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Home › Waters › Oregon › McKenzie River
River · Willamette Valley · Oregon

McKenzie River Fishing Guides

The river the McKenzie drift boat was invented for, running clear and cold out of the Cascades past Blue River and Vida to Eugene, with wild redside rainbows the whole way.

Moss-hung trees leaning over a fast river in the Pacific Northwest

Map of the McKenzie River

42 numbered points: 16 access points, 8 campsites, 11 parks and conservation areas, 1 agency office, 5 hazards, 1 USGS gauge. Tap a marker for details. Reviewed Sep 8, 2026.

Printable version →
  • Access / boat ramp (16)
  • Campsite (8)
  • Park / conservation area (11)
  • Agency / conservation office (1)
  • Dam / hazard (5)
  • USGS gauge (1)
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Points are curated from OpenStreetMap and state agency sources; confirm access and hours before you go.

Print it. Bag it. Bring it.Phones die, screens crack, and most of this water has no signal. Print this map, fold it into a zip-top bag or dry bag with your license, and you have a backup your electronics can’t give you. Every marker is numbered so you can say exactly where you are.

Open the printable map
All 42 points on this map
#PointTypeLat, LonNotes
1Sahalie Falls
Willamette National Forest		Dam / hazard44.34913, -121.99720Upper McKenzie waterfall; not runnable, a scenic stop on the McKenzie River Trail.
2Koosah Falls
Willamette National Forest		Dam / hazard44.34461, -122.00058Second of the upper McKenzie falls, just below Sahalie.
3Ice Cap Creek Campground
Willamette National Forest		Campsite44.34166, -122.00086
4Tamolitch Falls
Willamette National Forest		Dam / hazard44.31227, -122.02629Dry falls above the Blue Pool; the river runs underground through the lava above it.
5Trail Bridge Dam
EWEB hydroelectric project		Dam / hazard44.27324, -122.04912The upper dam; the classic drift water starts below it.
6Olallie Campground
Willamette National Forest		Campsite44.25759, -122.04026
7Frissell Boat Launch
Willamette National Forest		Access / boat ramp44.20509, -122.03995Uppermost boat launch on the drift reach.
8Belknap Hot Springs tent sites
Private resort campground		Campsite44.19246, -122.04715
9Paradise Campground
Willamette National Forest		Campsite44.18590, -122.09193Riverside forest campground above McKenzie Bridge.
10Jeannie B. Harris Wayside
Lane County		Park / conservation area44.17476, -122.15552
11McKenzie Bridge Campground
Willamette National Forest		Campsite44.17571, -122.17413
12Patio RV Park
Private campground, McKenzie Bridge		Campsite44.17486, -122.19155
13Holiday Farm RV Resort
Private campground, Blue River		Campsite44.17023, -122.23688
14Bruckart Boat Launch
Lane County		Access / boat ramp44.16385, -122.26042
15Delta Campground
Willamette National Forest		Campsite44.16359, -122.28041
16Hamlin Park
Lane County		Park / conservation area44.16433, -122.29075
17Blue River Community Park
Blue River		Park / conservation area44.15732, -122.33411
18Forest Glen Landing
Lane County		Access / boat ramp44.15262, -122.34061Drift-boat landing; the county park of the same name is the adjacent day-use ground.
19Quartz Creek Picnic Area
Lane County		Park / conservation area44.12346, -122.38034
20Finn Rock Park
Lane County		Access / boat ramp44.12882, -122.38068The Finn Rock river access, a standard drift-boat put-in and take-out.
21Howard J. Morton Park
Lane County		Park / conservation area44.12580, -122.38341
22Clover Park
Lane County		Park / conservation area44.11327, -122.42222
23Eagle Rock Park
Lane County		Park / conservation area44.10884, -122.42669
24Silver Creek Landing
Lane County		Access / boat ramp44.11635, -122.44227
25Rennie's Landing
Lane County		Access / boat ramp44.12444, -122.46822Long-standing McKenzie drift landing.
26USGS 14162500 - McKenzie River near Vida
USGS streamgage		USGS gauge44.12485, -122.47062The flow reference for the drift reach; read it before you launch.
27Marten Rapids Park
Lane County		Park / conservation area44.12614, -122.52885Beside Marten Rapids, the best-known rapid on the drift reach.
28Hatch Landing
Lane County		Access / boat ramp44.12802, -122.53441
29Helfrich Landing County Park
Lane County		Access / boat ramp44.12624, -122.53729Named for the McKenzie river-guide family.
30EWEB Boat Ramp
Eugene Water & Electric Board		Access / boat ramp44.14490, -122.58984
31Leaburg Fish Hatchery
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife		Agency / conservation office44.13570, -122.60951
32Old McKenzie Fish Hatchery County Park
Lane County		Park / conservation area44.14179, -122.60979
33Leaburg Dam
EWEB diversion dam		Dam / hazard44.13763, -122.61198Mandatory take-out above the dam; the canal draws water off river-left.
34Greenwood Landing County Park
Lane County		Access / boat ramp44.12073, -122.63225
35Leaburg Landing County Park
Lane County		Access / boat ramp44.10327, -122.68225
36Deerhorn County Park
Lane County		Park / conservation area44.09023, -122.71422
37Emmrich Landing County Park
Lane County		Access / boat ramp44.07068, -122.77174
38Hendricks Bridge County Park
Lane County		Park / conservation area44.05593, -122.82594Day-use park and river access at the OR 126 bridge.
39Bellinger Boat Launch
Lane County		Access / boat ramp44.06995, -122.90677At Bellinger Landing County Park.
40Rodakowski Landing
Lane County		Access / boat ramp44.07863, -122.99911
41Harvest Landing
Lane County		Access / boat ramp44.07737, -123.00684
42Deadmond Ferry River Access
City of Springfield		Access / boat ramp44.09069, -123.02451Lowest access on this sheet, at the Springfield end of the river.

Guides on the McKenzie River

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the McKenzie River

The McKenzie gave its name to the drift boat, and floating it explains why. The river runs west out of the Cascades through basalt and old-growth Douglas fir, cold and green and fast, in a continuous series of riffles, ledges and boulder gardens that a rowed boat handles and a motor never could. It is one of the most beautiful trout floats in the West and one of the easiest to reach, with Eugene less than an hour from most of the good water.

Wild McKenzie redside rainbows are the target and they are genuinely wild fish, protected by wild-fish regulations on much of the river. They hold in fast pocket water, eat dry flies willingly through the summer, and fight above their size in that current. Cutthroat mix in, bull trout live in the upper river and are protected, and summer steelhead and chinook use the system as well. Guided days are float days almost without exception, usually from Paradise or Olallie down through the Blue River and Vida reaches.

Flows at Vida are managed by releases from Cougar and Blue River reservoirs on top of a strong natural base from the Clear Lake springs. Something in the 1,200 to 3,000 cfs range is comfortable working water for most guides. Higher winter and spring flows make the ledges pushy and the takeouts busy; late-summer lows are clear, technical and best fished early. Cold spring-fed water keeps the river fishable through August heat.

Eugene, Springfield, Leaburg and McKenzie Bridge cover lodging and shops along Highway 126. The upper river above Trail Bridge and the Clear Lake headwaters are worth a scenic day even if you never make a cast.

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Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

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2. What you confirm

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5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Fished this water? Add a photo

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Posting to McKenzie River.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Flow alert

Tell me when the McKenzie River cfs

Now: 1,690 cfs, read 2:45 am CDT, Mon Oct 19, 2026 (USGS 14162500, MCKENZIE RIVER NEAR VIDA, OR).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Olallie and Paradise Campgrounds: upper river launches near McKenzie Bridge.
Finn Rock Landing: the standard upper-middle put-in.
Blue River and Rennie Landing: mid-river ramps in the Blue River reach.
Helfrich Landing and Bruckart Landing: popular float segments above Vida.
Leaburg Dam and Greenwood Landing: access around the gauge reach near Vida.
Hendricks Bridge and Hayden Bridge: lower river ramps toward Springfield.
Several reaches are wild-fish only; check current regulations before keeping anything.

Seasons

Year-round on the lower river; the upper river opens in late spring.
April and May: high water, salmonflies on the upper river in late May and June.
June through September: the main dry fly season, caddis and green drakes, warm days and cold water.
October and November: fall colors, blue-winged olives and few boats; winter steelhead fishing is a separate pursuit.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the McKenzie River?

As of Oct 19, 2:45 am, the USGS gauge MCKENZIE RIVER NEAR VIDA, OR reads 1,690 cfs, the 23rd percentile for this date, with water temperature 51.4 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the McKenzie River?

Anglers target Bull Trout, Chinook Salmon, Cutthroat Trout, Rainbow Trout, Steelhead on the McKenzie River in Oregon.

Are there fishing guides on the McKenzie River?

GuidedFloats lists 4 guides and outfitters on the McKenzie River. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the McKenzie River?

Olallie and Paradise Campgrounds: upper river launches near McKenzie Bridge. Finn Rock Landing: the standard upper-middle put-in. Blue River and Rennie Landing: mid-river ramps in the Blue River reach. Helfrich Landing and Bruckart Landing: popular float segments above Vida. Leaburg Dam and Greenwood Landing: access around the gauge reach near Vida. Hendricks Bridge and Hayden Bridge: lower river ramps toward Springfield. Several reaches are wild-fish only; check current regulations before keeping anything.

When is the best time to fish the McKenzie River?

Year-round on the lower river; the upper river opens in late spring. April and May: high water, salmonflies on the upper river in late May and June. June through September: the main dry fly season, caddis and green drakes, warm days and cold water. October and November: fall colors, blue-winged olives and few boats; winter steelhead fishing is a separate pursuit.

Where are the fishing regulations for the McKenzie River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Oregon agency site: https://myodfw.com/fishing/regulations