Troutline

Hoh River

Washington·Olympic Peninsula·47.81° N, 124.15° W
Flow
802 CFS
Hoh River at US Highway 101 near Forks
Water Temp
—
Condition
Well Below Normal
Weather
56°F
Partly Sunny
near Forks

Insights

Wind
Wind 3 mph — calm
Easy casting and clean surface presentations.
Sky
Overcast skies
Subsurface streamers and nymphs are favored.
Flow
Low flows at 802 CFS
Fish are spooky. Lighten tippet and lengthen leaders.

Two things will define most of your trips to the Hoh, so lead with them: it blows out, and it closes. This is a glacier-fed rainforest river draining the flanks of Mount Olympus, and being glacial it runs off-color through warm summer melt and after every serious rain — one of the fastest coastal rivers to muddy up and one of the slowest to clear. A single atmospheric river can push it from fishable to chocolate in hours. And it's managed on a knife's edge: Olympic Peninsula wild steelhead have been in long-term decline since around 1980, the Hoh has missed escapement most of the last fifteen years, and since December 2020 the coast has fished under conservation rules with frequent mid-season emergency closures. Check the WDFW emergency-rule page before every single trip — a spring-Chinook or low-run closure can land with little notice.

When it's on, though, this is as good as coastal steelheading gets. The Hoh is a winter steelhead river first and foremost, one of the last places in the Lower 48 where you can swing a fly for wild fish that average 10-12 pounds and top 20 every season. The tell is the color: glacial flour gives the water a milky jade cast, and when it drops into the 'emerald green' window — roughly under 2,500 CFS at the Highway 101 gauge, with two to four feet of visibility — that's the sweet spot for the swung fly. Above 3,000-4,000 CFS you're nymphing beads and eggs through soft edges or waiting it out. The prime time is late February into March, when wild fish peak and the biggest come through; December and January bring hatchery fish plus early wild fish inside the retention window.

Most of the game is a drift-boat float — Morgan's Crossing down to Oxbow is the classic ~8.5-mile day, fished thoroughly. But note the rules: under current coastal regulations you generally cannot fish from the boat, only anchor and wade, so the broad gravel bars are the water you actually cover. Access is genuinely good — the corridor is mostly state DNR, National Forest, conservation, and Park land, with free year-round campgrounds at Minnie Peterson, Oxbow, and Cottonwood. The upper river inside Olympic National Park runs on Park rules (no state license but a catch-record card is still required, and a fly-only reach is closed through about June 1 for spawning). Beyond winter steelhead there's a summer sea-run cutthroat option and a fall salmon fishery, but the coastal rules — single barbless, no bait, no fishing from a floating device, wild release — apply throughout.

Species

  • Winter Steelhead
    Primary (wild) · Dec-Apr (peak Feb-Mar) · 8-20+ lb (avg 10-12)

    The marquee fishery and one of the last wild winter-steelhead runs in the Lower 48. Wild fish build through January and peak late February into March, when the biggest fish come through. Wild (unclipped) steelhead must be released — no wild retention under coastal rules. An adipose-clipped hatchery component runs early, front-loaded December into January, with a 2/day retention limit on clipped fish. Swing Hoh Bo Speys and Intruders in the clear emerald window; go to beads and eggs when it's high and off-color.

  • Steelhead (summer-run)
    Minor run · Summer · 6-12 lb

    A small summer run is present but minor compared to the winter fish, and it's often unfishable because summer glacial melt keeps the river off-color. Not a reason to plan a trip.

  • Coastal Cutthroat Trout
    Common · Jun-Oct · 8-20"

    The summer and fall fly option when steelhead are closed or scarce. Sea-run cutthroat take small streamers, soft hackles, and dries in the riffles. Retention of resident and juvenile trout is prohibited to protect juvenile steelhead.

  • Chinook Salmon (spring run)
    Present · Apr-Jun · 10-40 lb

    Wild spring Chinook are a protection driver behind mid-season emergency closures — a live risk during the late-winter and spring steelhead window. Not a primary fly target; their conservation status matters more to the angler than their catchability.

  • Chinook Salmon (fall run)
    Common · Sep-Nov · 10-40 lb

    Fall kings run in numbers and can be swung or stripped to holding fish with big Comets and egg-sucking leeches when they're in and fresh.

  • Coho Salmon
    Common · Sep-Nov · 6-12 lb

    The fall silver fishery — chartreuse and pink flies stripped or swung to holding coho. The most fly-friendly of the salmon runs.

  • Chum Salmon
    Present · Fall · 8-15 lb

    Present in the fall but less targeted by fly anglers; wild chum are typically release-only under coastal rules.

  • Pink Salmon
    Present (odd years) · Fall · 4-8 lb

    Pinks show in odd-numbered years and can pile in when they run, but they're a minor fly quarry here compared to the coho and Chinook.

  • Bull Trout
    Present (native char) · Varies · Varies

    Native bull trout / Dolly Varden are present and protected — catch-and-release, and check current regs, as coastal char rules change with the steelhead management picture.

Ideal wading flow1,500–2,500 CFS
Blow-out>4,000 CFS
Ideal water temp40–50°F

Late February into March is the peak — the biggest wild winter steelhead. December and January bring hatchery fish plus early wild fish inside the retention window. Fall (September-November) is salmon and sea-run cutthroat; summer is sea-run cutthroat only, with steelhead often off-color and the Park reach spawning-closed early. The flow tells the story: ~1,500-2,500 CFS at USGS 12041200 (Highway 101) is the emerald-green swing window with two to four feet of visibility. It's nominally fishable to ~4,000 CFS but deteriorates above ~3,000, where nymphing beads and eggs beats swinging. Below ~1,000 CFS fish get spooky — long leaders, sparse flies. Best of all is a few days after a rain, on the drop: falling, clearing water on the tail of a freshet. Avoid the rising limb of a storm, and remember this river is among the first coastal rivers to blow and the slowest to clear because of glacial input.

Sections

3 sections on this river

Upper Hoh — Olympic National Park (walk-and-wade)

WadeSteelhead · Cutthroat · Rainbow Trout

Smaller, clearer classic pocket water and runs up in the Hoh Rain Forest inside Olympic National Park — fly-fishing-only water on Park rules. This is the walk-and-wade reach, reached off Upper Hoh Road toward the Hoh Rain Forest and Hoh Campground, and it fishes for winter steelhead and summer sea-run cutthroat trout by swinging and light nymphing. Remember the Park runs on its own regulations: no state license required inside the boundary but a catch-record card still is, and the fly-only section is closed through about June 1 for spawning protection.

Best for: Winter steelhead and sea-run cutthroat trout on the swing and light nymph, in rainforest scenery. Park-specific rules — check nps.gov/olym.

Morgan's Crossing to Oxbow — the classic float

FloatSteelhead

The prime drift water and the signature Hoh steelhead float — big bends, gravel-bar tailouts, and classic swing runs, roughly 8.5 river miles that make a full 8-10 hour day fished thoroughly, with the best holding water stacked in the middle third. Put in at Morgan's Crossing (a gravel-bar launch off Hoh River Road, 4WD and no ramp) and take out at Oxbow Campground by the Highway 101 bridge, where the USGS decision gauge sits. This is winter steelhead water: swing Hoh Bo Speys and Intruders in the emerald window, nymph beads and eggs when it's up. Under coastal rules the boat is transport only — you anchor and wade the bars to fish.

Best for: Winter steelhead — swinging Hoh Bo Speys and Intruders, or nymphing beads and eggs. The classic OP steelhead float; the water above Oxbow stacks resting fish.

Lower Hoh — Oxbow to Oil City

Wade & FloatSteelhead · Salmon

Below the Highway 101 bridge the river slows, widens, and braids across gravel bars, holding fresh, staging fish straight off the ocean. Most of the lower fishing works off Oil City Road — the DNR Cottonwood Campground, road pullouts, and named bars — with a few south-side access points off Hwy 101. This is the first shot at chrome winter steelhead and fall coho and Chinook salmon, and it's the stretch that muddies first and clears last after rain, so it's often a nymphing game through off-color water.

Best for: Fresh chrome winter steelhead and fall coho and Chinook salmon; nymphing off-color water. First shot at fish moving in from the ocean.

Regulations

Current fishing rules and restrictions

This river is closure-prone and coastal steelhead are managed tightly, so always check the WDFW emergency-rule page before every trip. New permanent coastal-steelhead rules were finalized in November 2025 and took effect February 2026, replacing the year-to-year emergency patchwork in force since December 2020. Core coastal rules: single-point barbless hooks only, no bait or scent, no fishing from a floating device (you must anchor and fish from the bank or wade), no retention of rainbow or juvenile trout, and mandatory release of wild (unclipped) steelhead.

  • Single-point barbless hooks only; no bait or added scent
  • No fishing from a floating device — anchor and fish from the bank or wade (a drift boat is for transport, not for casting)
  • Wild (adipose-present) steelhead must be released; hatchery winter season runs roughly Dec 1 - Mar 31 with a daily limit of 2 clipped steelhead
  • No retention of rainbow or juvenile trout, to protect juvenile steelhead
  • Emergency closures are frequent — spring-Chinook and low-run closures can land mid-season with little notice
  • Washington freshwater license plus a steelhead/salmon catch-record card required for state waters below the Park boundary
  • Olympic National Park reach (upper Hoh): Park rules apply, not the state pamphlet — no WA state license required inside the Park, but a catch-record card is still required, and a fly-fishing-only section is closed through about June 1 annually for spawning

OP wild steelhead have been rated at moderate extinction risk (NOAA, Nov 2024) and the Hoh has missed escapement most of the last ~15 years. It has historically stayed open more consistently than neighboring rivers like the Queets and Quinault, but that is never guaranteed. Tribal co-management (Hoh Tribe / Quileute) applies to these rivers. Confirm current Park rules at nps.gov/olym before fishing the upper river.

Source: Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife — Coastal Steelhead Management. Regulations change annually — verify before fishing.

Access & Logistics

Getting there, fly shops, and lodging

Getting There

Forks, WA

~4.5-5 hrs from Seattle (via ferry or around the Sound); ~1 hr from Port Angeles to the Hwy 101 access

Camping & Lodging

Three free, first-come DNR campgrounds sit right on the river — Minnie Peterson, Oxbow (which doubles as the main float take-out), and Cottonwood (the lower-river base off Oil City Road); all are year-round with vault toilets and no potable water. The Olympic National Park Hoh Rain Forest Campground serves the upper river and is reservation-heavy in summer. Forks is the nearest town for fuel, lodging, and groceries — the OP steelhead hub — with more services in Port Angeles about an hour northeast.

Access is unusually good for a coastal river — most of the corridor is state DNR, National Forest, conservation, and Park land. Put in for the classic float at Morgan's Crossing (a gravel-bar launch off Hoh River Road, 4WD and no ramp) and take out at Oxbow (a steep gravel ramp — scout it). Lower-river access is off Oil City Road (Cottonwood Campground, road pullouts). Remember you can't fish from the boat under coastal rules, so the float is really a way to reach wadeable gravel bars. No access fees on the DNR/state water; an Olympic National Park entrance fee applies for the upper river inside the Park.

Conditions data is live from public monitoring networks. Regulations change annually — always verify current rules with your state fish & wildlife agency before fishing.

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