Fishing in Tillamook

Including Bay City, Netarts, Oceanside, Garibaldi & Rockaway Beach

With three bays, five major rivers, numerous lakes, and a vast ocean nearby, you can guess that fishing is central to this region of the North Coast. Anglers flock to this region, as the Tillamook Coast offers a year-round spot to drop lines, cast nets, or dig shovels into the sand. The highly sought-after Chinook salmon is at its peak in both size and numbers during the fall as they make their runs in the Wilson, Trask, Nestucca, and Nehalem rivers. The rivers also welcome the increase of steelhead during the winter. The Chinook salmon returns to Tillamook’s coast in the spring, though they’re a bit smaller then than they are during the fall. You can also catch lingcod lurking around rocky areas near the shore.

Summer introduces a lot of variety to Tillamook fishing, and you’ll have a blast reeling in coho salmon, sea trout, cutthroat trout, steelhead, and albacore tuna. The low tides accompanying the daylight hours during the spring and summer also make clamming a popular player in Tillamook fishing, and you can dig for horsenecks, quahogs, steamers, and cockles.

Now that you know about the abundance of fish just waiting in Tillamook, it’s time to decide how you want to catch them. Perch at docks, jetties, and marinas and cast your line.

Fly fishing is also a go-to method for many anglers. Several businesses are available where you can charter a fishing boat or let a guide take you out in the rivers and show you the prime locations for exactly what you want to catch.

For an experience where it is all about the fish, try deep sea fishing, where it’s just you, your crew, and a heck of a halibut catch. Tillamook fishing requires a valid Oregon Angling License.

However, the first weekend after the first Monday in June annually brings the Free Fishing Weekend to Tillamook, where no license, fees, or even your own gear are needed for the activity.