Nehalem Falls/Nehalem River

J
jpjule
My girlfriend and I are going camping next weekend at nehalem falls and I would love to catch us some dinner. I recently moved here from the Texas gulf and am a virgin to river fishing for trout. The only trout I have ever caught were speckled and sand trout in the gulf of mexico. I have read posts here concerning the nehalem river, but i don't know the area well at all. Is the fishing on the nehalem good this time of year? Is the fishing better above or below the falls? What lures or techniques work best? I have an assortment of spinners, (blue fox, rooster tail, etc.) and am curious if they are the way to go or if I should try powerbait. Like I said, I have no clue when it comes to river trout fishing. Any info, pointers or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all very much.
 
K
koboabe
jpjule said:
My girlfriend and I are going camping next weekend at nehalem falls and I would love to catch us some dinner. I recently moved here from the Texas gulf and am a virgin to river fishing for trout. The only trout I have ever caught were speckled and sand trout in the gulf of mexico. I have read posts here concerning the nehalem river, but i don't know the area well at all. Is the fishing on the nehalem good this time of year? Is the fishing better above or below the falls? What lures or techniques work best? I have an assortment of spinners, (blue fox, rooster tail, etc.) and am curious if they are the way to go or if I should try powerbait. Like I said, I have no clue when it comes to river trout fishing. Any info, pointers or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all very much.

I was up their this last weekend...
the water si very low, murky and slow
I was staying at the walkin section of Spruce Run.
about a mile or so towards 26 was a section of moving water.

caught 3 trout under 8 inches and one 10 incher, but the bite was slow and small.
I would head closer to tidewater if possible

It was very cloudy, I was throwing #3 brass spinners and a few crayfish.

if you have a crawdad pot I would take it.
we pulled out a nice crayfish feast.
 
B
beaverfan
Small dark spinners or Wooly Buggers should work. But stay away from bait because it's artificial flies and lures above tidewater from May 23-Aug 31.
 
Last edited:
J
jpjule
Hey, thanks for the info. I forgot about the lures only rule. A bit bummed to hear the water is low a murky but will still give it a shot. Sounds like below the falls will be the place with the best odds. Any other info would be greatly appreciated. If anyone else has been out there lately, please post your experiences.
 
J
jpjule
Heading out to Nehalem Falls in the a.m. so any last words of fish catching advice would be great.
 
J
jpjule
Had a great time camping at nehalem falls but didn't hook a single fish. There were tons of fish hitting bugs on top in the evening but none were interested in what I was tossing. We did get a ton of crawdads with some bacon and some fishing line which provided a great meal. On the way back to Portland we stopped along the Wilson river where I caught my first keeper cutthroat trout on a black roostertail with a silver blade. About 14" in length and very tasty. I was suprised by the fight the little guy put up. Look forward to heading back out again soon.
 
Raincatcher
Raincatcher
Great camping area

Great camping area

jpjule said:
Had a great time camping at nehalem falls but didn't hook a single fish. There were tons of fish hitting bugs on top in the evening but none were interested in what I was tossing. We did get a ton of crawdads with some bacon and some fishing line which provided a great meal. On the way back to Portland we stopped along the Wilson river where I caught my first keeper cutthroat trout on a black roostertail with a silver blade. About 14" in length and very tasty. I was suprised by the fight the little guy put up. Look forward to heading back out again soon.

jpjule;
Thanks for the report. Sounds like you at least had a good time. Never tried crawdads,how the heck do you cook them? You do cook them,don't you? I nearly had a cutthroat a few weeks back,but he turned me down. Hope you get into the bigger guys!
 
T
Troutier Bassier
To cook crawdads you put them in Boiling Water and boil until Red. Take them out and Shell there Tails and add some Butter and Salt and Peas and Eat!
 
S
Swamp Puppy
did you try fishing here? this was an little area just below the falls that i was able to get quite a few 8-10 inchers to rise from the bottom of those pools, but none of them would do much more than give our spinners a real close inspection. i have been wanting to go back and try drifting some small nymph patterns through there and see what happens with that. long trip for me to get there though...but next time i am in the area i will get after it for sure.


CarolNHFalls3.png

CarolNHFalls.png
 
J
jpjule
I only fished above the falls. There were a ton of kids swimming just below the falls the few days I was there so I figured the fishing in that area would not be too good. It is a bit of a drive for me as well but I'm going to try to get back out after labor day.
 
G
GDBrown
When fishing the Nehalem or the Wilson try to find areas where the river still has some movement. I can usually pick up something just downstream of larger bolders or on the edge of seams in the flow. I fish the Wilson and the Trask for the most part. The hardest part is knowing when the fish are in the river. There are two runs of Steelhead, two or three runs of Chinook and at least one run of Coho. Not all runs are legal so you have to check the regs closely, the state patrol checks the river regularly and many of us don't hesitate to call them if we see anything amiss. I turned in some guys a couple years ago who were fishing with a casting net! They caught a Steelie in one of my favorite holes. The State Patrol finally tracked them down in Beaverton from the license plate number I gave them.
 
J
jpjule
Thanks for the info GDBrown. Anyone using a cast net to catch anything but bait needs to be busted. What asses! The cutthroat I caught was hanging out in a deep pool that had some strong current. I caught two others that were maybe 5" in length in little and I mean little pools behind some large rocks that were breaking up the current. I am looking forward to my first winter fishing in oregon. Hopefully I can land something worth talking about. If the tips and pointers keep on coming, I'm sure this fall and winters fishing trips will be fantastic.
 
G
GDBrown
The guys using the casting net spoke a language I'm not familiar with, maybe eastern european? They may not have understood the regs, but they do now! I'm heading for the Wilson this afternoon to see if I can shake something up.
 
J
jtazzi
in the small rivers and creeks around here throw a small split shot on about 12 inches from a small size 14 gold hook with a tiny piece of worm on it and you will catch all kinds of trout..most will be small but you should be able to pick up some nice ones...ive caught many trout over 12 inches off this setup..look for areas where the rapids run into deep pools of water thats where i catch the majority of them
 

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