March 2026 Reports

We are on the tail end of a couple of days of cold temps with the forecast ahead calling for warmer and wetter weather at least through the weekend and beginning part of next week. Temps are expected to be the warmest yet of the season, and notable will be the nighttime temps, likely to stay above freezing. There is a chance for off and on precipitation also for the end of the week of +/- 0.50 inches. This forecast is likely to raise all the trib flows up, opening them up from the winter-time ice through the end of this week or the weekend. Flows may go higher, blown and dirty, depending upon the rate of run-off of the remaining snowpack and rain received. Overflow levels in the Oak could be on the rise. 

For now flows in the Oak are slightly high, consisting of a good head of turbine water with about 2 – 3 ft of viz. Flows are real nice for migrations and good drifting and swinging chances up and down the waterway. Fishing pressure has been about mod and may pick up with warmer temps forecast. With higher flows, the waterways can take on more angling pressure (even still, which will not approach fall-time fishing pressure). 

Steelhead action for fly, float and spin anglers able to get a drift or swing down and slowed in these higher flows has been good. There are some hard-fighting fresh fish with an occasional 30+ inch fish encountered. Not all the big ones or even the “smaller” hard battlers are landed! 

The other area smaller waterways are for now at about med and slightly stained flows with icing conditions in some spots. Look for those waterways to shortly be on the rise with more stained water color. Ice and debris could be moving out of all the waterways, and fresh steelhead could be moving upstream. We’d expect the forecasted warm-up to be the event that moves the trib action into a springtime mode where steelhead are sooner or later moving toward spawning activity as the days turn longer and water temps rise.