Beta

GuidedFloats is in beta. The full site launches March 1, 2027. The mobile app follows.

Guides: claim before March 1, 2027 and your first full season of Premium is free. Claim your founding spot →

Log in List your guide serviceFor guides
Home › Waters › Washington › Humptulips River
River · Southwest Olympic Peninsula in Grays Harbor County, Washington, running from the Olympic National Forest past the town of Humptulips to the north end of Grays Harbor · Washington

Humptulips River Fishing Guides

A rain-fed Olympic Peninsula river with a long gravel floodplain, a strong winter steelhead run and a heavily guided fall salmon fishery into Grays Harbor.

A drift boat running a riffle between mossy banks in the Pacific Northwest
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Humptulips River

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Humptulips River

The Humptulips drains the southwest corner of the Olympic Mountains and empties into the north end of Grays Harbor, and it is one of the most consistently productive winter steelhead rivers on the Washington coast. Two forks rise in the Olympic National Forest and join above the town of Humptulips, and from there the river runs through a broad, gravelly floodplain of cottonwood and alder before it reaches tidewater. The gravel is the point. The Humptulips has a long, well-distributed spawning bed, and it holds fish through a longer window than the steeper canyon rivers to the north.

Winter steelhead are the reason guides run this water, with hatchery fish arriving from December and wild fish following through February and March. Fall chinook enter in September and October and draw a serious jet-boat and drift-boat fishery in the lower river. Coho follow through late October and November, and chum push in behind them in good numbers. Coastal cutthroat are present year-round and are a genuinely good summer fishery for anglers willing to work small water with light gear. Most guided trips are drift-boat floats between the highway bridges, with jet sleds working the tidal reach below.

Anglers should plan around rain rather than around the calendar. This is a rain-driven coastal river with no storage upstream, so it rises and colors fast after a Pacific front and drops nearly as quickly. The gauge sits below the Highway 101 bridge near the town of Humptulips and reports discharge and stage but no water temperature, so it is the tool for judging whether the river is fishable rather than for timing a bite. Regulations on Washington coastal steelhead change frequently and sometimes in the middle of a season, so check the emergency rule page before every trip rather than relying on the printed pamphlet.

This water needs a real photo

The photo at the top of this page is not Humptulips River.

It is a regional stand-in, honestly captioned but generic — we will not put a name to a river we cannot prove. Send us a photograph you took here and it replaces the stand-in, with your credit on it.

Add a photo of this water See the badges

Pioneer badgeUnclaimed

Add a photo of this water

Landscape, not fish — the water itself. Reviewed by hand before it appears. The first one published here earns the Pioneer badge.

Never published. It is how the badge is held for you until member accounts open.

Posting to Humptulips River.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. Landscape orientation looks best at the top of the page. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name printed under the photo and on your badge. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Fished this water? Add a photo

Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Humptulips River.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Highway 101 bridge access near Humptulips - the main put-in and the reach the gauge reads.
Copalis Crossing and the Ocean Beach Road bridge - lower-river bank and small-boat access.
Donkey Creek Road pull-offs - forest-road access to the upper mainstem above the forks.
West Humptulips Road along the West Fork - walk-in access through Olympic National Forest.
Humptulips County Park - parking and shoreline access near the town.
Jessie Slough and the lower tidal reach off Ocean Beach Road - jet-sled launching toward Grays Harbor.
Newbury Creek Road on the East Fork - upper-river walk-in water on state and federal ground.

Seasons

Spring: late wild steelhead through March, then a quiet high-water period as the spring rain runs off.
Summer: low, clear water and a light but genuine coastal cutthroat fishery in the upper forks and side channels.
Fall: fall chinook from September, coho through late October and November, and chum behind them - the busiest guided months.
Winter: the main event, with hatchery steelhead from December and wild fish building through February.

From the water

No logged trips yet. Be the first to put this water on your map.

Log this water

Fished it or cleaned it? Log in or create a free account to log a trip with photos and earn the waterway badge.

Questions

What species can you catch on the Humptulips River?

Anglers target Chinook Salmon, Chum Salmon, Coastal Cutthroat Trout, Coho Salmon, Rainbow Trout, Steelhead on the Humptulips River in Washington.

Are there fishing guides on the Humptulips River?

GuidedFloats lists 1 guide and outfitters on the Humptulips River. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Humptulips River?

Highway 101 bridge access near Humptulips - the main put-in and the reach the gauge reads. Copalis Crossing and the Ocean Beach Road bridge - lower-river bank and small-boat access. Donkey Creek Road pull-offs - forest-road access to the upper mainstem above the forks. West Humptulips Road along the West Fork - walk-in access through Olympic National Forest. Humptulips County Park - parking and shoreline access near the town. Jessie Slough and the lower tidal reach off Ocean Beach Road - jet-sled launching toward Grays Harbor. Newbury Creek Road on the East Fork - upper-river walk-in water on...

When is the best time to fish the Humptulips River?

Spring: late wild steelhead through March, then a quiet high-water period as the spring rain runs off. Summer: low, clear water and a light but genuine coastal cutthroat fishery in the upper forks and side channels. Fall: fall chinook from September, coho through late October and November, and chum behind them - the busiest guided months. Winter: the main event, with hatchery steelhead from December and wild fish building through February.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Humptulips River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Washington agency site: https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations