Flowing from the Cascade Range to the sea at Gold Beach, the Rogue River is one of Oregon’s most storied waterways. It passes through remote canyon country, historic towns, and forested valleys before meeting the Pacific Ocean. Designated a Wild and Scenic River, the Rogue has drawn anglers for generations.

Winter settles into the Oregon Coast Range quietly. Low clouds hang in the trees, water drips off the alders, and the river turns that deep, tea-colored brown that only comes with rain and cold. That’s when winter steelhead start showing on the Siuslaw—fresh fish slipping in on new water, easing into the edges to rest, then pushing upriver again as the river rises or falls. For anglers there’s plenty of water you can cover on foot, as long as you understand how steelhead move and where they like to pause.

A hatchery is a controlled environment for the most vulnerable part of a salmonid’s life. In the wild, huge numbers of eggs and tiny fry don’t survive floods, droughts, silt, predators, warming water, or poor habitat. Hatcheries “front-load” survival by controlling water flow, temperature (as much as possible), disease exposure, and food—so more juveniles live long enough to be released.

The mid-1800s brought European-American settlers to the central Oregon coast. Recognizing the natural harbor of Yaquina Bay, they established Newport officially in 1882. Fishing quickly became a cornerstone of the local economy. Early settlers relied on small wooden boats to harvest salmon, halibut, cod, and shellfish, often launching directly from the sandy beaches or the rudimentary docks that dotted the bay.