Grays River

Location:
Enters the Lower Columbia River west of Skamokawa.

Directions:
Take Highway 4 west from Cathlamet or east from Naselle. To reach much of the middle portion of the river, take Loop Road south off the highway (midway between the town of Grays River, and the highway bridge over the river), or turn south on Highway 403 near Rosburg to reach the lower river.

Facilities:
Illwaco, the nearest town of any size, is about 20 miles to the southeast and offers all your amenities. About 30 miles to the west is Fort Canby State Park, which has tent and RV sites, restrooms with showers, and a small store.

Contact:

Species:
Winter Steelhead, Sea-Run Cutthroat, Resident Cutthroat, Chinook, and Coho Salmon.

Fishing the Grays River:
Once a pretty well respected winter steelhead stream, the Gray’s has slipped a few notches over the years. Although stocked with 40,000 to 50,000 steelhead smolts a year, the steelhead catch bumps up and down every year from 150-400 fish a winter. That’s probably a ray of hope for the visiting angler. When the few steelhead that return from their ocean adventures usually occurs in the months of December and January. Fall salmon fishing is a whole lot worse and is only open in certain areas. There can be some excellent cutthroat fishing in the months of October and November. I would stick with fishing a nightcrawler behind a slip sinker with a minimum of a 48″ leader.