Early Bird Gets the Fish

Go early and enjoy the best time of the day.

August is starting off with a heat wave and early morning fishing is the best. We have been lucky this summer and really haven't experienced much heat until recently. Summer heat brings on a few things: 1) Terrestrial fishing 2) Tubers 3) Early mornings or late evenings. To avoid number two and experience the best fishing you must go either very early or stay late.

Our Spokane River guide team has been out on the water early all summer. We want you to enjoy the best part of the day so we get an early start and try to have you finished up with the day by the time it's too hot and the tube hatch starts. By optimizing the prime time of the day you get the best experience on the water with the highest potential for good catch rates.

The Spokane River I think is one of the more interesting rivers in the region. The product of the St. Joe and Coeur d'Alene Rivers, the Spokane flows out of lake Coeur d'Alene, not as a freestone, but as a tailwater below a dam. Unfortunately when it comes out of the Lake, it is a top spill, which means it puts warm water into the river from the lakes surface. A number of miles downstream though the system changes and begins to pick-up underground water from our aquifer. This "in-stream" flow keeps the Spokane River cool below Sullivan Bridge all summer long. The cool water continues to trickle into the watershed throughout its journey through town, though some areas of river do lose water back to the aquifer, overall the Spokane gains cool water.

This recharge from our aquifer means that the lower the stream gets, the greater the influence from ground water. The Spokane River is one of the coldest rivers in the region thanks to this phenomenon.

Our guide team fishes this unique watershed almost daily during the main season and is adept at finding Spokane River's native fish, the Redband trout. These beautiful trout are unlike our neighboring cutthroat rivers. They react differently to flies and are not forgiving when it comes to slow hooksets and fish fighting abilities. They fight hard until the end and are an absolute blast to catch on a fly rod. Our guides are keen to their quirkiness and are skilled at coaching you through them to have a successful day.

If you are interested in fishing this wild, urban trout fishery with us this summer, give us a call 509-924-9998. We would love to get you out on the water... earlier the better!