I have started to explore fishing the Willamette via a small boat with no engine or depth finder, and could use some help. I may open a new thread but so far these ...more are my findings.

Anyone I have talked to about sturgeon in the area between Harrisburg and Corvallis attest to seeing many while floating during the spring-fall time period. There are several reports of friends catching them, however, no one ever seems to have caught one themselves.

I have managed one float so far from Irish bend county park to Peoria Park (Float time 4 Hours without a motor).

Irish Bend County Park
Monroe, OR 97456
to
Peoria County Park
Corvallis, OR 97333


Using a rod and 3 ounce weight I have only managed to find one deep hole (40+ ft) and several trench-like areas (20-35ft deep).

Deep hole:
About 1 mile upriver of Peoria Park. There is a large bird house and some sort of constructed tree/riverside (mainly made up of branches and pallets) right above it. The water whirlpools right where it's at.
Lat: 44°26'2.99"N
Long: 123°12'54.17"W

Trench like areas:
While the confluence of the Long Tom seems to come up a lot in this discussion when I floated by it didn't seem that deep maybe 20-30ft at the upriver end of it. However, I did see several bald eagles on the beach eating a chinook (cool sight to watch). So maybe there are some fish up through there.
25023 Ingram Island E Pl
Halsey, OR 97348 ‎ 0.2 mi S

There were two other areas along this float, one was marked by an iron constructed retaining wall, the other was a sharp curve that turned into a deeper trench with a beach on the opposite side. However, these I didn't manage to map on the GPS or find clear land markers.