Currently flows are at 2,800 cfs at Waterloo. Fishing is generally best when flows are below 3,000 cfs. This basin was mostly untouched by wildfires and is safe to explore.

About 5,500 summer steelhead crossed Willamette Falls on their way to the upper basin and 788 of these have made it to the fish ladder below Foster Dam.  Fishing for smallmouth bass can be very good below Lebanon.

The entire river is now closed to trout harvest until May 22. But catch-and-release of large trout on light gear can be fun in its own right and there are plenty of them in this river.