Editor’s Note: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has enacted restrictions on the Humptulips affecting its fisheries, including closure during the 2023-24 winter steelhead season. Watch for updates to regulations prior to fishing.
Originating among the rugged mountains of the Olympic Peninsula, the Humptulips River is one of Washington’s great coastal fishing streams.
Clearly, a big part of the Humptulips River’s greatness comes from the abundance of its salmon and steelhead runs.
Just as importantly, the river is a joy to fish. Fed by the Olympic Peninsula’s ample rainfall, the Humptulips River offers spectacular scenery and almost year-round fishing opportunities.
The Humptulips is a relatively small river, which makes it easier to fish than some Washington waterways.
Compared to a vast watercourse like, say, the Columbia River, the Humptulips River feels more like a secluded neighborhood stream. In most places, a good cast can clear the opposite bank.
Fed by the 20-mile-long East Fork Humptulips River and the 30-mile West Fork Humptulips River, the Humptulips main stem is just 20 miles long, all of it within Grays Harbor County.
The river flows into the north side of Grays Harbor between Hoquiam and Ocean Shores.
Salmon arrive in the river fresh from the ocean every fall. Steelhead follow in winter (and, to a lesser extent, summer) and the river hosts a modest dash of sea-run cutthroat trout as well.
There may be more famous rivers in Washington, but many anglers who would call the Humptulips their favorite, especially during the fall salmon run.
Chinook Salmon
Several species of salmon spawn in the Humptulips River every autumn, and Chinooks—also known as king salmon—are the first to arrive.
A few fall-run Chinook salmon may start trickling into the river as early as August, but the season really gets going in September. Kings will be in the Humptulips through November most years, making this one of the longer king salmon runs in Washington.
Chinook salmon here average 15 to 20 pounds, and there’s always an outside shot at a 40-pounder.
The fishing can be tough early in the season. When the salmon season opens in September (the exact date varies from year to year) the big fall rains are usually still a few weeks away, and the Humptulips is a meager trickle.
Salmon have a hard time getting upriver when water is this low, and navigating in a drift boat is next-to-impossible.
How to Catch Chinook Salmon
The first significant rainstorm of fall usually opens up the river in a big way. But until then, the only real option is drifting roe in deep holes for those first eager salmon that have pushed up in the low water.
There’s a popular hole just above the Ocean Beach Road bridge that draws a crowd on tough September weekends.
The flow of the river, to a large extent, dictates fishing technique. By the time October’s usual rain rolls around and the river is moving along at a good clip, you’ll have a lot more options.
Many anglers continue float fishing and back-bouncing roe, but plugs become a more viable option with higher water. A Kwikfish lure wrapped in a sardine is a tried-and-true Chinook salmon offering that a lot of local guides swear by.
As a general rule, the faster the river is flowing, the more likely Chinook salmon are to be on the move. By October, there’s a good chance you’ll start to see more and more coho and chum salmon mixed in.
Toward the end of the fall run, there’s better fishing farther upstream. The area around the Humptulips Salmon Hatchery, at the mouth of Stevens Creek just west of the community of Humptulips, is a prime late-season spot.
Read the rules carefully as there is limited harvest of wild Chinook salmon but more liberal options to bring home a fin-marked hatchery raised fish.
Coho Salmon
Coho salmon are next in line after the kings.
They typically don’t enter the Humptulips River until the first significant fall rain brings the river up.
You can only keep hatchery-marked coho in the Humptulips, and there are bound to be years when the wild runs are frustratingly good and it’s hard to find a hatchery fish for dinner.
Fishing can be famously hit-or-miss for coho, also commonly called silvers. Some years, there’s a decent run of 5 to 10 pounders with a few even bigger fish mixed in. Other years, a single keeper coho seems hard to come by.
More so, coho can strike with reckless abandon one hour and suddenly develop a strong case of lockjaw the next. Fish them hard when the fall rains come, and you’ll eventually find silver in them thar hills.
Assuming it’s a good year, the coho fishery kicks into gear pretty quickly in October.
As the water rises, these fish make their way upstream, pausing to rest here and there in deep holes and the mouths of feeder creeks but generally going at a pretty good clip compared to Chinook.
Ultimately, coho salmon are in the river during much of the same time as the Chinook. They bite on a lot of the same baits in a lot of the same spots, so it’s fair to expect to catch a mixed bag.
Best Coho Salmon Lures
Generally speaking, coho salmon run smaller and favor slightly smaller lures. If you want to target cohos specifically, maybe tie on a size K14 Kwikfish instead of a K15.
When coho salmon are in the Humptulips River, they’re often willing to strike a wider range of offerings than Chinook salmon. Twitching jigs often work like a charm, and chunky Blue Fox spinners take their fair share of aggressive silvers.
Size #4 and #5 spinners and ½-ounce marabou jigs are about right for coho salmon.
Hot pink is a popular jig color, but have a couple darker patterns handy too, just in case. Some days, an aggressive jigging technique works best; other days jigs fare better when drifted under a float.
The coho run starts winding down around Thanksgiving, but it’s possible to find the occasional straggler in the river past Christmas up until the end-of-year season closure.
Chum Salmon
Chum Salmon, also known as dog salmon, are the last of the Pacific salmon to spawn in the Humptulips River. Most years, as the salmon season heads toward winter and cohos start to slow down, chum salmon fishing is just picking up.
These fish are easily identified by the reddish calico bands that become more pronounced during their spawning run. Males also develop sharp, canine teeth this time of year, giving dog salmon their nickname.
Late October through November is usually the best time to be on the river if you’re looking for chum salmon. A few fish will likely remain in the river as late as January, when the river is closed for salmon but open for steelhead.
Chum salmon often are similar to a bit larger in size to cohos, typically running anywhere from 5 to 10 pounds, but occasionally much bigger. They can be triggered into aggressive reaction strikes while on their spawning run.
Chum salmon are often considered one of the best-fighting salmon, not because they leap across the water like a coho (they don’t), but because they are just incredibly strong. They’ve ruined more than a few reels and snapped plenty of rods.
On the down side, chum salmon are generally not the best eating salmon. While many anglers will name Chinook, coho or sockeye among their favorites on the plate, chum salmon aren’t as tasty to most palates, especially when they are coloring up and nearing the spawn.
Fizzy marabou jigs beneath a float account for a lot of chum salmon catches on the Humptulips River. Sardine-wrapped Kwikfish plugs are also popular, and chum salmon are as likely as any salmon to snap up cured roe baits.
Some anglers will tell you that any salmon lure is great for chum salmon, as long as it’s green. That’s not to say other colors won’t do the job, but definitely don’t show up without some green.
Fly-fishing is an option too. Some anglers catch chum salmon using large streamers in bright, high-visibility colors. Once the winter steelhead run gets going, you have a solid shot at catching both species on similar presentations.
The chum salmon run in the Humptulips river is a little more reliable than the coho run, but these fish are still cyclical, and seasons can be a bit hit-or-miss.
More Salmon Fishing Information
Steelhead Fishing
The winter steelhead run is a big deal on the Washington coast, and the Grays Harbor area in particular receives a lot of attention from steelhead anglers.
The Humptulips River is, in all honesty, not the top local choice for steelhead.
The nearby Wynoochee River is typically the local star for steelhead, and the broader Chehalis River system (especially some key tributaries with hatcheries) host more abundant winter-run steelhead.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a good day on the Humptulips when conditions are right.
In spite of there being “better” steelhead rivers nearby, many angers still favor the Humptulips for its ample shore access and relatively small size, which makes it easy to fish.
Plus, it gets a decent annual planting of hatchery-reared steelhead smolt, which return as burly steelhead you can harvest, unlike their wild cousins.
When to Catch Steelhead
The Humptiulips is also closer to the ocean than the aforementioned rivers, so the steelhead usually make their appearance slightly earlier.
The first fish might start showing up in November, but the months of December and January are the heart of the steelhead season on the Humptulips River.
Most of these are hatchery fish, and decent numbers return to the river every year. The fishing drops off in February, but it’s also common to see a more modest run right up to the seasonal closure at the end of March.
Those later steelhead are increasingly likely to be wild steelhead that are fun to catch but must be released unharmed.
Hatchery operations have planted loads of summer steelhead smolt in the river, but it’s often been the case of late that the summer-run steelhead don’t return in significant numbers.
However, the weather after Memorial Day is far better than in January and catching a fresh summer steelhead is one of the pure joys of Northwest living, so it still might be worth your while to try.
How to Catch Steelhead
A wide range of tactics can work for steelhead on the Humptulips River, but most local anglers favor float fishing, either with live or artificial baits and lures.
Look for a deep hole, and cast about 45 degrees upstream, with just enough space between hook and bobber to keep from snagging.
On the artificial side, jigs and pink plastic worms take their fair of steelhead, but natural baits do tend to fare better most days.
Among the best natural baits, it comes as no surprise that salmon eggs are the top choice. Sand shrimp another option, and even the humble nightcrawler will catch them some days.
Fly fishing is also an option, but to really do it you need to get away from the crowds that gather around the better-known holes most days. Egg flies and streamers can definitely connect with steelhead here.
The Humptulips River gives up quite a few steelhead in the 10-pound class, and there’s always a good chance at a 20-pounder.
More Steelhead Fishing Information
Cutthroat Trout
The Humptulips River welcomes a decent number of sea-run cutthroat trout in the fall. Their arrival more or less coincides with Chinook salmon season, so you have a good shot at catching them from late August through at least the end of September.
Being a quite bit smaller—most cutthroat trout are 12 to 16 inches—these fish are less dependent on rains to bring up the river and allow them upstream.
Cutthroat trout also have a reputation for being indiscriminate predators, especially compared to the often-picky nature of many other trout and salmon species.
That alone makes them popular among coastal anglers, and they also put up a tough fight on light tackle.
Fly anglers catch coastal cutthroats on a wide range of flies that imitate baitfish, insects, shrimp and worms. Look for cutthroats along undercut banks, around current breaks and eddies, and in deep pools.
These fish can also be caught on spinning tackle using small spoons and spinners. Live nightcrawlers and shrimp do the trick as well.
Find more trout fishing tips in our simple guide.
Planning Your Trip
The Humptulips River is not as well-known as some Washington salmon and steelhead rivers closer to Seattle or farther north on the Olympic Peninsula, but any river with good salmon and steelhead fishing in Washington still draws a crowd.
On a weekend during peak salmon season when the river is flowing well, you’d best get there early if you want to be more than just a spectator.
Getting There
The city of Aberdeen is the closest major population center to the Humptulips River. Aberdeen offers a wide range of lodging, shopping and dining options, especially during prime fishing seasons.
From Aberdeen, it’s about a 20-minute drive to the lower Humptulips River via State Route 109.
Ocean Beach Road runs roughly parallel to much of the river’s lowest 10 miles.
You can also follow US Route 101 about 35 minutes north from Aberdeen to reach the town of Humptulips, where the Humptulips Fish Hatchery is located, and there is an abundance of public access.
Figure about an hour to drive west from Olympia to the lower river, and a bit more to get to the holes below the hatchery. Seattle is a bit over two hours away.
Humptulips River Access
For a relatively small river, the Humptulips certainly doesn’t suffer from lack of access.
There are numerous places to launch a boat or cast from shore along the river. Some of the best access sites—listed here in order starting closest to the mouth of the river—include:
- Morley Access Site: About a mile above the mouth of the Humptulips River, the Morley Access site is the lowermost official boat launch on the river. It’s operated by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), and has a concrete ramp and shore fishing access.
- Thorburg Access Site: Known unofficially as the Humptulips Dyke Road Launch among local anglers, the Thorburg Access Site has a concrete boat launch and excellent shore access. The gravel bars at the dike are a great place to catch salmon from shore, especially when the water is low.
- Ocean Beach Road Bridge: There is unofficial bank access here to a deep hole under the bridge, just a short distance upstream from the Thorgurg Access.
- Camp Bethel: Although Camp Bethel itself is privately owned, it’s just across the road from a stretch of open shoreline that is commonly used by bank anglers, and as a put-in/take-out spot for drift boats.
- Reynvaan Bar Access Site: Another WDFW site, Reynvaan Bar is a popular put-in/take-out spot with an ample section of open bank for fishing. There’s a great run here where salmon anglers catch a lot of fish either by drifting toward the top of the run or plunking down at the tail-end.
- Bluff Hole: This deep hole just downstream from the Humptulips Fish Hatchery is one of the most popular spots during salmon season. Bluff Hole is accessible just off Kirkpatrick Road. There is also parking at the hatchery, and a trail that leads down to the river along Stevens Creek.
- Humptulips Highway 101 Access Site: The WDFW’s Highway 101 Access Site is, somewhat confusingly, located at the end of Hansen Road, which dead-ends at the river’s east bank (opposite and just a little upstream from the hatchery). Some anglers simply call it the Hansen Road Access. Regardless, it’s an excellent fishing spot, with a concrete ramp, ample parking and a large exposed gravel bar for bank fishing.
West and East Fork Humptulips River
The West and East Forks of the Humptulips River meet to form the main stem of the river just a few miles above the fish hatchery and the nearby village of Humptulips.
Some salmon and steelhead make it beyond the hatchery and into either of the two forks, but beware that different rules govern the forks.
The West Fork Humptulips River is the better of the two for fishing. A small stream that is well suited to fly fishing, the West Fork is accessible at a couple of spots along Donkey Creek Road. That aside, fishing here generally requires some hiking.
Much of the upper portion of the West Fork Humptulips River is within Olympic National Forest, and the Forest Service maintains a long hiking trail that parallels the river for about 17 miles.
Fishing opportunities are more limited on the East Fork, which flows mostly through commercial forestland, and is better known for whitewater rafting and kayaking.
Find more fishing spots in Grays Harbor County
Washington Resources
WDFW Fishing and Stocking Reports
WDFW Fishing Regulations
National Weather Service forecasts