The Sandy River falls 6,000 feet in 55 miles. The headwaters get more than 100 inches of rainfall every year.

For these reasons, water flows remain constant only for very short periods.
This river doesn’t just flow downhill, it literally pulses though its
channel. There is a daily pulse, inside the weekly pulse, which coordinates
with an annual pulse of water flow, which is determined by the Earth/Sun
cycle and the resulting seasonal temperature and the precipitation cycle.
The fish follow these rhythms. As a matter of fact they are genetically selected
by, and adapted to survive within these cycles. Their individual lives and racial
histories are determined by hundreds or thousands of pulses within these
natural cycles.

Mother Nature can be the cruelest of all mistresses. A fish egg buried in the
gravel at the wrong time of year, or in the wrong place, may be frozen solid or
ground to bits by rolling down this river in a catastrophic flood. That is why
there are not only different races of steelhead, but also different races of
salmon as well.

Each is adapted to fill a different niche. Starting with the Winter Solstice, first
comes the winter steelhead, then summer steelhead mixed with spring
Chinooks, then Cohos mixed with fall Chinooks.

Each specie and sub-specie is adapted to a particular water flow and
temperature. And so the beat goes on for thousands, nay for millions of
years.

Early November is Indian Summer in the Sandy River canyon. Days are mid-
50s and nights are in the 40s. The first light rains of the fall season raise river

levels. A few summer steelhead and a few winter steelhead are available. The
first wild winter steelhead are some of the most aggressive biters of the year.
November can be a most interesting month as the angler may catch
steelhead that have been in fresh water for six months or six days. Their form
and color will vary greatly. Most are two salt fish from seven to 12 pounds.
The winter run peaks during the last two weeks in January through the first
two weeks in March.

Winter steelhead are normally available in fishable numbers through April and
occasional stragglers are caught as late as June.

Through the peak of the season water temperatures in the lower river can
vary from 44 degrees to 35 degrees with 38-40 degrees average. By late April
water temperatures average around 50 degrees.