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Elwha River Fishing Report

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

The Olympic Peninsula river freed by the largest dam removal in US history, and closed to fishing inside Olympic National Park in 2026.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Flow
196 cfs
Air / High
54 / 55 F
Wind
ENE 7 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 12045500, 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.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Elwha River feels the season turning: shorter days, grouping fish. The river is running 196 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 7 mph, steady pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 55. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:53 AM-11:53 AM and 10:24 PM-12:24 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Brown troutExcellent

Close to Vermont's 53-66°F optimum, browns feed more freely; in fall, pre-spawn fish move toward tributaries and gravel, so fish streamers and keep off the redds.

SteelheadGood

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.

Smallmouth bassGood

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Tomorrow: Similar at 53 F with a rain chance. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Washington requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $39.95 for residents. What a Washington licence costs and where to buy it →

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

Water and weather

Live readings from Elwha River at McDonald Bridge near Port Angeles.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 12045500.

262384506196 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 113 years of October 23

At 196 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 12045500 (Elwha River at McDonald Bridge near Port Angeles) is below the lowest daily mean on record for the date: much below normal. In half of the 113 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 720 cfs; the highest was 4,990 cfs and the lowest 211 cfs.

p10 348median 720p90 1,930

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 12045500; 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 temp54 F
High / Low55 / 41 F
WindENE 7-10 mph
Pressure1025.5 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain3% cloud, 2%
Sunrise / Sunset07:46 / 18:10
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 Elwha River this week

The best day on Elwha River this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:53 AM-11:53 AM and 10:24 PM-12:24 AM
Minor period
4:19 AM-5:19 AM
Sun
07:46 to 18:10
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 9 mph
Rain chance
2%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Elwha 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.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Brown trout illustration

Brown trout

Spring along Great Lakes shorelines; low light and overcast days in rivers; fall spawning runs

A European trout first stocked in the US in 1883 and now fished in rivers and lakes nationwide; it tolerates warmer water than other trout, and mature stream fish feed mostly at night. Close to Vermont's 53-66°F optimum, browns feed more freely; in fall, pre-spawn fish move toward tributaries and gravel, so fish streamers and keep off the redds.

When to come: the Elwha 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
Smallmouth bass
Brown trout
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 Elwha 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 9 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Brown trout led the card at excellent. High of 61 F, wind to 5 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Brown trout led the card at excellent. High of 59 F, wind to 9 mph.

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

License

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

Regulations

Closed to fishing inside Olympic National Park in 2026 (NPS). Below the park, WDFW's Sport Fishing Rules and emergency changes apply, and a Washington license is required.

Access

Olympic National Park in the upper valley; the lower river near Port Angeles.

About this water

A river flowing from the Olympic Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Clallam County, Washington, freed by the removal of the Elwha (2011-12) and Glines Canyon (2014) dams.

Fishing Elwha River: the full guide

Two dams removed

The Elwha and Glines Canyon dams were built in the early 1900s to power Port Angeles. Congress authorized their removal in the 1992 Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act, and work began on September 17, 2011, the largest dam removal in US history according to the National Park Service. The Elwha Dam was gone six months later and Glines Canyon Dam followed in 2014, leaving the river free from the Olympic Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Why it matters for fish

The Park Service notes that eleven varieties of salmon and trout once spawned in the Elwha and were an important food source for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Removing the dams was meant to restore those native anadromous fisheries, and the park describes the river as a rare chance to study what happens when salmon return to a wild, protected river.

Fishing rules in 2026

Olympic National Park's 2026 fishing regulations list the Elwha River as closed. Below the park boundary, Washington rules apply, so check WDFW's current Sport Fishing Rules and emergency rule changes for the lower river before casting.

The gauge

The USGS gauge on this page, Elwha River at McDonald Bridge near Port Angeles, reports flow on the lower river.

Common questions

Can I fish the Elwha?

Not inside Olympic National Park in 2026, where the park's regulations list the river as closed. Below the park, check WDFW's rules.

When were the dams removed?

Removal began on September 17, 2011; the Elwha Dam was gone six months later, and Glines Canyon Dam came out in 2014.

Why were the dams taken out?

Congress authorized removal in 1992 to restore the river's ecosystem and its native anadromous fisheries.

Is fishing good at Elwha River right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Skagit River61 miHumptulips River63 miLake Washington69 miLake Sammamish77 miWestport87 miSkykomish River87 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 12045500 — Elwha River at McDonald Bridge near Port Angeles
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 48.1000, -123.5500 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.