It's been a busy summer! Sorry I haven't been writing as many fishing reports as I usually do. But hopefully you have also been able to get out onto the Spokane River this summer, and catching a couple fish along the way.
The weather for this upcoming weekend looks fantastic! Air temps are going to cool down considerably (at least for a couple of days). Whenever these fronts blow in the blue winged olives (BWOs) really get active and you can find trout feeding up and down the river in slower water like pools and glides. There's rain forecasted later today, so if you get a chance to head down to the river this evening have some Parachute Adams (size 14-18) with you just in case the rain actually comes and the trout start rising.
For Saturday and Sunday, air temperatures are great and it will be a pleasant weekend to be on the river and not getting scorched by the heat. Most trout, both on the Upper and Lower Spokane, are still spending most of there time hanging close to the turbulent water, such as rapids and riffles when there isn't an active aquatic insect hatch going on. So, the best bet for you to hook into a trout is to find any sort of "white water" (riffles, rapids, runs) and use dry-droppers, two nymph indicator rigs, or euro nymphing. Take your time, the trout are down close to the substrate (bottom) and it takes multiple drifts with your flies to come in contact with them. Two of my favorite nymphs to use to reach the trout are the Frenchie and Perdigon (any color for the Perdigon). Use heavy tungsten beads and thin tippet (4 or 5x) to help punch through the water to get to the fish. If your are not touching bottom or tapping against boulders at least every 5th or 6th drift, then you are not getting deep enough, so lengthen out your leader, use thinner tippet, and heavier nymphs. The drop-shot rig is a very effective way to fish the deeper runs this time of year.
I've also had a lot of questions about fishing the Upper Spokane River this year; by "Upper" Spokane I mean the stretch of river above the Spokane Falls to the Post Falls Dams in Idaho. This section of river is predominately trout fishing, however the closer you get to the Idaho/Washington state border, the weirder the fishing conditions get. To help explain this section of river and to provide you with useful fishing information, I made this in-depth video:
Give that video a watch, and if you have any questions/thoughts about the Upper Spokane, please send me an email (marc.fryt@gmail.com) or a DM on Instagram (@marc_fryt).
Yes, the Upper Spokane has some strange water conditions during the summer, but once you start to figure out its secrets you will discover that there are some great fish to be caught. I was out on that part of the river the other morning with Jule Schultz (from the Spokane Riverkeeper) and Bob Bartlett (one of the founders of Ubuntu Fly Anglers), and there were a couple nice wild and native redband trout that found there way into the net!
Another section of the Upper Spokane to check out is Riverfront Park, and yes fishing is allowed at Riverfront Park. There are trout that swim around the park and the other day my wife just caught one of her personal best redband near the Clocktower. Nymphing and dry-droppers (with 3 to 4 feet between the dry fly and the nymph) are two techniques to try out in this area. When the sun is also high overhead, you'll spot very large fish down near the bottom, and those are the wild and native largescale suckers. Euro nymphing or using a single heavy nymph with a Tenkara rod is a fantastic way to try and catch these fish. I'm not going to lie, it's tough getting largescale suckers to take your fly and it will really challenge your sight fishing abilities. If you are going to give this challenge a go, try using nymphs that are bright/colorful so you can see it in the water and inch it close to the largescale suckers.
Speaking of largescale suckers, they are worth the most points in our upcoming Spokane River Scavenger Hunt hosted by the Spokane Falls Trout Unlimited chapter. This event is free, fun, and is taking place on September 14th. We'll be meeting at the Clocktower at 8:00am and then fishing the Spokane River for various species and other challenges. The winner of the scavenger hunt will receive a guided float trip down the Spokane River with me (during next season). Check out all the details in that link provided above.
To help you prepare for the scavenger hunt, I'll be hosting another free fly fishing clinic at Riverfront Park on August 31st (Saturday) at 9:00am, meeting at the Clocktower. This clinic is for anyone new or experienced with fly fishing who wants to work on things like casting, reading the water, tying knots, choosing fly patterns for the Spokane River, how to sight fish, how to find fishing spots on the Spokane River, etc. I'll have just a couple extra fly rods with me, but if you have your own fly fishing gear please bring it with you (if you need to borrow any fly fishing equipment, please give send me a message on Instagram @marc_fryt). After about an hour or so of doing some casting lessons/discussions on fishing the Spokane River, we'll also walk around Riverfront Park and actually do some fishing, so if you would like to fish then please have your freshwater fishing license with you. You can buy your license online here. Some come join, hang out, and maybe do a little fishing!
Other upcoming events include the Spokane Riverkeeper Meet and Greet Happy Hour on August 27th over at BrickWest Brewing (5:00 to 7:00pm). Come spend the evening getting to know some of the Spokane Riverkeeper staff and community. This event is a fantastic opportunity to meet like-minded individuals who share a passion for protecting and preserving the Spokane River. Please invite your friends who you think might be interested in getting more involved with Spokane Riverkeeper. More info here.
There is also a river clean-up walk and talk with the Spokane Riverkeeper on September 4th starting at 5:00pm over at Redband Park. This walk and talk will be with Rick Eichsteadt, founder of the Spokane Riverkeeper, who was also the previous director of the Center for Justice. It's a great opportunity to help pick up some of the trash along the river and listen from Rick as he talks about current and past issues that effect the river. Event details and registration (it's a free event) located here.
I hope you get a chance to fish and explore the Spokane River this weekend. The weather will finally be really nice and you can't ask for better conditions to go down to the river with friends and family. I also hope you sign up for the Spokane Scavenger Hunt, this year is the first year we are doing this and it is something that will help people to fish and connect with the river and community, and we (Trout Unlimited) would like to continue this event each year. So please join, it will be a fun, friendly event. Even if you have no experience with fly fishing or fishing the Spokane River, this is the perfect event to get to know other anglers who can help you with learning how to fly fish and fish locally here in our city.
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