This study provides information on juvenile salmonid behaviors at McNary and The Dalles dams that can be used by the USACE, fisheries resource managers, and others to support decisions on long-term measures to enhance fish passage. We researched smolt movements and ambient hydrodynamic conditions using a new approach combining simultaneous acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) and acoustic imaging device (AID) measurements at surface flow outlets (SFO) at McNary and The Dalles dams on the Columbia River during spring and summer 2007. Because swimming effort vectors could be computed from the simultaneous fish and flow data, fish behavior could be categorized as passive, swimming against the flow (positively rheotactic), and swimming with the flow (negatively rheotactic). We present bivariate relationships to provide insight into fish responses to particular hydraulic variables that engineers might consider during SFO design. The data indicate potential for this empirical approach of simultaneous water/fish measurements to lead to SFO design guidelines in the future.