The reports I've gathered about current salmon and steelhead fishing on the South Santiam River out of Sweet Home, Oregon, have been anything but stellar. Still, last Thursday, I decided to check it out first hand. The reports proved correct especially after talking with lots more local fishermen, I really heard nothing particularly good. We did a very short drift from Pleasant Valley Bridge down 2 miles to a private take-out. We fished hard for a cumulative 4 hours and landed 1 nice springer back-bouncing roe which weighed about 17 lbs and connected with a steelhead that grabbed a hot shot, took about 15 yards of line, and then waved bye bye. The South Santiam river level has really ping-ponged around all Spring. Today's reading at Waterloo shows 1300 cfs. At this flow, the salmon are no longer scattered throughout the runs and flats, but really concentrated in and limited to the fewer deep pools on any given stretch. The locals favor fishing bait under a float in the various deeper holes and back eddies at this level. Back-bouncing baits will also produce grabs.