Deschutes River fish migration
The Deschutes River is home to migrating salmon and steelhead virtually year-round. The chart below shows typical migration patterns and the months when runs peak – the best time to schedule a fishing trip on the Deschutes. For up-to-date numbers, see Daily Fish Counts.
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Summer steelhead
The Deschutes supports a healthy population of summer steelhead. Adults return after either one or two years in the ocean from July through October. Deschutes steelhead hold through the summer and fall in the main river where they provide abundant angling opportunity. Peak upstream movement over Sherars Falls (about 10 miles below Maupin) normally occurs in September. Peak counts at the Pelton fish trap normally occur in December and January. The hatchery program for summer steelhead has been very successful.
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Also see our historical chart of summer steelhead runs from 1957.
Spring chinook
Spring chinook salmon enter the Deschutes River in April and May, ascending rapidly into upstream areas of the Warm Springs River and into the Pelton fish trap at the regulating dam. The run peaks at Sherars Falls during the first part of May and in early June at the Pelton fish trap. Approximately 30 percent of the run is caught in a concentrated fishery at Sherars Falls. In addition to an intensive sport fishery, Native Americans from the Warm Springs Reservation fish with traditional dip nets at Sherars Falls.
Spring chinook originally spawned in both the upper Warm Springs and upper Metolius Rivers. With the failure of downstream migration from Lake Billy Chinook, the portion of the run produced in the Metolius River was transferred into the hatchery. Beginning in the late 1970s, changes were made in the original rearing program that has resulted in record runs in recent years.
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See our historical chart of spring chinook runs from 1957.
Fall chinook
A run of wild fall chinook salmon spawns in the main stream between the Pelton Regulating Dam and the Columbia River. Early-bright adults pass Sherars Falls as early as the Fourth of July, with most of the sport catch occurring in August and September. Fall chinook caught in the Pelton fish trap are returned to the lower Deschutes River to spawn in the wild.
Restoring runs on the upper Deschutes
Historically, both summer steelhead and spring chinook salmon migrated to their spawning grounds in the Deschutes, Metolius and Crooked Rivers above the project. Although Pelton Round Butte was constructed with fish-passage facilities, the downstream system failed because juvenile salmon and steelhead were unable to find a fish passage outlet at the dam due to the swirling currents of Lake Billy Chinook.
In 2004, as part of the federal relicensing process, a historic agreement was reached, paving the way for salmon and steelhead to again migrate past Pelton Round Butte’s three dams for the first time since 1968.
To restore downstream migration of smolts, PGE will construct a $108 million underwater tower in Lake Billy Chinook that will draw in surface water. Smolts will be screened at the intake and trucked downstream. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2009, with the first adults returning in 2010 or 2011. Learn more in our section on Restoring Runs Above Pelton.
Columbia River fish counts
See these links for information on salmon and steelhead passage on the Columbia River.
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