Spokane River Report: 12.1.2015

I picked up my friend Erik at 9:00 a.m. and we made our way to the Spokane River for my traditional pre-Thanksgiving dinner fishing session. The air temperature was 23 degrees when we arrived at the river, so dry fly fishing was definitely not on the agenda.

We strung up our rods with 9' 3X leaders and heavily weighted Pat's Stones with a size 14 hot-bead Prince Nymph dropper. We made our way down to one of my favorite winter runs on the Spokane, which has some nice riffles that drop into 4-6 foot buckets where trout wait for nymphs in the buffet line.

The fishing was not fast and furious at first, but that changed once the sun hit the water, with both of us landing some nice redband rainbows. Most of the strikes were subtle, so use the smallest indicator you can get away with (I prefer .75" Air-Lock Indicator) and be sure to keep a drag-free drift.

As we were leaving I could see some midges starting to hatch and a few fish rising. While not known for its dry fly fishing, the Spokane does see some phenomenal hatches. Some of my best days with dries on this river have come during the winter months. Focus your efforts on slow moving water and back eddies that herd the bugs in like cattle to hungry trout. With forecasted temps in the 40's for the next several days the fishing on the Spokane and other local rivers will be phenomenal!