Top Guides NW brings more than 30 years of combined experience to guided fishing and hunting trips across the Columbia River system, based in Woodland, Washington. Owned by Bill Rivas, the business is licensed to guide in both Washington and Oregon, giving clients year-round access to King Salmon, Coho Salmon, summer and winter run Steelhead, Sturgeon, Kokanee, and Waterfowl across the region’s most productive water.
The business focuses on the Lewis River, Cowlitz River, Columbia River, Willamette River, Lake Merwin, and the famous Buoy 10 fishery near Astoria, Oregon, along with tributaries like the Multnomah Channel, Sandy River, Wind River, and Drano Lake. Spring Chinook season runs from March through June, targeting fish weighing 15 to 25 pounds using techniques like trolling herring, back-trolling bait, and anchoring with Kwikfish and spinners. Fall Chinook, sometimes called “hawgs,” run 6 to 25 pounds and are chased from Buoy 10 up through the Cowlitz and Lewis Rivers to Bonneville Dam.
Top Guides NW is also a world-class sturgeon fishing operation, working the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, home to the largest sturgeon population in the world. Legal-size keepers run 38 to 54 inches, and daily catches of 18 to 40 sturgeon are common during peak action, with guides tracking the migration from Astoria all the way to Hood River in the Columbia River Gorge. Steelhead trips round out the lineup, giving light-tackle anglers a shot at hard-fighting fish throughout the season.
Beyond standard guided trips, Top Guides NW offers educational sessions for anglers looking to sharpen specific skills, covering techniques like side drifting, trolling, back bouncing, mooching, fly fishing, fly casting, and anchoring methods specific to the Columbia River. A $50 deposit per fisherman (or $99 per hunter for combined trips) holds a booking date, refundable with seven days’ notice, and the business accepts cash, card, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, and Apple Pay.
For anglers looking to fish Salmon, Steelhead, Sturgeon, or Kokanee across the Columbia River system with an experienced, dual-state licensed guide service, Top Guides NW offers a full seasonal lineup out of Woodland, Washington.
