The Klickitat River is a tributary of the Columbia River, in south-central Washington and It drains a rugged plateau area on the eastern side of the Cascade Range northeast of Portland. The river flows for over 90+ miles from its origin on the slopes of Mt Adams to its confluence with the Columbia river at the Columbia river Gorge. The drainage is quite steep and in fact some of the lower portions of the river are not navigable due to class 5+ falls. The last 11 miles are designated “Wild and Scenic” The river tumbles into the Columbia approximately 120 miles from the salt and this can equate to some rather ‘hot’ summer run steelhead.
The Klickitat river’s wild strain of steelhead are strong and unpredictable. Typically, in the 8-12 pound range with the ever present possibility at a 20 pound fish. The wild summer steelhead runs enter the river anywhere from June until November. In addition to the wild steelhead, the hatchery steelhead that inhabit the Klickitat are of the Skamania strain are an added bonus.
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