by John Kruse, September 15, 2008

It may not garner the press that other fishing streams in Washington get, but South Central Washington’s Klickitat River is well worth the journey this fall if you are a salmon or steelhead angler. Washingtonlakes.com Editor Mike Carey and I got the opportunity to fish this scenic stream while attending Fish Camp this week, an annual event put on by Dalles, Oregon walleye guide Ed Iman for outdoors writers, guides, and others associated with the sport fishing industry.

If you haven’t been to the Klickitat before just take State Highway 14 to the small town of Lyle, which sits at the confluence of the Klickitat and Columbia Rivers. From there follow State Route 142 north for 21 miles as it parallels the Klickitat River. Along the way you’ll see several deep holes, especially in the first few miles near the mouth, where salmon stack up. Continuing upstream you’ll see a variety of runs and holes that will appeal to both fly and hardware anglers. There is lots of public access to this stream, with only a few places posted as private property. It’s also a good place to fish from a drift boat; an obvious fact based on the numbers of boats and trailers seen on the water and near several rough launch sites.

The Klickitat is a pleasant place to cast a line. The width of the river is just wide enough to cast across with a hefty spinner or a spey rod. The shoreline is sandy in some places, and lined with basalt rock in many more. Trees grow close to the river at places, and in this dry, sunny climate you’ll have the unique opportunity of fishing near forested stands of oak trees. Water clarity was good, but by no means gin clear. This is apparently a normal state of affairs, even when no rain has fallen for some time.

In a full day of fishing spinners, spoons and jigs Mike and I saw lots of salmon breaching and briefly hooked and lost one steelhead fishing a Mack’s glo-getter jig under a slip bobber. The next day I went back for a few more hours of fishing and managed to catch and release a high jumping, hard running 7-pound native steelhead on a No. 3 spinner with a single barbless hook.

On this second day on the river I stopped by the Klickitat Trader (Tel. 509-369-3601), a small store stocking groceries, bait, ice and tackle in the little community of Klickitat. Rolf Evenson owns the store and an adjacent café. He is very familiar with the river and was happy to share some of his knowledge about the fall fishing.

According to Everson, September and October are prime times to fish for fall Chinook salmon. Most anglers use bait, especially sand shrimp or salmon roe, to hook these fish. You can also try back trolling a Kwikfish or Worden’s Flatfish lure with a herring or sardine wrap.

Evenson said steelhead angling is good from September until this fishery closes on the river at the end of November. Steelhead anglers also use bait and many use eggs or prawns, though the latter bait is usually of the dyed variety. Other steelheaders have success using wet flies and Blue Fox spinners. Steelie spoons were prominently displayed for sale, and Evenson went on to say that jigs under bobbers also work, but few anglers use this them to tempt bites on this river.

If you need a place to stay there are some dispersed, primitive camping locations along the river. Otherwise, you’ll want to head towards The Dalles across the Columbia River or White Salmon on the Washington side for lodging. Campers may want to check out the campground at Columbia Hills State Park east of Lyle, where you can get in some additional fishing at Horsethief Lake and the Columbia River.

John Kruse is a freelance outdoors writer and is the host of “The Great Outdoors Show”, broadcast every weekend on 560 KPQ – Wenatchee. Check out his web site, www.northwesternoutdoors.com, for more details.

John Kruse with a wild Klickitat River steelhead.