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Humptulips River Fishing Report

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

The Hump: Grays Harbor's rainforest river, where winter kings and chrome steelhead reward those who learn its moody tides.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~55 F est.
Air / High
53 / 56 F
Wind
SE 2 mph

Sources: 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.

Humptulips River feels the season turning: shorter days, grouping fish. Today brings clear skies, wind SE around 2 mph, steady pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 56. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:54 AM-11:54 AM and 10:26 PM-12:26 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Brown troutExcellent

Close to Vermont's 53-66Β°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 54 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 β†’

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 β†’

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.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp53 F
High / Low56 / 34 F
WindSE 2-3 mph
Pressure1026.4 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 2%
Sunrise / Sunset07:46 / 18:13
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 Humptulips River this week

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

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

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:54 AM-11:54 AM and 10:26 PM-12:26 AM
Minor period
4:21 AM-5:21 AM
Sun
07:46 to 18:13
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 5 mph
Rain chance
2%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Humptulips 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 53-66Β°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 Humptulips 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 Humptulips 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 57 F, wind to 15 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 64 F, wind to 5 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Brown trout led the card at excellent. High of 65 F, wind to 5 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

Washington license + salmon/steelhead cards. Wild steelhead release; king quotas annual: check WDFW emergency rules.

Access

Highway 101 access, Hanging Rock, forks-junction pull-offs; sled launches lower river.

About this water

The Grays Harbor rainforest river, Grays Harbor County, WA. The Hump's winter chrome.

Fishing Humptulips River: the full guide

Rainforest steel

The Humptulips drains the Olympics' western rainforest into Grays Harbor: a mid-sized river of log-jammed pools and gravel tail-outs running the full anadromous calendar: fall kings (the Hump's chinook run big), November-March winter steelhead, and coho stacking the lower river each October.

The winter game

Steelhead season defines it: hatchery fish early (December's brats), wild fish through March (release absolutely): side-drifted eggs and beads from the sleds, float-and-jig from the bank pools, plugs through the timber slots. The river colors fast and clears in two: classic coastal windows between the fronts.

Kings and the fall stack

October-November's chinook enter big-shouldered (fish past 30 pounds annually): back-bounced roe in the deep bends, quotas and rules shifting yearly (check WDFW's emergency page: the Hump's runs get managed tight). Coho fill every slot behind them: twitched jigs in the frog water.

Harbor-country practicalities

Highway 101 crosses the lower river (Humptulips store: the intel hub): accesses ladder the East and West forks' junction down: and the rain is the co-star: 140 inches yearly writes the flows. Aberdeen supplies: the river repays those who watch gauges more than calendars.

Common questions

When is steelhead season on the Humptulips?

December-March: hatchery early, wild through the close (release wild fish untouched). Two days after each front: the green windows are the fishery.

How big do Humptulips kings run?

Thirty-plus-pound fall fish come every year: the Hump punches above its size. October's deep bends with back-bounced roe: check current quotas first.

Is fishing good at Humptulips 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

Westport23 miElwha River63 miCowlitz River80 miLake Washington84 miLake Sammamish92 miRiffe Lake98 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 47.2300, -123.9700 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.
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 guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be 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.