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Wilson River Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Wilson River: Tillamook State Forest water along Highway 6 with summer and winter steelhead, Chinook and cutthroat, about 70 miles from Portland.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Flow
53 cfs
Air / High
44 / 55 F
Wind
S 4 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 14301500, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

4/5Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Wilson River rewards those who follow the bait as the water cools. The river is running 53 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings a mixed sky, wind S around 4 mph, falling pressure near 1023 hPa and a high of 55. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:54 AM-11:54 AM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

SteelheadExcellent

Main tributary season: fish seams, pool heads and tails and structure with drifted eggs, beads, nymphs or streamers, and plan trips around rising or falling water.

Chinook salmonFair

Runs enter the rivers: drift roe or sand shrimp through travel lanes, plunk a wrapped plug, or float eggs in eddies and tidewater.

Tomorrow: Similar at 56 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Oregon requires a fishing licence from age 12, from $50.00 for residents. What a Oregon licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing steelhead here? Check the size and bag limits with ODFW before you keep anything. The season dates for Oregon, read off the agency, are on the Oregon seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Wilson River near Tillamook.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 14301500.

7010213453 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 96 years of October 23

At 53 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 14301500 (Wilson River near Tillamook) is below the 5th percentile for the date: much below normal. In half of the 96 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 330 cfs; the highest was 8,780 cfs and the lowest 41 cfs.

p10 73median 330p90 2,089

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 14301500; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp44 F
High / Low55 / 43 F
WindS 4-9 mph
Pressure1023.4 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain52% cloud, 3%
Sunrise / Sunset07:42 / 18:16
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Wilson River this week

Today is the pick of the week on Wilson River, at 4 out of 5.

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Good

Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Solunar majors
9:54 AM-11:54 AM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
Minor period
4:20 AM-5:20 AM
Sun
07:42 to 18:16
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 10 mph
Rain chance
3%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Wilson River: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Steelhead illustration

Steelhead

Great Lakes tributaries from fall through spring; West Coast rivers have both summer and winter runs

Steelhead are rainbow trout that migrate to the Pacific or the Great Lakes to grow, then return up rivers to spawn; unlike most Pacific salmon they can survive spawning and spawn again. Main tributary season: fish seams, pool heads and tails and structure with drifted eggs, beads, nymphs or streamers, and plan trips around rising or falling water.

Chinook salmon illustration

Chinook salmon

Seasons follow the runs: spring, summer and fall runs on the West Coast, and late summer into fall in Great Lakes rivers

The largest Pacific salmon, caught by trolling and mooching at sea and by drifting and plunking in rivers as adults return to spawn; also stocked in the Great Lakes. Runs enter the rivers: drift roe or sand shrimp through travel lanes, plunk a wrapped plug, or float eggs in eddies and tidewater.

When to come: the Wilson River calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Steelhead
Chinook salmon
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Wilson River today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Steelhead led the card at excellent. High of 56 F, wind to 16 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 62 F, wind to 11 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 66 F, wind to 8 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Oregon requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Oregon angling license plus a Combined Angling Tag to keep salmon or steelhead. Wild Chinook in the Tillamook basin: one adult per day and five per season from Aug. 1 to Nov. 30, in aggregate with Tillamook Bay and the Miami, Kilchis, Trask and Tillamook rivers (ODFW Northwest Zone report, Sept. 30, 2026). Check ODFW’s Northwest Zone regulations and in-season changes before each trip.

Access

Highway 6 pullouts in the Tillamook State Forest: Fall Creek, Herd Hole, Kansas Creek Bridge, Mills Bridge, Ming Creek, Siskeyville and Zig Zag Creek.

About this water

Tillamook Bay tributary through the Tillamook State Forest, Tillamook County, Oregon. Gauge: USGS 14301500, Wilson River near Tillamook.

Fishing Wilson River: the full guide

The Highway 6 river

ODFW calls the Wilson one of Oregon’s most productive and scenic rivers, about 70 miles from the Portland area. It bisects the Tillamook State Forest on its way to Tillamook Bay, and Highway 6 gives lots of bank access.

Steelhead all year

Summer and winter steelhead are both available through the year. Summer fish begin returning in early April to early June, and ODFW notes that cooler water and fall rains in September and October make them more active in the upper river. Target the deeper holes with a spinner or spoon, or with eggs or shrimp drifted under a bobber; fly fishing for steelhead is popular too.

Salmon and cutthroat

Spring and fall Chinook both run the Wilson, fished with bobber and bait, backbouncing or backtrolling. Resident cutthroat trout are best in spring and fall, and larger sea-run cutthroat arrive in July and August; small spinners, streamers and sometimes dry flies take them.

Access and flows

ODFW names pullouts at Fall Creek, Herd Hole, Kansas Creek Bridge, Mills Bridge, Ming Creek, Siskeyville and Zig Zag Creek, and rates the lower river a good one for beginning drift-boat operators, with few hazards and several possible floats. River levels come from USGS gauge 14301500 near Tillamook and the NOAA forecast hydrograph.

Common questions

When are steelhead in the Wilson?

Summer and winter fish are present through the year; summer fish start returning in early April to early June, and September-October rains stir them in the upper river.

Can I fish it without a boat?

Yes. ODFW notes plenty of public bank access off Highway 6, with named pullouts from Siskeyville up to Zig Zag Creek.

What are the wild Chinook limits?

One adult a day and five a season from Aug. 1 to Nov. 30, counted across Tillamook Bay and the basin’s rivers, per ODFW’s current report.

Is fishing good at Wilson River right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Nearby waters

Trask River6 miNestucca River13 miSiletz River52 miWillamette River56 miLewis River59 miKalama River66 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 14301500 — Wilson River near Tillamook
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 13:30 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 45.4790, -123.8900 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.