Where to go fly fishing in Washington in October 2025

Fly Fishing Report & Forecast - Updated October 7, 2025

Fall is finally here! The leaves are turning, the days are getting shorter, and the weather is finally cooling off. October is a month that many of us dream about all year long and the fly fishing opportunities are almost endless. There's so much to do, it's hard to fit it all in! This is a great time be trout fishing in both rivers, and lakes. Steelhead and salmon are filling the rivers, and it's a great time to wet a line and get tight! Here's a look at what you can target in the month of October, where to go and what to use!

Coho Salmon

This Coho season started off really early this year. We heard of the first coho getting caught in the Skagit in late August which is really early. The season started out really strong with great numbers of coho returning to our local rivers, and it's continued to be good despite river levels being really low.

Colin with a fresh wild coho on the swing. Looks like this fish narrowly escaped death more than once.

Coho fishing can be one of two things. It's either lights out and you're getting grabs every cast, or you're your about to pull your hair out because you can't buy a bite. Often times you will be fishing right on top of pods of silvers and they just aren't interested. But when they're fired up and willing to chase a fly, it's one of the most exhilarating things in fly fishing. Sometimes all it takes is just cracking the code, and we're going to tell you how!

Some thoughts on your coho setup would be to fish sink-tip lines with 6-foot RIO Salmon/Steelhead Leaders of 16lb. Take a wide variety of flies in the key colors of pink, chartreuse, purple, black, and blue. Have large sized flies, medium and surprisingly small flies. Flies with weighted eyes, coneheads or beadheads provide extra jigging motion which is often more effective. Fish flies as small as 1-inch size 6 hooks like a small Clouser Minnow or bonefish style flies. Large flies should have loads of movement like marabou or rabbit strip flies. Keep those hooks sharp and change colors, fly size, and your retrieve if you have fish in front of you that won’t eat. Most anglers prefer to cast and swing the fly in front of the fish and then quickly strip the fly away from them about mid-swing. Move to different locations until you find fish and cover lots of water to hunt down those fish that may be willing to strike at something. Another proven technique is to pulse the fly while it's swinging, by pulling the rod back and slowly bringing the rod forward. This causes the fly to dart forward and slowly drop back making the fly "jig" which drives coho crazy! One other technique I'll mention that is often overlooked for coho is to fish a floating line with a long leader of 12-15 feet and a heavily weighted fly. Fish this setup in deep slack water like back eddy's, deep pools, and side channels. Make a cast, let the fly sink and drop, coho will often eat on the drop. Then give the fly a quick short strip or two followed by a long pause, this can often get them to eat when nothing else is working.

If you go up to the Skagit, keep an eye on temporary river closures when they close sections of the river for a couple days so the tribes can run gillnets.

As of October 13th until further notice the Skykomish will be closed from the mouth to the railroad bridge at Big eddy.

Outside of our immediate area, the rivers around Forks, WA and rivers in SW Washington like the Chehalis and Kalama are known silver producers and will have fish in them.

Fly recommendations for coho:

Steelhead

October is a month many steelhead anglers look forward to all year long for fishing Columbia river tributary rivers like the Deschutes, Klickitat, Grand Ronde, Snake, and others. The Columbia system got a big push of steelhead early this year but since has slowed down. The daily counts have been about on par with the ten year average, and though the counts have slowed down, fishing for steelhead has continued to be very consistent. If you don't have some dates on the calendar for a fall steelheading trip, you still have some time. Usually, these rivers fish well through November or until it starts to get really cold and/or the rivers rise and color up. Columbia & Snake River dam counts.

Cowlitz river summer-run.

On the more local steelheading scene, the main portion of the North Fork Stillaguamish will open on October 16th for fly fishing only for steelhead. The Stilly has quietly been producing some fish the last few years so this could be a trip to consider between now and when the (usual) November rains come and punch the river out. The NF Stilly is currently open below the Hwy 530/Cicero Bridge and the main Stillaguamish is open. Always check the regulations prior to going.

This is the time to fish your Scandi lines or full floating heads with traditional style steelhead flies, or bust out those skaters!

Fall Steelhead Flies:

Westside Trout Rivers

October is the last reliable month for hitting our local NW Washington trout streams with any predictability. Once the rains kick into gear by late November, the fishing isn’t the same. So, get out there and wet a line while October still offers some nice low-water conditions on these streams. Also, please note, these are all wild trout and often young, wild steelhead. Please practice catch and release, use barbless hooks, and minimize handling of these fish when landing them.

South and North Forks of the Skykomish River – Remains closed until November 1st.

South Fork of the Stillaguamish – Smaller in size than the forks of the Skykomish, the South Fork Stillaguamish is a nice stream for targeting trout in the fall and provides good walk-in access. Always keep an eye on the fishing regulations with all of these rivers, but the SF Stilly is currently open above the bridge above Granite Falls through November 30, 2025. Below the Granite Falls fishway outlet will be open from November 1st to January 31st. It hosts decent numbers of smaller trout as well as sea-run cutthroat and is another great target for small dry flies, light nymphing techniques, and small streamers for sea-runs.

Middle or South Fork of the Snoqualmie – Small stream fishing is a blast on these rivers. The South Fork is a smaller river with smaller fish that love to eat dry flies when the water is low and clear. The Middle Fork is a bit larger with more deeper areas. It offers a few more medium-sized trout and some good places to also fish light nymphing techniques. Like with all of these rivers, the trout fishing will remain viable until the rivers start running higher and colder. You can check real-time river levels and our Resources page of our website is a good place to start.

Eastside Trout Rivers

Yakima River – Fall on the Yakima can produce some of the best fishing of the year. The river is currently really low, 564cfs, but we have heard that it's fishing well and producing some quality fish. This time of year, there are three main bugs on the menu. Those are October Caddis, Blue Wing Olives, and Crane Flies. This is also a great time of year to swing flies with a trout Spey. Flies like the Dolly Llama or the Sheila Sculpin. Lower flows make walking/wading the Yakima very productive in October. Floating the river with a guide is always a great option as well and will have you covering miles of river during a fun, relaxing day on the water. Ask us and we’ll be happy to recommend a good guide for the Yakima.

Rocky Ford – Some of the best days I’ve ever seen or heard of on Rocky Ford have been in October. Shorter days, cooler temps and fewer weeds and the Rocky Ford streamer action typically goes bananas. White or black streamers fished on a floating line with a Slow Sinking PolyLeader can be deadly. Have your tiny nymphs, midge larva, and scuds ready, but the streamer action is where it’s at on many days. A 6wt rod with a heavy leader/tippet of around 2X is the way to go when streamer fishing the Ford. It is a nice place to have a landing net as well, and is a much nicer, faster way to land those big, fat, scud-eating fish in Rocky Ford. Flies like the Coffee’s Sparkle Minnow in Black or White, the Swede's Rabbit Leech - Black , or the Sculpzilla Jr. – White are all great choices.

Trout Lakes

October is a month when we hear some of the best trout lake reports for the year. Hunters are off hunting. Steelheaders are off steelheading. Guys are up in Alaska… And so on. Meanwhile, a few anglers are quietly fishing our famous trout lakes and cleaning up.

Photo taken from the campground at Chopaka Lake.

Chopaka is a great lake that seems to get a renewal of interest in the fall. It is a very special lake that has it all in terms of scenery, just far enough off the beaten trail, and a great population of good-sized rainbows. If you haven’t been to Chopaka, this October might be your time to go. You will probably have company, but nothing like in the spring.

Many folks are aware of the fall fishing on Pass Lake. In the evenings especially, try casting minnow patterns like the Pass Lake Minnow right up to the shoreline. Strip them back on a fast retrieve with a slow sinking line. Some of the largest trout we’ve seen taken on the westside have come from Pass Lake in the fall. Pass Lake has been closed recently due to Toxic algae so keep an eye on that. Washington State Toxic Algae.

In October, Lone Lake usually gets really good. Sinking lines and black or black/red leeches can get it done this time of year, and don’t be afraid to chuck them up into very shallow water and retrieve them into the deeper water. Small bloodworms, chironomids, and even damsel fly nymphs have been working well.

Other Eastern Washington lakes like Nunually, Lenice, Dry Falls, etc. are usually great bets in October while the weather is chilly but not super cold like it may be in another month. Lenice, for example, will be super crowded in the spring… but the fishing is typically just as good right now but with a fraction (if any) of the people. There usually aren’t a whole lot of chironomids hatching, if that is your thing, but the sub-surface bite on sinking lines can be off the hook on the right days. And usually, the wind isn’t as bad!!

Sea-Run Cutthroat in Puget Sound

Yep. Still plugging along with decent reports on the sea-runs in Puget Sound. About this time of year, the central to northern portions of the Sound start to slow down and the southern portions of the sound remain good. In the northern sound, especially in early October, the chances of an encounter with a hot coho always keep things interesting.

Bass and Warmwater

Water temperatures on our lakes are around the mid- to high-sixties as of the beginning of October here. Bass and panfish begin to back out of shallow water areas and stage close to deeper water areas where they will likely winter. Look for deeper water close to shallow waters that held fish during the summer. For panfish, look for big, tightly packed schools on a fish finder. Drag a small fly like the Ultimate Perch Fry in front of them on a sinking line and you’ll be into fish. Panfish don’t hit a fly like a trout does… so keep the line slowly moving to keep your line and leader taught and use a short leader. Strip set when you feel weight or a bump from the fish inhaling the fly. Great fun and can be great fish tacos as well!

For smallmouth, fish rocky bottom areas with very fast sinking lines like the RIO Striper 30-Foot Sink Tip line. Look for most smallmouth to be in 20-30 feet of water in our larger lakes in the October timeframe. They are less likely to go shallow now, but pay close attention to depths and different areas to try and develop a pattern for the day. Yellow perch should still be on the menu in October and the Sheila Sculpin is a great yellow perch pattern. The Jon’s Lion Bugger or the Crazy Dad are great for crawling along the bottom in deeper water as a crayfish imitation.

Where to go fly fishing in Washington in October 2025

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