Welcome Erik! I used to travel to Eau Claire/Chippewa Falls on business now and then in the '90s, usually the middle of winter, never got to fish but had plenty of good beer in Wisconsin.
I think you are going to find lots of places to fish trout (and steelhead, more on that later) year round and even more between May22 and Oct31.
First OFF, Oregon regs are like onions and Ogres, they have layers- Statewide, Zone, and Exceptions. Each layer 'over rules' the previous layer.
Statewide regs give you all sorts of rules for gear and methods and such, important to read through all of them and ask questions.
Let's use Quartzville creek (flows into Green Peter reservoir) in the Willamette zone as an example. Willamette Zone regs tell us that trout in streams are C&R only, open May22-Oct31, artificial lure only, rainbow over 20" considered steelhead, plus a few more things...UNLESS NOTED IN EXCEPTIONS. So any stream in the Willamette zone not listed in Exceptions follows all these rules. In Exceptions, Quartzille creek is listed!
Quartzville Creek
- Open all year.
- 5 trout per day, 8 inch minimum length.
- Use of bait allowed.
So those 3 items, and only those, from the zone rules are changed for Quartzville creek.
One more thing, if you don't see anything in Exceptions for a smaller stream/creek, make sure and check the larger river that it flows into, sometime there will be a "all tributaries not listed in Exceptions closed to fishing" notation.
Now, have you considered also fishing for steelhead? Let's use the Santiam River (Mainstem) as an example, under Exceptions here is what is modified from the Zone regs-
Santiam River (Mainstem)
- Open for hatchery trout May 22 – Oct 31, 5 hatchery trout per day, no minimum length.
- Open all year for hatchery steelhead and coho salmon.
- Open for wild steelhead Jul 1 - Aug 31.
- Open for hatchery Chinook salmon Jan 1 - Aug 31 and Oct 15 - Dec 31.
- Use of bait allowed Apr 22 - Oct 31.
You will see that it is open for hatchery steelhead all year and a steelhead is just a rainbow trout that has gone to the ocean and returned but for consistency, ANY rainbow trout over 20" is defined and treated as a steelhead. (rainbow under 20"- trout, over 20" steelhead, in coastal zones it's 16"). And how do we fish for steelhead? Very similar to trout- spoons, spinners, beads, jigs, plastic worms, and when allowed, eggs. Believe me, I have lots of experience releasing trout while steelhead fishing. lol
I'm not in any way suggesting this is a way to get around the regulations but rather that the activity of stream fishing for trout and steelhead is almost the same thing, with steelhead, in my opinion, being giant p*ssed OFF rainbow trout that visited the ocean and have returned to torment us. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That said, there is a really important licensing item you cannot overlook-
- All anglers (regardless of age) need a valid Combined Angling Tag in possession to angle for salmon, steelhead, sturgeon and halibut.
Whether or not you have any intention of retaining a steelhead, if you are fishing a stream open for steelhead but not for trout, must have that combined tag.
Summary- Oregon regs have layers but aren't that bad once you get familiar with the format and steelhead are just big trout, mean nasty money eating trout. cheers, roger
