I'm curious if anyone has fished the Nehalem recently? I'm getting ready to take my annual trip down there in the next couple weeks and would appreciate any reports.
Kirk
Kirk
Nehalem reports
Kirkll
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Lots of fun camping and fishing the Nehalem( Mon, Tue, Wed), we ended up with 4 chinook in the boat, released 2 beautiful big wild Coho and a small jack. We lost a 20 lb. salmon to a seal, had another ferocious takedown that came unstuck when it ran and numerous drivebys. All the fish were caught above the town of Nehalem and below the mouth of the North Fork. The weeds and seaweed were just to problematic at Wheeler.
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Those Nehalem Chinook are spectacular!
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Those Nehalem Chinook are spectacular!
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I feel stupid asking, but I’m tired of staring at the regs. I only fish Nehalem a couple days per year anymore. I found the wild coho and wild chinook regulation updates for daily and annual limits, but I wanted to confirm a couple of things. First, I didn’t see any barbless hook requirements so I assume we can use barbs. Also, I didn’t see any barbless “may continue to deploy gear” notation, so I assume we have to rack a rod if someone happens to limit out. Am I reading both of these things correctly?
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Barbs are not an issue. Not entirely sure on party fishing but don’t think it’s an issue. There is a police boat there now, without markings and has a kicker. I’m sure they will let you know if there’s an issue. Buddy got a 150.00 ticket last month for forgetting to tag a fish.
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You are right on the money about typical Nehalem fishing. It always seems to be either on fire, or slow going for us too. Last year was pretty much the same game. We were running the medium sized spin fish for the most part and had done well on them the year before, but it was slow going and very few nets flying along the jetty…. But…. We were marking quite a few fish out there. So I started rotating different color spin fish with tuna stuffing to try and change things up about every 20 minutes. When I put the green colored rig down it got slammed almost instantly…. Wow! … So I put another one on my wife’s rod and bingo! Doubles…. Granted… most of the fish were wild coho, but we picked up two clipped fish and one chinook. But we were on fire for a couple hours there and had a blast! I shared the color with the guide boat next to us, and he started boating fish too. So I would highly recommend playing with different color lures. Typically the corn chowder pink spin fish are deadly for coho and chinook both down there. But last year the Herring Aid and green and silver were the ticket…. Ya never know… I’ll be down there on Sunday……. Kirk
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I was there Saturday, but we only chased crab (I took salmon gear, but the girls outvoted us guys; they just wanted to pull rings all day ). We crabbed from about 9:30 until 2-ish; ended up with 29 crabs. About half of them were only half full. At least we got enough for the ladies to feed their book club tonight (they seem to informally compete for who can bring the best wine and snacks; I think the books are just an excuse to hold ladies night once a month).
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I was there yesterday from 0930 to 4:30. We didn’t see one net fly in the Wheeler/Nehalem area for a couple dozen boats. We had a descent day going 4/4 on spinners and spin fish. Definitely slow.
I did see kirkll out there and said hi in the afternoon but he didn’t give me the time of day. I almost pulled down my pants and BA’d him but his wife was with him. Ever since I shaved my stache he is to good for me 😂.
I did see kirkll out there and said hi in the afternoon but he didn’t give me the time of day. I almost pulled down my pants and BA’d him but his wife was with him. Ever since I shaved my stache he is to good for me 😂.
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Great report, were any of your four Coho? I’m thinking of going Wednesday, but tagged out a while ago on my two wild Chinook, hoping there are some coho in the bay
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We only had one silver and had to throw back a chinook as we already had two on board.
Saw a few jumpers but not a crazily amount. Think we need a good rain to bring in the ho’s.
Saw a few jumpers but not a crazily amount. Think we need a good rain to bring in the ho’s.
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also just curious, were you at the jaws or up river? I’m always torn this time of year, when I’m out at the jaws, I feel like I should be up river, and vice versa. Not sure what I’m doing Wednesday, but leaning towards the jaws.
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I was trying to decide about going this Wednesday or not as well.
Thanks for the report @RB Drifter , would you say there seems to be more Chinook this year?
Thanks for the report @RB Drifter , would you say there seems to be more Chinook this year?
09/22/2025 Report: fished above Wheeler in town.
One Rod. 0630-130pm.
14oz lead, chrome pro troll
Water temp 62° on the outgo
Dropped to 59° on the incoming
Released 3 wild coho. 2 on the Shortbus Pink Panther 3.5 blade. 1 on Mexican hat 3.5 blade. Fishing in 10-15’ of water. Suspended. Going faster than normal. First two in the early morning on the outgoing/slack tide. Last one was during incoming.
Finally got my chinook close to high noon. Mexican hat couple cranks off the bottom in 15’ of water, while I was cutting across the deep water(23’) to 15’. I marked it on the fish finder and got hit within 5 seconds.
Weeds got worse as the incoming pushed in harder. Saw a ok bite at low slack, mostly COHO. Prolly saw/heard of 4-5 chinook taken all day. 15 or so boats for the first few hours of light, then most boats headed to the jaws for the incoming around 8:45am. Never a hot bite, just fish hooked here n there. I did talk to two gentlemen who said they were fishing yesterday in the same area and could not buy a coho. And, of course on the day you can’t keep Coho they hooked 4 and landed 3… go figure. I suspect the rain from Saturday had something to do with that once the river finally settled.
Check gear often if you go!! A few boats came up from Wheeler later in the morning and said the weeds were pretty bad down there so they came up to town where I was at. Didn’t talk to anyone who came from the jaws to get a report down there.
One Rod. 0630-130pm.
14oz lead, chrome pro troll
Water temp 62° on the outgo
Dropped to 59° on the incoming
Released 3 wild coho. 2 on the Shortbus Pink Panther 3.5 blade. 1 on Mexican hat 3.5 blade. Fishing in 10-15’ of water. Suspended. Going faster than normal. First two in the early morning on the outgoing/slack tide. Last one was during incoming.
Finally got my chinook close to high noon. Mexican hat couple cranks off the bottom in 15’ of water, while I was cutting across the deep water(23’) to 15’. I marked it on the fish finder and got hit within 5 seconds.
Weeds got worse as the incoming pushed in harder. Saw a ok bite at low slack, mostly COHO. Prolly saw/heard of 4-5 chinook taken all day. 15 or so boats for the first few hours of light, then most boats headed to the jaws for the incoming around 8:45am. Never a hot bite, just fish hooked here n there. I did talk to two gentlemen who said they were fishing yesterday in the same area and could not buy a coho. And, of course on the day you can’t keep Coho they hooked 4 and landed 3… go figure. I suspect the rain from Saturday had something to do with that once the river finally settled.
Check gear often if you go!! A few boats came up from Wheeler later in the morning and said the weeds were pretty bad down there so they came up to town where I was at. Didn’t talk to anyone who came from the jaws to get a report down there.
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Dear God....
I hate when a smaller BEAUTIFUL river gets blown up like this.
Especially now, when the big river closes.
I hate when a smaller BEAUTIFUL river gets blown up like this.
Especially now, when the big river closes.
I love CrEYEFish!Dear God....
I hate when a smaller BEAUTIFUL river gets blown up like this.
Especially now, when the big river closes.
Nehalem is no secret. It’s only been featured in STS and every edition of Fishing Oregon. Detailing timing, where, and what to use before the World Wide Web was invented. I’m sure the businesses in Wheeler and Nehalem appreciate the foot traffic from fisherman passing through. I’ve only fished it for 18 years or so and the jaws is about the only area busy anymore. Don’t blame the internet for blowing up your river, ODFW is to blame. Fish are planted there for people to have an opportunity, everyone. If I catch fish around one or two boats or 30 or 40 boats, it doesn’t change what I do.
Flame away, I’m a big boy.
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I am very happy you almost caught your yearly Nehalem limit big boy.
I am just a little bit curious though on whether you contribute to the "few fish" planted here?
Since you got animated about my simple thought about the Nehalem.
I suspect the fish you caught had "the" fin?
Enjoy this beauty of a river Sir.
I am just a little bit curious though on whether you contribute to the "few fish" planted here?
Since you got animated about my simple thought about the Nehalem.
I suspect the fish you caught had "the" fin?
Enjoy this beauty of a river Sir.
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You tha man!
Glad you are happy with your decisions.
BTW
I am not the enemy.
Just a little bit concerned with one of my favorite rivers.
The smaller Kilchis was killed for retention in my lifetime.
Just a little bit protective of something as Beautiful as the Nehalem.
Wish you the best.
Umpqua closed for salmon? | IFish Fishing Forum
Glad you are happy with your decisions.
BTW
I am not the enemy.
Just a little bit concerned with one of my favorite rivers.
The smaller Kilchis was killed for retention in my lifetime.
Just a little bit protective of something as Beautiful as the Nehalem.
Wish you the best.
Umpqua closed for salmon? | IFish Fishing Forum
Thank you sir 🙏
I get it, I know where you are coming from.
I didn’t mean to come off as a jerk. I
Apologize!!! I just miss the good ole days of Ifish, where people shared info to help the fellow humans. With inflation, gas prices, and higher cost to fish. I get people trying to get reports to make their money spent worth while. And if I can help, it makes me feel like I’ve given back to a wonderful community that has helped me be a better fisherman!
Tight lines CHD 🍻
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I was fishing the wheeler/nehalem area, again we did ok but didn’t see another net fly. Very slow around us.
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