The Clackamas is the Sandy's quieter sibling on the south side of Portland — another metro steelhead river with winter and summer runs, salmon in season, and the useful bonus of a hard run-strength number, because adult fish are counted at River Mill Dam as they pass PGE's hydro projects. That count is the closest thing a steelheader gets to certainty: pair the trend at River Mill with the flow and the clarity and you have a genuinely informed read on whether it's worth the drive. The river itself is part-managed by the upstream dams, so it runs a touch steadier than a wild freestone, and it takes a hatchery-and-wild mix of fish that keeps the rules complicated and the wild-fish handling important — Lower Columbia steelhead are ESA-listed. Swing flies through the classic runs on the steady drop after a bump, keep the hatchery and wild fish straight, and use the dam count the way it's meant to be used.
- Volcanic
