Klaskanine River Fishing

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The small Klaskanine River, which enters Youngs Bay near Astoria, has fishable runs of winter steelhead and spring and fall salmon.

Winter steelhead often provide the largest catches here, with the fish arriving in good numbers during December. Catches often peak from around Christmas through January, and usually some fish are tagged into February.

Most steelhead are caught on the North Fork, where there is a hatchery.

The Klaskanine is on our list of Best Small Steelhead Fishing Streams in Northwest Oregon.

After steelhead fishing fades, spring Chinook begin appearing in April, often peak in May, and the fishing continues into early summer.

Fall Chinook and coho salmon come next, but note that seasonal closures affect the forks and part of the mainstem during fall salmon migrations.

Fall Chinook are a modest fishery in the Klaskanine, with much many more recreational anglers taking advantage of the Buoy 10 fishery on the lower Columbia River.

But 100 or more are often tagged in the Klaskanine system, with many of them coming from the mainstem tidewater.

Coho also are caught in relatively minor numbers here, especially when compared to the lower Columbia River. The numbers are best in September and October but, again, pay attention to the regulations for open seasons and areas.

Trout fishing is not a huge pursuit here for a population of native cutthroat, with catch and release and no-bait rules applying to upper sections of the forks.

Stream sections that allow fishing with bait have a modest harvest limit, and there is potential for sea-run cutthroat in the tidewater and lower stream sections in the summer and early fall. Read the regulations linked below before fishing.

The North Fork has good bank access at the hatchery deadline and just downstream at Sigfredson County Park, both just upstream from the community of Olney, a short drive southeast from Astoria on Highway 202. From the Portland area, anglers also can take Highway 26 (Sunset Highway) to the Jewell turnoff, and then at Jewell get on Highway 202 (Nehalem Highway) toward Astoria.

The forks are too small for boating, but there is a launch on the mainstem Klaskanine below the forks, or boaters can come up Youngs Bay and into the tidewater sections of the lower river.

Oregon Resources

ODFW Weekly Fishing Report
ODFW Trout Stocking Schedule
Oregon Fishing Regulations
National Weather Service

Find more fishing spots in Clatsop County

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