Cook Park Tualatin River

Hello All,

Does anyone have info about fishing the Tualatin river.  I have done some research on the forum but their is not a lot of info.  I have gathered from the forum that Cook Park may be a good spot to start.  Anyone have any tips or ideas.  I plan on fishing this area about 30 min a day on good weather.  I work about 5 min away and need something to do on my lunch break.  I am going to just bring a light set up and toss spinners.  Any ideas of what fish are in the area or what to use?

Thanks in advance!

The Tualatin is best for bass, though I saw some rainbows out of there a few years ago.  I have seen bass caught up river along the banks.  Down river should be good also.
Watch for shallow rocks and logs.

Thanks for the tips and species info.  What do people typically use for bait?

Can you stand up in your kayak? Get a bow and shoot carp when it gets warm.

Cook park may be a rough launch right now, or at least as of 2 or 3 weeks ago; the boat ramp was filled with mud 6-8 inches thick (I think from when the river flooded this winter).  We ended up going to the next ramp down river which was at Tualatin Community Park.  Both are an easy launch for a kayak though.

Are there a lot of carp in the river?  I forgot to mention that most of my fishing during the week will be from land around the cook park area.  I wont be able to get my kayak launched on my lunch break.  I do plan on fishing it some during the weekend as it is very close.

Are there a lot of carp in the river?  I forgot to mention that most of my fishing during the week will be from land around the cook park area.  I wont be able to get my kayak launched on my lunch break.  I do plan on fishing it some during the weekend as it is very close.

Let me know when you head down there with the Kayak as I live about 10 minutes away and would like to check it out sometime.

Will do!  Do you fish any other areas in the Portland area?  I am always looking for a fishing partner. 

Will do!  Do you fish any other areas in the Portland area?  I am always looking for a fishing partner. 

I've only had my outback for less than a month now, but have fished the Willamette and Hagg lake several times so far. I work 8-5 Mon-Fri so it makes getting out a little difficult aside from on Weekends.

Are there a lot of carp in the river?  I forgot to mention that most of my fishing during the week will be from land around the cook park area.  I wont be able to get my kayak launched on my lunch break.  I do plan on fishing it some during the weekend as it is very close.

There are a lot of little trails to the river from that develop over the summer from the paved trail.  You can follow those to several good holes, but watch for the poison oak, and the steep bank areas are hard to get back up, especially downstream of Cook.
Access is much easier from a kayak, the ramp should getting cleaned anytime, now that the river is going down for the summer.

Between Cook Park and Tualatin Park it get really shallow over a bedrock area - just downstream of the Cook Park landing. The wastewater treatment plant between the two parks actually provides the coolest, cleanest water of any tributary - I would think the fishing would be better downstream of there. I haven't had much luck on the Tualatin, but I saw a kid in a kayak cleaning up on small bass around docks downstream of Brown's Landing.

A lot of that area is pretty snaggy, so some kind of topwater for bass, and something under a bobber for everything else. There is a coho run in the fall with retention. I don't think I would eat a resident fish.



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Throw 1/8 - 1/4 Oz panther martins. Smallmouth can't resist them.

Thnaks for all the helpful replies!  I will have t o check out a few of the trails and different access points in the area.