Troutline

Little Spokane River

Washington·Eastern Washington·47.78° N, 117.48° W
Flow
328 CFS
Little Spokane River near Dartford
Water Temp
—
Condition
Well Below Normal
Weather
77°F
Chance Showers And Thunderstorms
near Fairwood

Insights

Wind
Wind 2 mph — calm
Easy casting and clean surface presentations.
Flow
Low flows at 328 CFS
Fish are spooky. Lighten tippet and lengthen leaders.
Pressure
Pressure rising
Feeding may slow as fish sit tight.

The Little Spokane is one of the odder fisheries in Washington to get your head around before you go. It's a slow, cold, spring-fed tributary that joins the mainstem Spokane about ten miles northwest of downtown, running low and clear through a weed-lined, almost meadow-stream channel — think spring-creek fish holding in soft seams rather than the boulder pockets you'd fish on the Spokane itself. Because so much of the flow comes from groundwater, the water stays cool and clear through summer while a lot of Eastern Washington freestone water is warming out. The draw is wild redband trout, though "pure redband" is more aspiration than reality here: the native fish have hybridized with introduced coastal rainbows over the decades. They run small to modest, 8 to 14 inches, with common mountain whitefish and a scattering of browns.

Here's the catch, and it's a big one. The river channel itself is largely privately owned — the Little Spokane is one of only two waters in the state where the streambed belongs to the abutting landowners, not the public. Practically, that means the meaningful public fishing is the lower seven miles through the Little Spokane River Natural Area, and even there the rules prohibit fishing from the banks. You fish from a non-motorized craft — canoe, kayak, drift boat with the motor off, or a raft — and inside the Natural Area you can't even anchor. Put in at St. George's School off Rutter Parkway (Discover Pass required to park), float down to the confluence near Nine Mile, and fish on the drift. It's a paddle-and-cast fishery, not a wade fishery, and that filters out a lot of pressure.

Expect a technical, low-and-clear presentation game — light tippet, small dries and nymphs, delicate mending on the move. Overcast days help the Baetis game; bright, low water rewards subtlety. It fishes best as a quiet half-day float rather than a destination trip, and the whole thing is release-oriented: the season runs catch-and-release from the Saturday before Memorial Day through March 15, then closes to protect spawning redband. Handle every fish with care — WDFW treats mishandling a native redband on the Spokane system as an enforcement matter. Don't come expecting the salmonfly and skwala show anglers talk about around Spokane; that's a mainstem Spokane River event, not this river.

Species

  • Redband Trout
    Primary · May-Oct · 8-14"

    The target fish — native Columbia River redband that have hybridized with introduced coastal rainbows, so genetics are muddy. Small to modest but eager in slow, clear water. Must be released and handled with care; mishandling a native redband on the Spokane system is an enforcement matter under WDFW rules.

  • Mountain Whitefish
    Common · Year-round · 10-16"

    Native and common through the deeper runs and bends — readily takes small nymphs and is the reliable bend-in-the-rod when the trout are being fussy.

  • Brown Trout
    Uncommon · Sep-Nov · 10-18"

    Present but uncommon; a fall streamer target in the deeper bends and undercuts as the water cools. Not numerous, but the occasional better fish shows.

  • Brook Trout
    Uncommon · May-Sep · 6-12"

    Scattered through the upper and headwater reaches — small and incidental to the redband fishing on the lower river.

  • Smallmouth Bass
    Uncommon · Jun-Sep · 8-14"

    Turns up in the lower, warmer, slower reaches in summer — incidental to trout anglers rather than a target here.

Ideal wading flow90–300 CFS
Blow-out>800 CFS
Ideal water temp48–62°F

Late spring and fall are prime. The catch-and-release season opens the Saturday before Memorial Day, once spring runoff has dropped and cleared, and the river fishes well through fall on Baetis and cooler water right up to the March 15 closure. Summer fishes well early and late thanks to the spring-fed cool, with terrestrials along the meadow banks — but the slowest lower reaches can warm in a hot spell, so fish mornings and mind trout stress. This is a groundwater-driven system, not a snowmelt hydrograph: it stays low and clear most of the year and only blows out on spring rain-on-snow. Verify current flows on the near-Dartford gauge before you commit — the river runs naturally modest, and clear, stable, moderate water is what you want.

Sections

2 sections on this river

Chattaroy / Colbert / Dartford — Upper & Middle Reaches

FloatRedband · Rainbow Trout · Whitefish

Similar slow, cool, weedy flow above the Natural Area, holding redband rainbow trout and mountain whitefish where you can legally reach the water. Access is very limited and mostly informal or bridge-based — the streambed here is largely privately owned, so wading is off-limits and public fishing is scarce. The USGS gauge at Dartford marks the transition into the lower country.

Best for: Redband rainbow trout and mountain whitefish where legal access exists — mostly a matter of local knowledge and bridge crossings.

Little Spokane River Natural Area — St. George's to the Spokane Confluence

FloatRedband · Rainbow Trout · Whitefish

The lower seven miles and essentially the whole public fishery: slow, clear, spring-influenced meadow water with weed beds, soft seams, undercut banks, and occasional deeper bends that read like a large spring creek. Wild redband rainbow trout and common mountain whitefish hold the flats and seams, best fished on light nymph rigs and small dries, with sight-fishing to risers when they come up. The USGS gauge near Dartford sits at the head of this reach.

Best for: Redband rainbow trout and mountain whitefish on light nymphs and small dries; sight-fishing to risers in slow flats.

Regulations

Current fishing rules and restrictions

Catch-and-release under Selective Gear Rules from the Saturday before Memorial Day through March 15, then closed March 16 onward to protect spawning redband on the Spokane system. Artificial flies and lures only, single barbless hooks, no bait. Non-motorized craft only; in the Natural Area no bank fishing and no anchoring — fish from the drifting craft. A Discover Pass is required to park at the access sites. Season dates and rules are set annually — confirm the current WDFW pamphlet before you go.

  • Catch-and-release for trout under Selective Gear Rules: artificial flies and lures only, single barbless hooks, no bait, no treble hooks.
  • Season: open the Saturday before Memorial Day through March 15; closed March 16 onward through the general closure to protect spawning redband.
  • Native redband must be released and handled with care — mishandling is an enforcement matter under RCW 77.15.
  • Non-motorized craft only (internal-combustion motors prohibited). In the Natural Area: no bank fishing and no anchoring — fish on the drift.
  • A Washington freshwater fishing license is required; a Discover Pass is needed to park at the Little Spokane River Natural Area access sites, including the St. George's put-in.

No steelhead or salmon — the Spokane system sits above impassable dams, so everything here is a resident fish and goes back. Note too that the streambed itself is largely privately owned; the public fishery is the float through the Natural Area, not the banks.

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

Access & Logistics

Getting there, fly shops, and lodging

Getting There

Spokane, WA

The St. George's put-in off Rutter Parkway is ~15 min from downtown Spokane and ~20-25 min from Spokane International Airport (GEG). ~1.5 hrs from Coeur d'Alene, ID.

Fly Shops

Camping & Lodging

Riverside State Park (Nine Mile / Bowl and Pitcher) has campgrounds near the take-out; otherwise Spokane-metro hotels put you minutes from the put-in. This is a close-to-town day fishery, not a lodge destination.

Float only. Put in at St. George's School off Rutter Parkway (Discover Pass required) and take out downstream near the Spokane River confluence in the Nine Mile / Riverside State Park area. This lower Natural Area reach is roughly 99 percent of the river's public fishing — the streambed elsewhere is private, bank fishing is prohibited in the Natural Area, and anchoring is not allowed, so bring a non-motorized craft and fish on the drift.

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

Eastern Washington

Spokane RiverWA

The rare wild trout fishery that runs straight through the middle of a city — native Columbia River redband rainbows in the riffles and basalt gorge from the Idaho state line down to Nine Mile Dam, within sight of downtown Spokane. Catch-and-release under Selective Gear Rules, single barbless, defined by thick evening caddis; a technical, slippery-cobble wade that reopens the Saturday before Memorial Day right into peak bug season.

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.

Klickitat RiverWA

Washington's classic Columbia Gorge swing river — a glacier-fed tributary off Mount Adams that runs largely undammed to the Columbia at Lyle. The draw is the fall run of summer steelhead, taken on a dry line and a swung fly through the lower canyon runs. Spey water first; plan it around the calendar, not the hatch, and know that glacial turbidity, not flow, decides whether it fishes.

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.