Washougal River

The Washougal is a small, clear Cascade river that drops out of the Gifford Pinchot and meets the Columbia at the town of Washougal, about half an hour east of Portland. Its claim to fame is its steelhead. The Skamania strain of hatchery summer steelhead, now planted across the Northwest, was bred from native Washougal and Klickitat fish, and the Skamania hatchery on the North Fork still releases them here. That hatchery is closing: WDFW announced in October 2025 that it will shut it down over three years for lack of funding, with the Washougal and Beaver Creek hatcheries taking on some of its work. Expect fewer hatchery steelhead in the years ahead.

Only the lower river is open, from the mouth to the bridge at Salmon Falls; above that it is closed water. Summer steelhead are in from spring through the fall, best from June into August. Fall Chinook and coho come in from August, and hatchery winter steelhead follow from December. Below the County Line ramp the river closes from March 16 to April 15, with night closure all season. Above the ramp it opens only on the Saturday before Memorial Day and closes March 15.

Read the flows at the Ecology gauge at Hathaway Park in Washougal, which also reports water temperature. The river fishes well from about 400 to 1,000 CFS, and the higher it is, the lower in the river you want to be. In late summer it gets low and clear, and the bedrock pools above the County Line are the place for a long leader and a small swung fly. Washougal River Road and Highway 140 follow the river, so bank access is good.