Spey Fishing for Steelhead - Salmon River, Idaho
Description
Late-September through mid-December we offer fly fishing trips for Steelhead on the Salmon River out of Riggins, Idaho. Whether it's your goal to swing up your first Steelhead on a Spey Rod, or add another notch on the cork, we have you covered!
Generally, we find our best success from Mid-October through Thanksgiving. We sometimes even like to swing dry flies in the earlier part of the season. Run timing & water conditions play a huge role in how early in the season we can start, and how late we can fish through. We can schedule Salmon River fly fishing Jan-March, but we encourage you to stick to the fall & early winter fishery if possible.
Our professional guides will be beside you the entire day, rowing you from run-to-run, giving advice (if you want it!), netting your fish, and helping you select the best fly to use. We want you to be successful, whether you're a seasoned veteran fly fisherman, or new to the art. We will put you on the best water, boost your confidence, and increase your odds of hooking into an amazing Salmon River Steelhead
What to Expect
Salmon River Drifters provides you with a guide, drift boat (for on-water transportation between runs), and knowledge of productive Salmon River Steelhead fly water. For standard trips, please come with your own Waders, Spey Rod, Flies, & Line.
We will fish 4-6 runs per day depending on angler experience, time of the year, and stretch of water we fish. Steelhead are well-known for being extremely tough to hook (and land) on the fly. We highly recommend coming for at least 2-3 days. After that first grab and scream of the reel, the patience will be well paid off!
Instructional trips where we provide the gear are available with limited availability, please call for details! (208) 507-8447
Please see the dropdown list for recommendations on gear!
Gear & Equipment
Rod, Reel, Line
When fly fishing, we primarily target Steelhead using Spey Rods. We prefer a 12-14' 7wt-8wt rods.
You have a few options for heads, tips, and leader/tippet depending on the time of year.
Lines, Tips, leader:
Skagit - Skagit lines are preferred for the majority of our trips, the importance of being able to swing and turn over a large fly and sinking tip can't be understated. Pair them with a variety of 10-12' MOW sink tips such as T8, T11, & T14. It's also nice to have a mixture of intermediate tips such as shorter 5' T8 & T11. Tip them with 12'-18' of your preferred leader/tippet (12-16lb).
Scandi - Scandi lines will work in the very early part of our season, when fish are sitting shallow high in the shallow runs, or if you are wanting to skate surface flies. Tip them with 12'-18' of your preferred leader/tippet (12-16lb).
Though plenty of patience is required, early season skating can be an extremely exciting way to catch a Steelhead 500 miles from the ocean.
We see the best success Spey Fishing from Mid October through Mid November.
FLIES:
Classic Salmon River Spey Flies:
Hair wing flies and feather wing flies as well as Intruder flies.
Green butt Skunk, Purple Peril, Blue Charm, Beats me, Fall Favorite.
Lady Caroline, Orange Heron, Winters hope, are some feather wind.
Hoh-bo Spey, Articulate Leech, Bunny leech and a few intruder flies.
Skaters:
Skating Muddler, October Caddis, Bomber patterns,
For Spring fishing:
Egg patterns, sculpin/goby patterns, Egg sucking leech, Green Butt Skunk, Copper John Nymph, Batman Nymph.
Pricing Details
2025-2026 Pricing:
$480 for the boat
Maximum 2 anglers + guide per boat
Lunch addition - $12/angler
Terms & Conditions
Reservations: A 50% deposit of final trip price is required to reserve your date & boat at the time of booking.
Your final payment will be due within 14 days of your trip launch. This payment will be auto-charged to the card on file if final payment is not received within 14 days of your trip launch.
Refunds: All Deposits & Final payments are NON-REFUNDABLE.
Cancellations & Date Changes: 14+ days prior to your trip launch: Change of date with no charge allowed.
14 days to 72 hours prior to your trip launch: Change of date allowed +20% rebooking fee.
72 hours prior to your trip launch: No date change accepted. Trip cost will be forfeited.
"No show" cancellation: Trip cost will be forfeited.
Transfers: Transfer of your launch date & deposit or full payment to another guest or party is acceptable at any time prior to your trip.
Cancellations due to safety: Within our discretion & professional experience, we may deem river flows or any other ongoing events of nature unsafe for any reason. Clients will be given the option of to cancel their trip and receive a full refund or rebook for another date.
Other: We do not cancel trips based on weather forecast or current weather conditions. Please come prepared for the elements.
Salmon River Drifters, LLC reserves the right to cancel a trip for any person at any time. If this occurs prior to your trip launch the reservation holder will receive a full refund of trip cost
Physical Requirements
Ability to walk & wade fish in swift unstable currents
Permit & Tag Application Process
Please see (url removed) for more details