Klickitat River Washington Fishing Report & Options for Selecting Flies: Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. We can get flies and gear to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Your can also call us at 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide what flies and gear to use. All orders are shipped free in the U.S. If under a $100 order requiring Priority mail is a charge of only $8.10. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.
We also have custom Perfect Fly selections in 3 different price ranges for this stream that come with or without fly boxes. They make excellent gifts. Click Here To Order or Call us at 800 594 4726 or email us at sales@perfectflystore.com.
Click Here to see our Steelhead Flies: Click Here to see our Salmon Flies.
Type of Stream
Freestone
Species
Steelhead (wild and hatchery)
Size
Medium
Location
South Central Washington
Nearest Towns
Lyle
Klickitat
Season
June 1 – November 30
Access:
Good in the lower section, hiking
required in the upper section
Non-Resident License
State of Washington
Weather
National Weather Service Link
Seasons:
June 1 – November 30
Summer:
The water can be high and off color during the first part of Summer. There is a summer steelhead run.
Fall:
Early Fall is the best time for fly fishing the Klickitat River
Recommended Tackle & Gear
For Steelhead and Salmon
Fly Line:
7, 8 , 9 or 10 weight for appropriate typerod, sinking, sinking tip and floating
Leaders:
10#, 12# in 9 to 15 feet lengths
Tippets:
10# and 12#
Best Fly Rods:
Perfect Fly 7, 8, 9 and 10 ft. single hand rods
Fly Reels:
For 7 to 10 weight lines
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
KISS Strike Indicators, Lanyards, etc.
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
Fly Fishing The Klickitat River Washington
The Klickitat is a very beautiful river that gets its water from the glaciers of Mt. Adams. It has a very good return of good size, wild steelhead and hatchery fish. It’s a tributary of the Columbia River. Fly fishing on the Klickitat varies greatly all depending on the time of year status of the runs.
Glacial water can be very tricky and different from most non-glacial streams The river can be murky, dingy or off color up until about the last of September or as late as the first part of October. That’s when the glacier will freeze up and the off color water will cease to be a problem. It depends on the local weather and the way the glacier behaves. Some days you will have clear water early and dingy water later in the day.
Most anglers fish with nymphs but swinging flies can also produce. The river can be fished by wading or floating different sections of the river. Its upper section, or canyon section, is roadless but the lower section is easily accessed. The upper section offers good opportunities for those willing to hike. The lower section is followed by state road #142, called the Klickitat River Road, from the mouth at the mighty Columbia River to the confluence of the Little Klickitat River, a distance of about 16 miles.
On its way to the Columbia, the Klickitat River falls over huge boulders and flows rapidly through narrow chutes. Near the little community of Lyle, the Klickitat flows into a
narrow gorge where both salmon and steelhead fight strong currents and many obstructions like log jams to get to their upstream destination.
Fly fishing the Klickitat River can be a wild experience. Its water is controlled only by mother nature and an unpredictable glacier that lies below a volcano. When the glacier isn’t frozen, it’s leaking dirty, gray stained water. Its upper headwaters flow through the Yakima Indian Reservation and the Goat Rocks Wilderness. Locals claim its steelhead are harder fighters than other steelhead because they have to be able to climb such a
high gradient river as well as get through a very narrow, fast water gorge at its mouth..