Troutline

Spokane River

Washington·Eastern Washington·47.66° N, 117.42° W
Flow
1,090 CFS
Spokane River below N Greene St at Spokane
Water Temp
—
Condition
Below Normal
Weather
78°F
Chance Showers And Thunderstorms
near Spokane
Latest report: Silver Bow Fly Shop · 7 days ago

Insights

Wind
Wind 2 mph — calm
Easy casting and clean surface presentations.
Flow
Low flows at 1,090 CFS
Fish are spooky. Lighten tippet and lengthen leaders.

The Spokane is the rare wild trout fishery that runs straight through the middle of a city. From the Idaho state line down to Nine Mile Dam it holds a self-sustaining population of native Columbia River redband rainbows — the westslope subspecies — and you can genuinely hook an 18-inch fish within sight of downtown high-rises and the Monroe Street Dam. Average fish run 14 to 16 inches, with a scattering of browns, westslope cutthroat, and abundant mountain whitefish. The whole thing is catch-and-release under Selective Gear Rules — artificial flies and lures only, single barbless hooks, no bait — and that's not incidental: historic mining and industrial contamination is why everything gets released, and it's a big part of why a wild redband fishery survives in an urban corridor at all.

It fishes as a wade river almost everywhere, and a technical one. The bottom is basalt bedrock and algae-slicked cobble that earns its reputation as one of the slipperiest wades in the Northwest — felt soles and a wading staff aren't optional here. Flow is the whole game. Snowmelt keeps it blown out and dangerous above roughly 3,000 CFS into June, it settles into prime wadeable shape below about 1,800 CFS through mid-summer, and the downtown gorge sits in a sweet spot around 1,500 to 2,500 CFS. Caddis define the summer fishery — the evening hatches come off thick enough that locals describe clouds of bugs like smoke over the willows — and there are salmonflies and skwala stones early, PMDs in July, and a strong BWO push in the fall. A dry-dropper with a foam attractor over a Perdigon or Pheasant Tail covers most water; euro-nymphing works the pocket water down in the gorge.

The trade-offs are real. Mid-summer low water warms the upper reaches and the fishery there shifts toward smallmouth bass, so trout anglers chase the cooler, spring-influenced gorge below Spokane Falls, which holds mid-60s temperatures even in August. It's an urban river — you fish past joggers on the Centennial Trail, disc golfers, and paddleboarders, and the downtown reaches get crowded. But access is superb and free: Riverside State Park, Riverfront Park, and a string of city parks put you on the water the whole way down the corridor. The season runs from the Saturday before Memorial Day — which reopens the river right into peak caddis — through March 15, and few places anywhere let you catch a wild native trout on a lunch break.

Fishing Reports

Latest reports from local fly shops

Silver Bow Fly Shop · Spokane Valley7 days ago
Summer Fishing Is Now

“Summer mode engaged June went by in a blur. For us at the Silver Bow, May + June is peak season. Hatches, weather, water, it’s all optimal. As we start to roll through July the shop steadies a bit. Summer travelers make their way into the store, guide trips are consistent, and…”

Read full report at Silver Bow Fly Shop

Species

  • Redband Trout
    Primary · Jun-Nov · 14-16", to 18"+

    The signature fishery — native Columbia River (westslope) redband rainbow, wild and self-sustaining through an urban corridor. Catch-and-release only; contamination-driven release rules are part of why this wild population persists. Fish the riffles and the spring-influenced gorge below Spokane Falls.

  • Brown Trout
    Uncommon · Sep-Nov · 12-20"

    A scattered fall streamer target, mostly in the upper river. Not numerous, but the river gives up the occasional genuinely big brown when the water cools.

  • Westslope Cutthroat Trout
    Uncommon · Jun-Sep · 10-16"

    Native and scattered through the middle reaches — a bonus fish on a redband day rather than a target of its own.

  • Mountain Whitefish
    Common · Oct-Mar · 10-16"

    Abundant and schooled in the deeper runs — the reliable winter nymphing target once the trout season closes and through the cold months. Small midge and Perdigon droppers.

  • Smallmouth Bass
    Common · Jul-Sep · 8-16"

    Takes over the warmer upper reaches in mid-summer low water. When the trout fishing pushes down into the gorge in the heat, the upper river becomes a legitimate smallmouth game on poppers and streamers.

Ideal wading flow1,500–2,500 CFS
Blow-out>5,000 CFS
Ideal water temp48–62°F

Two windows carry the year. The late-May-through-June reopener is prime — the river opens the Saturday before Memorial Day right into peak caddis as snowmelt flows drop toward wadeable shape below 1,800 CFS. September and October is the second window, with cooling water, active trout, BWOs, and terrestrials. Mid-summer is fishable but hot and low, and the upper river goes bass-dominated — trout anglers work mornings and the spring-fed gorge below Spokane Falls, which holds mid-60s even in August. The gorge sweet spot sits around 1,500 to 2,500 CFS; above roughly 3,000 CFS in early season the river is high and hazardous, and 5,000-plus is a blowout. Winter is whitefish and nymph fishing until the March 15 closure.

Sections

4 sections on this river

Bowl & Pitcher to Nine Mile Dam (Lower Gorge)

WadeRedband · Rainbow Trout · Whitefish

The gorge continues through Riverside State Park past the Devil's Toenail rapid to the final riffles above the Nine Mile impoundment. Redband rainbow trout and abundant mountain whitefish through the runs, with a notable September evening hatch below the dam. Below Nine Mile the river becomes Lake Spokane and is no longer the trout fishery.

Best for: Redband rainbow trout and mountain whitefish; late-season evening dry-fly fishing near the dam.

Monroe Street Dam to Bowl & Pitcher (Upper Gorge)

WadeRedband · Rainbow Trout

A rocky basalt gorge of pocket water, deep holes, and house-sized boulders below Spokane Falls. This is the mid-summer trout refuge — cooler, spring-influenced water that holds mid-60s temperatures even in August — and the best summer redband rainbow trout water on the river, with the sweet spot around 1,500 to 2,500 CFS. Class III+ whitewater; wade only, and the basalt is slick.

Best for: Pocket-water dry-dropper and euro-nymphing for redband rainbow trout; the summer thermal refuge.

Stateline to Upriver (Upper Reach)

WadeRedband · Rainbow Trout · Smallmouth

Riffles, gravel bars, and bouldery runs paralleled the whole way by the Centennial Trail — classic wade water from the Idaho state line down through the Spokane Valley. Redband rainbow trout hold the riffles and pocket water late May through June; in July and August low water the reach warms and the fishing shifts toward smallmouth bass.

Best for: Redband rainbow trout on dry-dropper and nymph rigs at the reopener; smallmouth bass in mid-summer low water.

Upriver Dam to Monroe Street Dam (Downtown / Urban Reach)

WadeRedband · Rainbow Trout

Riffle-run water through the Gonzaga district and Riverfront Park, with steep banks and genuinely urban surroundings — you sight-fish to visible redband rainbow trout from park platforms and bridges between Division and Monroe. Technical dry-fly and dry-dropper water that gets the most fishing pressure on the river.

Best for: Technical dry-fly presentations to large, visible redband rainbow trout; expect company.

Regulations

Current fishing rules and restrictions

The Spokane from the Idaho state line downstream is a catch-and-release trout fishery under Selective Gear Rules — artificial flies and lures only, single barbless hooks, no bait. The season runs from the Saturday before Memorial Day through March 15, closed the rest of spring for spawning. Release is contamination-driven; PCB and heavy-metal fish-consumption advisories apply. Season dates and species limits are set annually — confirm the current WDFW pamphlet before you go.

  • Catch-and-release for trout under Selective Gear Rules: unscented artificial flies and lures only, single barbless hooks, no bait.
  • Season: open the Saturday before Memorial Day through March 15; closed mid-March to late May for spawning.
  • Trout release is contamination-driven — PCB and heavy-metal fish-consumption advisories (WA Dept. of Health) apply to the river; do not eat fish from it.
  • A Washington freshwater fishing license is required; a Discover Pass is needed for Washington State Parks lots, including Riverside State Park (Bowl & Pitcher).
  • Species-specific rules for bass and whitefish differ from the trout rules — confirm current limits in the WDFW pamphlet.

No steelhead or salmon — the Spokane is cut off from anadromy by the downstream mainstem dams and Grand Coulee. Everything you catch here is a resident fish and everything goes back.

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 river runs through downtown Spokane; the whole fishery is within 20 min of the city center and ~10 min from Spokane International Airport (GEG). ~1.5 hrs from Coeur d'Alene, ID.

Fly Shops

Camping & Lodging

Riverside State Park (Bowl & Pitcher) has a campground right on the lower gorge; abundant Spokane and Spokane Valley hotels put you minutes from any reach.

Access is free and superb the whole way down — the Centennial Trail shadows the river bank to bank, with put-ins and walk-in access at Stateline, Sullivan Park, Plante's Ferry, Upriver and Mission parks, Riverfront Park downtown, People's Park, T.J. Meenach Bridge, Downriver, and Bowl & Pitcher in Riverside State Park. A Discover Pass is required for the state-park lots. The bottom is genuinely treacherous: felt soles and a wading staff are mandatory kit, not a suggestion.

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

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.

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.