Pacific Northwest Fishing Report: November 2026 to February 2027
This page always shows the current edition. A new one publishes four times a year, on the last Thursday before the months it covers begin. Permanent link to this edition. For the region's species, its key waters and a month-by-month calendar, see the Pacific Northwest fishing guide.
Winter steelhead season, with crab and clams on the coast
The Pacific Northwest winter is steelhead season. Hatchery and wild fish run into the coastal rivers from December, from the Olympic Peninsula to the Chetco, and into the Columbia's tributaries on both sides of the river, while Puget Sound gives resident Chinook and crab and the bays and beaches of the coast give Dungeness and razor clams. East of the Cascades the season is walleye and trout on the big reservoirs, and ice on the small lakes in a cold year.
In both states most rivers and streams are closed to trout in winter, and steelhead and salmon are fished on the waters and seasons each state lists, so check the water before going. The Columbia is the border for much of its length, and the two states' licenses work across it in ways the second table sets out.
Each state's rules are below under the same headings as every region, written for someone fishing it for the first time: the license, bait and gear, the inland limits, and salt water.
Oregon's licenses and tags run out on December 31; Washington's run to March 31
An Oregon license, its combined angling tag and its shellfish license all run by the calendar year, so anyone fishing after New Year needs 2027's, and every winter steelhead angler on the Rogue and the south coast also needs the validation from December 1. A Washington license runs from April 1 to March 31, so one bought since last spring covers the whole winter, as does the catch record card for salmon, steelhead and sturgeon; Puget Sound crab goes on a separate winter card that runs to December 31.
Dates that change what you may keep
3 of these 5 change a season, a bag limit or a legal method. Every day of the week below was checked against a calendar.
| When | What changes | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sun November 15 | Crab pots open in Willapa Bay, to September 15. | WA |
| Tue December 1 | Crab pots open on the Washington coast in Marine Areas 1 to 3 and western 4. The Oregon ocean reopens to crabbing. The Rogue-South Coast steelhead validation is required from today, to April 30. | WA, OR |
| Thu December 31 | Washington's Puget Sound winter crab season closes. Every Oregon license, tag and shellfish license expires. | WA, OR |
| Fri January 1 | Oregon's bottomfish limits for 2027, set in December, take effect. | OR |
| Mon February 1 | Washington's winter catch record cards for Puget Sound crab are due back. | WA |
Crab and razor clams, state by state
The coast's winter shellfish run on different limits in each state, and razor clams open only when the toxin tests allow.
| State | Dungeness crab | Razor clams |
|---|---|---|
| Washington | Coast: six a day of at least 6 inches, pots from December 1 (November 15 in Willapa Bay). Columbia River: 12 a day of at least 5 3/4 inches. Puget Sound: five a day of at least 6 1/4 inches, to December 31 in the reopened areas. Males only, hard shell | 15 a day, the first 15 dug, only on the dates WDFW opens after toxin tests |
| Oregon | Males of at least 5 3/4 inches, 12 a day, three rings, lines or pots each; bays, beaches and jetties all year, the ocean closed until November 30 | The first 15 dug; the Clatsop beaches close July 15 to September 30, and biotoxins close the coast often, so call the shellfish hotline first |
Oregon's shellfish hotline is 1-800-448-2474; Washington posts each dig on its razor clam page about a week ahead.
The Columbia River and the ocean border
Where the Columbia divides the two states, and in the ocean off its mouth, a license from one state reaches into the other's water.
| Water | Whose license |
|---|---|
| The Columbia where it is the border | From a boat, an Oregon resident may fish on an Oregon resident license; from the Washington shore, a Washington license; residents of other states need the license of the state whose waters they fish. Fish landed in Washington follow Washington's limits |
| The ocean off the Columbia's mouth | An Oregon resident license covers a boat within three miles of the Washington coast from Leadbetter Point to the Oregon line, and a Washington license covers a boat in Oregon water north of Cape Falcon, though nonresidents of Washington must then land their fish in Washington |
| The lower Columbia below the Rocky Point to Tongue Point line, Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay | A Washington freshwater, saltwater or combination license is valid |
State by state
Season dates, local reports, stocking and the engine outlook for each state, with its sub-regions. Everything above this point is what crosses state lines.
Washington
12 sub-regionsA Washington license runs to March 31, so this year's covers the winter. Rivers and streams closed on October 31 except the waters listed with their own seasons, which is where the winter steelhead are fished. Puget Sound's winter crab season is open to December 31 in the reopened marine areas, razor clams open only on the dates WDFW sets after toxin tests, and coastal crab pots go back in on December 1.
Read the Washington report
Oregon
12 sub-regionsAn Oregon license, tag and shellfish license run out on December 31, so January takes 2027's. Winter steelhead enter the rivers in November and December and run through April, and from December 1 the Rogue and the south coast need the Rogue-South Coast validation. Crabbing is open all year in the bays, but the ocean is closed to it until November 30, and biotoxins can close razor clams and crab at any time.
Read the Oregon report
The weather and the water from November to February, most years
This part does not change from year to year, which is why it is worth reading before the forecast rather than after it.
- The weather
- Winter west of the Cascades is rain, wind and mild temperatures: a parade of Pacific storms, some of them atmospheric rivers that drop inches of rain in a day, with snow on the passes and only short cold spells in the lowlands. East of the mountains it turns dry and cold, with fog in the basins, snow on the plateaus and spells well below freezing.
- The water
- The coastal and Cascade rivers rise and drop with every storm, blowing out brown for days and then clearing to the green that steelhead anglers wait for. The big rivers and reservoirs east of the Cascades run low and cold, the small lakes there freeze in a cold winter, and the bays and beaches of the coast stay open for crab and clams whenever the toxin tests allow.
- How the quarter breaks
- It opens with the last coho and the first winter steelhead in the coastal rivers, and with crab and razor clams on the coast. December to February is the heart of winter steelhead season from the Olympic Peninsula to the Chetco, with blackmouth and squid on Puget Sound and ice on the eastern lakes when it comes. It closes with the first spring Chinook in the lower Columbia and Willamette and the wild steelhead run peaking in the north.
The moon from November to February
| Month | New moon | Full moon |
|---|---|---|
| November 2026 | Sun, Nov 8 | Tue, Nov 24 |
| December 2026 | Tue, Dec 8 | Wed, Dec 23 |
| January 2027 | Thu, Jan 7 | Fri, Jan 22 |
| February 2027 | Sat, Feb 6 | Sat, Feb 20 |
The U.S. Naval Observatory's dates, on local time.
What our engine expects on the steelhead rivers, the Columbia and the lakes
Everything above this point either happened or happens every winter. This part is a forecast for the two weeks from the date stamped below, scored by the same engine that runs the rest of this site: water temperature, wind, river flow, rain, pressure, cloud, air temperature, UV, humidity and solunar, weighted by species and by season.
A two-week stretch of Pacific Northwest winter is a run of Pacific storms with dry spells between, raising and dropping the rivers by the day on the wet side of the Cascades while the dry side turns cold. The water temperature column identifies the source at each anchor: a thermometer reading, satellite analysis, or a labeled model. We withhold waters when the available reading does not represent them. Good hours counts the hours at or above a B-plus, which says how long a day holds.
This is a weather forecast, so it covers two weeks and not the season, and the further out a date sits the less it is worth. No forecast can say whether a river will be in shape the day you go: one storm can blow it out overnight. We publish a grade, not a promise.
Engine outlook generated November 3, 2026, covering 16 waters.
What this report does not cover
- This is a seasonal guide, not a continuously updated field report. Its engine outlook covers only the dated two-week window. For current conditions use the reporters named in each state's section.
- River-by-river steelhead seasons are not printed: both states set them water by water and change them in season, so check the water before fishing it.
- Razor clam and crab openings depend on toxin tests and change by the week.
- License prices are printed as read on October 20.
Waters we are not grading in this outlook
Some waters that would otherwise appear in the outlook are left out of it, because the nearest water-temperature station sits on a different water or because no thermometer we can read measures them, and on a tailwater a model built on the air cannot see the release. Water temperature is between a fifth and a third of the score. The ones held back are listed below, each with the station it was offered instead.
- Grande Ronde River at Troy (OR): nearest station is MINAM RIVER AT MINAM, OR
- Cowlitz River at Castle Rock (WA)
- Yakima River at Umtanum (WA): nearest station is OAK CREEK ABOVE TIETON RIVER NEAR NACHES, WA
These waters are closed to the species we grade them for on every day of the two weeks, so the engine grades none of their days.
- Bogachiel River near Forks (WA): closed to all fishing by emergency rule from October 19 until further notice
- Puget Sound off Tacoma (WA): Marine Area 11 open-water salmon season is closed from November 1 through April 30; named pier exceptions do not apply to this anchor