Specific Stream Info

Middle Fork Snoqualmie

The Middle Fork Snoqualmie River is a popular trout fly fishing river; it may very well be the most popular fly fishing river in Western Washington. The river is around 40 miles long, all the way from Dutch Miller Gap to its confluence in North Bend. It is the largest of the three forks of the Snoqualmie. The earliest most people fish this river is July 4th, after that the action seems to be good. Look for the river to get below 400CFS at the Tanner stream flow station. It is a good dry fly river all the way until the end of September; October is usually subsurface fishing until it finally shuts down. Popular flies for this river are Royal Wulff, Para Adams, Adams, Humpy, Stimulator, and Elk Hair Caddis. Any attractor nymph will usually produce too. Most fish in this river are small, usually around 6-9 inches. In some deep pools and good holding lies there is the occasional 10-12 incher, with a few 14-16 inch fish in some spots. Those are pretty rare though. In most cases the biggest fish you catch will be under 10". If you want to go for the big ones you can try to drift a big woolly bugger or sculpin through a deep run or pool. The river is accessible off exit 34, then you take middle fork road the follows the river for about 13 miles. After this you can hike on the Dutch Miller Gap trail all the way to the middle forks headwaters. The road is a pretty good gravel road all the way to the Taylor River confluence, after that it is rough with a lot of potholes and bad washboard sections. This continues all the way to the Dingford Creek Trailhead where the road is gated. To fish this river you can just pull over on the road near any section of water that looks good. To find the best fishing, you have to do some exploring and hiking to less fished spots. Here you catch more and bigger fish. 

South Fork Snoqualmie

The South Fork Snoqualmie parallels I-90 all the way from north bend to Snoqualmie Pass. It is the most accessible of the three Snoqualmie forks; it is also the smallest of the three. It is easier to cross and not as deep as the other forks. This is alright in early summer, but in late summer and fall when the river gets really low you have to do a lot of walking to get to spots deep enough to hold fish. The river is a no-bait barbless hook fisheries, but not a catch and release river. It does get hit hard being so accessible, plus people can keep fish on this river, and they do. Near north bend the river is slow and deep. You can find rainbows and cutthroats in this section up to 13”. It is definitely hard to fish though. The middle sections, around exits 34-42, contain cutthroats, rainbows, and a few brook trout. The brook trout will be near beaver ponds. There are plenty along this section of river. For the most part this river has fish in the 5-8” range with a few that get up to 10 or 11. Further up around the Denny creek and Asaheal Curtis exits. The river becomes steeper as it nears Snoqualmie pass. Here you’ll find some brook trout, cutthroat, and rainbows. It is best o fish this section early in the year, late June/ early July. Later in the summer the river becomes creek size and it is hard to find good holding areas. This river clears before the other forks. It is usually fishable by late June and sometime early to mid June depending on the snow pack and how warm melting season is. 

North Fork Snoqualmie

      The north fork Snoqualmie is 2^nd to the middle fork Snoqualmie in size out of the 3 forks. It is 26 miles long and is fishable almost throughout its entire length. Near north bend you can fish the river as long as you can stay off private property. Just like the lower sections of the south fork and middle fork Snoqualmie, the river is wide, slow, and deep. There is decent fishing in this section with fish up to 12”. The middle section of the North Fork Snoqualmie goes through tree farm property. It used to be owned by Weyerhauser but is now owned by Hancock. There is a county road that provides some access points to this section of the river without having a tree farm pass. This section goes through black canyon. It is fairly high gradient and difficult to wade. It really isn’t safe to fish this section until the river flows drop in mid July. It is a difficult section to fish but it can yield some nice fish in the canyons deepest, secluded pools. Long ago there were reports of 20” fish being caught in the canyons, more recently there was a report of a 16” fish caught. Above black canyon the river levels out and meanders in an ancient lake bed. Here there are lots of beaver ponds. This section has plenty of cutthroat and brook trout. If your fishing near the beaver ponds you will probably catch more brook trout than cutthroat. Trout rarely get over 10” in this section, even though it seems like it would hold bigger fish. Standard dry flies work well here, like especially the big 3, Royal Wulff, Parachute Adams, and Elk Hair Caddis.