Conditions described here were accurate only as of the date shown and may have changed. This is not a substitute for current official information from the agency with jurisdiction. See the full notice. Full notice.
Lower Eagle Creek Closed to Angling to Protect Coho
Oregon has shut the lowest reach of the Clackamas tributary for the third fall running. Its own pages disagree on when it reopens.
Angling is closed on the lowest reach of Eagle Creek in Oregon's Clackamas basin, from the mouth upstream to the SE Dowty Road Bridge, as of October 2. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife closes this stretch when low water traps coho salmon in the lower creek, where they are easy targets for snagging.
The department's own pages give two end dates. Its formal regulation updates page lists the closure as effective October 2 through October 31. Its Willamette Zone fishing report says October 2 through December 31, and local reporting carries the December date. Until the department settles it, assume the creek stays closed past October 31 and check the regulation updates page before fishing it in November.
This is the third fall in a row for the closure. In 2024 and 2025 the department closed the same reach from September 27 through October 31 for the same reason: early rain drew coho out of the Clackamas into Eagle Creek, flows dropped, and the fish stayed bunched up. Both years it cited illegal snagging that drew daily calls to Oregon State Police and many citations. Coho here are listed as threatened under both state and federal endangered species law.
The Clackamas River itself is not affected. Poaching can be reported to the Turn In Poachers line at 800-452-7888, or *OSP from a mobile phone.
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