time. There’s still a decent amount of guys spread through the stream course, with prob a few more guys at and nearer the dam. A few anglers report the hook-ups are coming a little slower than when the first bit of fresh fish (and uneducated) showed up not too long ago.
There are dead drift float guys using beads and jigs and sacks. There are fly guys dead drifting egg patterns and nymphs and some are swinging or retrieving streamers too. Nearly every day, we hear of some angler hooking up on a hard-fighting big chrome fish, even if they don’t land it! Those are the kind of steelhead that bring us out this time of the year! The other area, smaller tribs look to be offering up a fishable window right now without any serious icing conditions.
There may still be some lower river ice or jams, but upstream fast water areas are open under med to slightly high and stained flows. Look for 1 – 2 ft of viz and the chance for some fresh steelhead or browns redistributed.
Judging by the amount of cars at the Oak, it doesn’t seem like that many anglers have spread back out to those smaller tribs. Some conscientious anglers have remarked that the litter and trash and debris along the waterways, especially at the Waterport dam, is disappointing. On these private property fishing parcels, like on the power company property, we would all do ourselves a favor to preserve the fishing privileges by picking up after ourselves. Let's keep it neat and clean and carry trash out so we can all enjoy future access for fishing!
The weather is somewhat up and down so far for this beginning part of the new year. There’s been some colder days with snow and then following there’s been some warmer days. Long-range forecasts through this month of January are so far pointing to more of the same up-and-down weather.
In the near term, there is a warmup forecast with above-freezing temperatures for the rest of this week that may last into the start of the upcoming weekend. Chance of rain or showers for a couple of days this week, with the possibility of 0.25 – 0.50 inches of rain through tonight and tomorrow.
Flows in the Oak are somewhere between mod and med and just slightly stained or going on the clear. Look for flows to likely not drop much more in the near term, thanks to the forecast. There is a better chance that flows could be on the rise at some point this week, thanks to rain or warm temps or snowmelt.
The steelhead action by winter time standards has been good, although the earlier fresher run fish are now prob a little more educated and nosed further upstream nearer the dam. The lowering and clearing flows can make for spookier fish, but generally, the flows have still been high enough for productive drifts in most of the traditional river spots. Jigs and flies and bait like worms, wax worms, and egg sacks have been producing.
The other area, smaller tribs east and west, have low to mod flows that are mostly iced in or running slushy. After this week's forecasted warmup, we’ll have to wait and see if any of those waterway flows will come up enough to open up better fishable conditions. The nice little bit of recent early Jan steelhead action sure is encouraging for later winter, spring action in the more typical Feb, Mar, Apr timeframe!
