Marine Area 4

Neah Bay / Cape Flattery

The primary small-boat gateway to Cape Flattery, with exceptional salmon, halibut, lingcod and rockfish opportunities.

Part of Marine Area 4 — Neah Bay

Fishing overview

Primary documented opportunities include Salmon, Halibut, Bottomfish. Common FishyNW targets include Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, Pacific Halibut, Lingcod. Documented access includes Boat, Charter, Marina. Use the live marine panels below for current tides, weather, buoy observations and alerts, and verify current seasons, closures and retention rules with the official regulation sources before fishing.

Current marine observations are intentionally kept separate from FishyNW's stable fishing and access guidance so a live feed cannot be mistaken for a typical seasonal pattern.

Signature Fishery

What makes this fishery special?

Halibut, salmon and bottomfish

WDFW calls Neah Bay the premier small-boat fishery on the Washington Coast and documents exceptional salmon, rockfish, lingcod, and halibut habitat/opportunity.

Pacific Halibut
Evidence Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife — Marine Area 4 Reviewed evidence: 2026

Top species anglers target here

FishyNW documents 5 target species for Neah Bay / Cape Flattery, led here by Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, Pacific Halibut, Lingcod. The cards below add fishery context from the canonical species profiles. Presence on this page does not guarantee an open season or retention opportunity, so current seasons, quotas and emergency rules remain tied to the official regulation sources below.

6 primary targets
Fishery timing at a glance

FishyNW intentionally does not paint a generic month-by-month calendar when the source data does not support one. Saltwater openings can be quota managed, emergency adjusted, run dependent, or area specific. These cards show the strongest supported timing context and route you to live rules for the actual legal season.

Fishing opportunity and seasonality

Neah Bay / Cape Flattery supports Salmon, Halibut, Bottomfish. FishyNW treats these as stable fishery opportunities rather than a live statement that each fishery is open today. Saltwater seasons can be quota managed, emergency adjusted, run dependent, or subarea specific, so use the species context here for trip planning and confirm the legal season in the official sources before departure.

How anglers use this water

Documented access for Neah Bay / Cape Flattery includes Boat, Charter, Marina. These are planning categories from FishyNW's existing access records, not guarantees that every site is open or suitable today. Tide stage, wind, surf, current, bar restrictions, parking, launch status and local closures can materially change whether a specific access method is practical.

SalmonHalibutBottomfish
Boat / marina

Boat fishing

Launch, harbor and marina access supports the boat fishery here. Verify ramp status, parking, tide limitations and any bar or entrance conditions before departure.

Charter access

Charter fishing

This destination functions as a charter base or charter-access fishery. FishyNW identifies the hub without implying that every operator fishes every season or species.

Tidal flat / shallow water

Tide dependent access

Some access or harvest areas are strongly tide dependent. Low water can expose flats, reduce channel depth or change the walk to productive water.

Cape Flattery

Boat access is part of this fishery; verify the exact ramp or marina status before departure.

Tidal flats or shallow harvest areas are part of this destination, so low-water timing can affect both access and navigation.

Verify current public access: WDFW water access areas · WDFW public fishing piers

Local fishing geography

These are recognizable fishing places within or associated with this water. They are not substitutes for regulatory boundaries.

Neah Bay
Cape Flattery
Western Strait approaches

How this area is actually fished

  • WDFW calls Marine Area 4 a premier Washington small-boat fishery and identifies Neah Bay as its primary access point.
  • The harbor is substantially more protected than Washington’s open-ocean bar ports.
  • Anglers can fish both Pacific and western Strait environments from the same base.

Fishery relationships

FishyNW groups the species already documented for this water by the kind of trip they support. Current seasons and retention rules still come from the official regulation sources below.

Salmon & migratory fish
Bottomfish & offshore

Washington trip planning

Neah Bay and Cape Flattery fishery where Pacific Ocean, Strait of Juan de Fuca and complex rocky reef habitat meet.

  • Cape Flattery can concentrate wind, swell and current; conditions may differ materially between the Strait side and open-ocean side.
  • Tatoosh and nearshore reef fishing requires careful attention to rocks, swell sets and restricted/protected areas.
  • Offshore halibut and bottomfish trips should be planned with conservative return-weather margins.

WDFW coastal catch and effort reports

Marine conditions

FishyNW combines official NOAA/NWS observation and forecast sources for this location. Live feeds are cached and fail independently so a temporary agency outage does not break the fishing page.

Tides refreshed just nowBuoy observed 31 min ago
48 hour tide curve
NOAA Neah Bay, WA · MLLW
Outgoing tide
7.8 ft5.9 ft3.9 ft1.9 ft0.0 ft Fri 5 PMFri 11 PMSat 5 AMSat 11 AMSat 5 PMSat 11 PMSun 5 AMSun 11 AMSun 5 PMSun 11 PMMon 5 AMMon 11 AMMon 1 PM
Range shown: 0.0 to 7.8 ftNext low: 1:45 PM · 0.108 ft
Tide cycle right now
Time progress between the previous and next NOAA high/low prediction
Outgoing
High 7:17 AM · 7.784 ftLow 1:45 PM · 0.108 ft
99% of the time interval between these tide events has elapsed. Water-level tide timing is not the same thing as tidal-current slack.
Tidal current & slack planning
Representative NOAA current station: Strait of Juan de Fuca Entrance
Harmonic prediction
Flood
flowing in
Slack
current near minimum
Ebb
flowing out

FishyNW does not infer flood, ebb or slack from the tide-height curve. Use NOAA's current prediction for this specific station for the actual timing.

Open NOAA flood / ebb / slack prediction →
Observed wind
11.7 kt
Gust 17.5 kt
Air temp
56.3°F
Tide
Outgoing
Next low: 1:45 PM · 0.108 ft
NOAA: Neah Bay, WA
Current station: Strait of Juan de Fuca Entrance
NOAA tides & water levels · NOAA representative current prediction
Marine weather
PZZ150 · Cape Flattery to James Island out 10 NM
No active NWS marine alert returned for this zone.
Official NWS marine forecast
Nearby ocean observation
Neah Bay - 6 NM NW
Wind: 11.7 kt · gust 17.5 kt
NOAA/NDBC station
Navigation & access notices
USCG Northwest District · Puget Sound sector context

Conditions are planning information, not a go/no-go guarantee. Always check the linked official source immediately before departure, especially for bar crossings, strong-current passages, offshore runs and rapidly changing weather.

Marine safety context

Cape Flattery combines strong current, ocean swell, fog and extensive rock structure; conditions can differ sharply from protected Neah Bay.

Conditions data is intentionally not hardcoded. Use the live NOAA/NWS links and observations above for tides, currents, marine forecasts, buoy conditions and official warnings; verify bar restrictions and local notices immediately before departure.

Technical data relationships

Reference mappings FishyNW uses to connect this water with marine areas, stations and navigation context.

Regulation System
WDFW Marine Areas
Regulation Area
4
Coast Guard District
13
Destination Detail
local fishing geography

Official sources and current regulations

FishyNW organizes stable fishing knowledge but does not replace current regulations, emergency rules, closures or marine safety notices.