Troutline

Klickitat River

Washington·Columbia River Gorge·45.88° N, 121.16° W
Flow
791 CFS
Klickitat River near Pitt
Water Temp
66°F
Klickitat River near Pitt
Condition
Below Normal
Weather
61°F
Mostly Clear
near Klickitat
Latest report: Red's Fly Shop · 7 days ago

Insights

Flow
Low flows at 791 CFS
Fish are spooky. Lighten tippet and lengthen leaders.
Water Temp
Water 66°F — warm
Fish low-oxygen areas only. Land fish quickly and keep them wet.
Snowpack
Snowpack snowpack update
Snowpack data for Klickitat River basin is limited right now. The June–July runoff forecast for Klickitat R nr Pitt is 64% of average.

The Klickitat is Washington's classic Columbia Gorge swing river — a glacier-fed tributary off Mount Adams that runs about 95 miles to meet the Columbia at Lyle, one of the longest largely-undammed rivers in the state. What draws fly anglers is the fall run of summer steelhead: fish that push in on the September freshet and hold in the lower canyon runs, taken on a dry line with Skagit or Scandi heads and a swung fly. This is spey water first and everything else second. The honest version is that you plan the Klickitat around the calendar, not around a good hatch.

Its character is dictated by glacial melt. The river carries suspended rock flour off the Adams glaciers, so through summer it runs off-color and clarity is genuinely unpredictable — that's why most guides don't book serious swing trips until late September, when the melt slows, the water drops and clears, and the big push of fresh fish lines up with dry-line temperatures. It runs cold for a summer-run river, so on tougher days a swung fly gets refused and nymphing quietly outproduces the swing. Highway 142 parallels the lower 18 miles from Lyle up through the town of Klickitat, giving genuine bank access to a dozen named runs plus several boat ramps; above town the river drops into a roadless basalt canyon that's float-only. The season closes November 30 and fishes best from late September into that close.

This is remote water. Klickitat County has no fly shop of its own — the nearest storefront is the Gorge Fly Shop across the river in Hood River, Oregon, and the shops that run the most Klickitat guide days are up in Ellensburg, roughly two hours north on the Yakima. There are resident rainbows in the canyon and up toward Glenwood, but they're an incidental catch, not a reason to make the drive — compared to the Yakima the trout are modest in size and number. Come for the steelhead, and know that 'glacial and off-color' is a real risk you're accepting.

Fishing Reports

Latest reports from local fly shops

Species

  • Steelhead (summer-run)
    Primary · Sep-Nov (fishes Jun-Nov 30) · 5-12 lb

    The marquee fishery — native and hatchery summer steelhead. Swung fly on a dry line when temps allow; nymph on cold or off-color days. Peak is late September into the November 30 close, when the melt slows and fresh fish stack in the lower canyon runs.

  • Chinook Salmon (spring run)
    Common · Apr-May · 10-25 lb

    Lower river only, mouth to Fisher Hill Bridge, on limited open days set by WDFW. A salmon-endorsement fishery, not a fly-rod target for most.

  • Chinook Salmon (fall run)
    Common · Aug-Oct · 10-30 lb

    Lower river, overlapping the early steelhead. Big fish that concentrate below Lyle Falls.

  • Coho Salmon
    Common · Oct-Nov · 5-12 lb

    Silvers in the lower river through later fall, tail end of the salmon season.

  • Resident Rainbow Trout
    Present · Jun-Oct · 8-13"

    Incidental. Canyon and upper river near Leidl and Glenwood. Modest fish next to the Yakima's — a bonus while you swing, not a destination trout fishery.

  • Mountain Whitefish
    Common · Year-round (winter prime) · 10-16"

    An underrated winter target once the steelhead season closes. They hit small nymphs hard through the cold months.

Ideal wading flow1,000–2,500 CFS
Blow-out>3,500 CFS
Ideal water temp42–56°F

Fall (late September into the November 30 close) is prime: glacial melt slows, the river drops and clears, fresh steelhead stack up, and October caddis peaks. Roughly 1,000-2,500 CFS near Pitt is prime swing water. Spring and early summer are salmon-focused and glacially off-color; winter is a quiet whitefish option. Remember that clarity, not gauge height, decides fishability here — summer melt keeps it off-color regardless of CFS.

Sections

3 sections on this river

Upper River — Leidl toward Glenwood

FloatSalmon · Rainbow Trout · Whitefish

Above Leidl toward the Yakama Reservation boundary and Glenwood the river is a tough float with little classic 'fishy' water — more of a rafting adventure than a fly-rod destination. Resident rainbow trout and mountain whitefish are the quarry, on salmonflies and October caddis, and the live upper gauge (above West Fork near Glenwood) sits here. Access is poor and the fishing boundary at the reservation border caps the top end.

Best for: Resident rainbow trout on dries and nymphs and mountain whitefish for anglers after scenery and solitude more than numbers. A raft trip with limited wading at access points.

The Canyon — Klickitat to Leidl (roadless)

FloatSteelhead · Rainbow Trout

Above the town of Klickitat the river drops into a roadless basalt canyon. Guides run the classic 'Ice House to Town' and 'Slide to Ice House' floats through here, with almost no road access once you launch. This is the best grab-on-the-swing water for summer steelhead in solitude, with canyon rainbow trout as a bonus. October caddis can get thick in the Leidl area some years.

Best for: Swung-fly summer steelhead in solitude — the quintessential Klickitat canyon experience — plus incidental rainbow trout. A committing guided-float stretch.

Lower River — Lyle to the Town of Klickitat

Wade & FloatSteelhead · Salmon

The most-fished water — about 18 miles of runs, riffles, and holding pools that Highway 142 parallels the whole way, with a dozen fishy runs plus pullouts and boat ramps. Lyle Falls just above the mouth and the Fisher Hill Bridge are the regulatory landmarks for the salmon fishery. This is where most first-timers fish the Klickitat, swinging for summer steelhead and, lower down, catching fall chinook salmon and coho salmon. The USGS gauge near Pitt sits in this stretch.

Best for: Summer steelhead on the swing from the bank or a short drift-boat float; fall chinook salmon and coho salmon lower down toward the mouth. The accessible, road-side steelhead runs.

Regulations

Current fishing rules and restrictions

Regulations on the Klickitat are heavily segmented — by the mouth, Lyle Falls, Fisher Hill Bridge, fishway No. 5, and the Klickitat Salmon Hatchery boundary — and change every year by emergency rule. The steelhead season runs roughly June through November 30 under selective-gear and wild-release rules, and the salmon fishery is governed by a 2026 WDFW rule change with specific open days and limits. Portions of the drainage run through the Yakama Reservation; the upper fishing boundary is at the reservation border. Always confirm the current rules and any in-season emergency changes with WDFW before fishing.

  • Steelhead: season runs roughly June 1 through November 30, subject to yearly emergency rules; selective-gear and wild-release rules apply — confirm annually
  • Spring Chinook (2026): mouth to Fisher Hill Bridge open Apr 3-May 29, Wednesdays and Saturdays only, 1 salmon or hatchery steelhead daily, 2-salmon season limit
  • Salmon (2026): Jun 1-Jul 31, mouth to Fisher Hill Bridge, 6 salmon daily (2 adults); a 6-jack daily limit applies from 400 ft above fishway No. 5 to the markers below the Klickitat Salmon Hatchery
  • Salmon fishing is year-round below Lyle Falls; above the falls it reopens Aug 1
  • Mountain whitefish: open all year
  • Columbia River Salmon/Steelhead Endorsement required in addition to a Washington freshwater license for salmon and steelhead

The upper fishing boundary is the Yakama Reservation border. Regulations are among the most segmented in the state and are revised annually — the 2026 salmon and steelhead rules came in via a March 2026 WDFW rule change. Check the WDFW rule-change page and eRegulations special rules before every trip.

Source: Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. Regulations change annually — verify before fishing.

Access & Logistics

Getting there, fly shops, and lodging

Getting There

Lyle, WA

1 hr from Portland, OR to Lyle; ~2 hrs from Ellensburg-area shops; ~25 min from Goldendale

Fly Shops

Camping & Lodging

Leidl Campground (Stinson Flats, DNR) sits on the river; Klickitat County parks line Highway 142. Motels in Goldendale, White Salmon, and Hood River, OR — Hood River has the most lodging and food.

Highway 142 parallels the lower 18 miles from Lyle through the town of Klickitat with bank access and boat ramps. Above town the canyon is roadless and float-only — go guided or well-prepared. The upper river is bounded by the Yakama Reservation.

Conditions data is live from public monitoring networks. Regulations change annually — always verify current rules with your state fish & wildlife agency before fishing.

More in Washington

View all 15 rivers

Columbia River Gorge

Wind RiverWA

A small, cold Columbia Gorge tributary near Carson on the Washington side, and one of the region's storied swung-fly summer steelhead streams. The whole game is dry-line swinging for wild fish through basalt-ledge canyon runs from July into fall — a Wild Steelhead Gene Bank where every steelhead is released. Trout are a distant second. It blows out and clears fast, and WDFW will close it mid-season on a weak return, so check the pamphlet before you drive.

Other regions

Cowlitz RiverWA

Washington's biggest hatchery steelhead and salmon river, dam-controlled below Mayfield and Mossyrock and overwhelmingly a gear-and-bait fishery. The fly opening is narrower but real: swung summer steelhead in the runs above Blue Creek, an excellent sea-run cutthroat program that peaks September into October, and fifty-plus miles of under-fished lower river below the combat zone.

Hoh RiverWA

A glacial rainforest river off the west side of the Olympics and one of the last wild winter-steelhead fisheries in the Lower 48 — swung flies for fish that average 10-12 pounds when the water drops into its emerald-green window under ~2,500 CFS. It blows out fast and clears slow, coastal conservation rules keep you out of the boat and off the wild fish, and mid-season closures are common, so the Highway 101 gauge and the WDFW emergency-rule page decide every trip.

Icicle CreekWA

A cold, granite-bottomed Cascade freestone that pours out of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and meets the Wenatchee River at Leavenworth. Scenery-first small-stream trout water — wild rainbows and westslope cutthroat in the 6-12" range on attractor dries once summer runoff drops, plus a heavily managed lower reach with a seasonal hatchery salmon story. Native-fish sensitive: bull trout and Upper Columbia steelhead are ESA-listed and can't be targeted.

Little Spokane RiverWA

A slow, cold, spring-fed tributary that joins the Spokane River northwest of the city — wild hybridized redband trout in a weed-lined, almost meadow-stream setting minutes from downtown. Unusual water: the streambed is privately owned, so the real fishery is a non-motorized, no-anchor, no-bank-fishing catch-and-release float through the lower Natural Area. A quiet, technical, low-and-clear paddle-and-cast, not a wade river.

Methow RiverWA

North Central Washington's classic snowmelt freestone, tumbling out of the North Cascades near Mazama and running southeast through the Methow Valley past Winthrop, Twisp, and Carlton to the Columbia at Pateros. An attractor-and-hopper river for wild redband rainbows and trophy-class westslope cutthroat, with federally protected bull trout — the whole trout fishery is catch-and-release under selective-gear rules.

Naches RiverWA

The freestone alternative to the neighboring Yakima — a snowmelt river for wild redband rainbows and westslope cutthroat on the dry east slope of the Cascades. A ~10-mile catch-and-release, selective-gear stretch runs from the Tieton confluence up to Rattlesnake Creek, and the fishing quality climbs as you drive upstream toward the forks, away from the irrigation-tapped lower river.