Salmon fishing in rivers can be an extremely rewarding experience. These large powerful fish make for an exciting challenge when hooked and provide delicious meals when landed. While salmon fishing does require some specialized gear and techniques, learning the basics is not difficult. With the right approach, even beginners can find success hooking salmon in rivers.
In this complete guide we will cover everything you need to know about fishing for salmon in rivers including
- Best times of year to target salmon
- Equipment and tackle setup
- Finding salmon holding spots
- Most effective baits and lures
- Drift fishing, backtrolling, and casting techniques
- Fighting and landing hooked salmon
- Regulations and licensing
When to Fish for Salmon in Rivers
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Spring – Target spring Chinook salmon runs from March to June. These are the earliest runs.
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Summer – Some rivers see summer/fall Chinook salmon runs from July to September.
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Fall – Most rivers see big fall Coho and Chinook salmon runs from late August through November. Peak season.
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Early winter – Late Coho and Chinook salmon runs occur into December and January in some rivers.
Check regulations for exact run timing on specific rivers. Runs occur later moving north along the Pacific coast.
Salmon Fishing Gear and Tackle
Having the right setup makes salmon fishing much easier and more effective. Some key gear includes:
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Rods: 8-10 foot medium-heavy rods rated for 15-20 lb line are ideal. A longer rod helps with casting distance and fish control.
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Reels: Opt for a quality reel with smooth drag system capable of stopping hard salmon runs. Use a reel with at least 200 yards of line capacity.
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Line: Many use 15-20 lb braided lines or monofilament. Braid is more sensitive with less stretch. Fluorocarbon leaders help prevent spooking fish.
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Baits/Lures: Kwikfish and other plugs, spinners, spoons, cured salmon eggs, and prawn meat work well. Match size and color to local forage.
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Weights: Use enough weight (1-6 oz) to keep bait near bottom during drifts. Go lighter in shallow water.
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Nets/Gaffs: A long handle net or gaff helps land large salmon. Rubber nets are less damaging to fish.
Locating Salmon Holding Spots
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Tailouts of pools – Where fast water meets slow pools. Salmon wait to move into pools.
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Current seams – Areas where fast current meets slower water. Ambush points.
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Structure – Boulders, logs, drop-offs. Current breaks where salmon can rest.
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Shallow riffles – Salmon migrate through shallow sections in low clear water or at night.
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Inside river bends – Deeper water and structure. Prime holding water.
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Confluences – Where tributaries meet main rivers. Staging and resting areas.
Best Baits and Lures for Salmon
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Cured salmon eggs – Drifted or back bounced. Use bright egg clusters. Deadly when egg-laying.
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Prawns/shrimp – Imitate one of the main forage foods for salmon. Use whole or strips.
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Kwikfish and plugs – Backtrolled or cast. Wrap with bait for more scent. Cover water.
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Spinners and spoons – Cast classic lures like Blue Foxes, Mepps. Target aggressive fish.
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Raw Salmon/Herring – Cut bait on bottom rigs finds less active biters. Use strong scent.
Drift Fishing Techniques
Drifting cured eggs, prawns, or plugs with the river current is a top technique. The steps include:
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Add weights above your bait to reach bottom. Start with 1-3 oz.
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Cast upstream and allow gear to drift into holding zones. Mend line to avoid unnatural drag.
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Let gear swing below you in slack water. Repeat drifts methodically covering water.
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Set hook immediately when line/float moves unnaturally. Use long hooksets into fish.
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Adjust weight to tick bottom lightly. Too much will snag constantly.
Backtrolling Plugs for Salmon
Backtrolling plugs like Kwikfish allows covering water to find biters:
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Use rod holders and slow motor speed (1-2 mph) to take lures downstream
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Lead core line helps lures dive and run true at depths
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Run 2-4 rods off each side to cover more water
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Make long, straight runs the length of pools and tailouts
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Wrap plugs with raw salmon/herring for added scent
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Turn and motor back up for each pass, repeating every 10-30 feet
Casting Spinners and Spoons
Casting classic salmon lures is an active technique when fish are chasing baitfish.
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Cast spoons like Little Cleos, Vibrax spinners, into holding spots and current seams
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Allow lures to sink briefly before beginning steady retrieves
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Vary retrieve speed – start slow, speed up, pause, drop back. Erratic action triggers strikes.
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Cover structure like boulders and logs with accurate casts near shore
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Change lure colors frequently until you find the shade salmon prefer that day
Fighting and Landing Salmon
Once hooked up, be prepared for strong runs and headshakes from big salmon:
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Use the rod, not just the reel, to absorb sudden surges of energy
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Keep the line tight to prevent unexpected jumps and head shakes
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Guide salmon away from snags like submerged trees or boulders if possible
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Play the fish patiently. Don’t horse them in. Pressure can tear hooks free.
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Use a large net and avoid pulling fish into boats by the line or tails
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Return salmon gently to recover before release. Revive them moving rod tip side-to-side.
Know Regulations and Obtain Proper Licensing
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Salmon fishing is managed under special regulations with strict catch limits. Know them.
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Carry your fishing license and salmon tags/endorsements to avoid hefty fines.
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Adhere to gear restrictions on hook types and bait in certain fisheries.
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Pay close attention to seasonal closures on river sections to protect spawning fish.
Bead Fishing: Soft Plastic Beads
Over the last decade, fishing beads for Salmon and Steelhead has become quite popular. There are many good reasons for its relatively new popularity. It is highly effective, cleaner than fishing bait, and allows for more variation of size and colour, which makes it very versatile. When Salmon and Steelhead are young and living in a river, single eggs are one of the most common and natural foods available to them. I tend to believe that this is why all fish in rivers are so keen to grab a single egg when presented. While many believe that a natural colour and size is of utmost importance, I have found that a larger size and bright colour will often outperform the natural bead, hands down! My personal preference is soft plastic beads. I have experienced far more success with the soft plastic than the hard plastic counterpart. For Chinook fishing, I mainly use 16mm and 14mm size. I like to pack a wide variety of colours with me. Some good colours to have along are oranges, reds, peach, and chartreuse. As a bead maker, I have experimented with glitter and pearl finishes. Some days a pearl or colour shift bead will be the Chinook favourite. Remember to try a variety of colours if you know Chinook are present. Many days you will find the fish keying in on a particular colour that is far from natural. Another colour variation I have found good success with, is the half and half mix; a single bead in two different colours. These double coloured beads are also known by the term ‘laminated’.
A little trick that my fishing buddies and I use for all Salmon and Steelhead, is to drape a bit of scent soaked wool over your bead. You can achieve this by putting the wool in your bait loop, and have it drape down onto the hook. For wool, I typically use white or peach- or a blend of the two. If you like to run your bead pegged, just tip wool on the leader above the bead with a simple overhand knot. We came about this while fishing roe for Chinook in fast, heavy water. Frustrated by our roe chunks being torn off the hook by the current, leaving only a white piece of roe skin, we pulled out a bead and slid it onto the hook with the remaining roe skein (aka snot) draping the bead. In the same piece of water where we hadn’t been able to hook Chinook with our roe chunks, we were immediately rewarded with a number of fish on the bead and snot! This led to using wool to imitate the snot, and has become a great addition to our bead game.
As for the tackle I use with bead fishing, I stick to the same simple float fishing set up I use for bait fishing. Set your float to fish the bead just off the bottom. I like to have the bead bouncing off the bottom only occasionally. No need to be dragging bottom, as this will result in gear loss and retying. I stick with a 14-18” leader, and seldom go less than 12 pound. I actually favour 15 pound, and even 20 pound in the short, fast pockets which often hold Chinooks.
On many occasions I have witnessed Chinook Salmon favour the flashing metal and coloured paint of float fishing Colorado blades, over all other presentations. I always keep a good variety of blades in my pack. Colorado blades are best fished in water with enough speed to keep the blade spinning. Some colours I have found productive are pink, orange, and chartreuse. I use both silver and brass blades with a coloured sticker or airbrushed paint, on the outer side. I fish the Colorado blade in a manner that it spins just off bottom where the fish are holding. For tackle, I use the very same float set up as in bead and bait fishing. Keep the leader between 14-16” for best results.
While jig fishing using a float set up is normally associated with Steelhead fishing, I find it very effective for all Salmon as well. I tend to keep my colour choices very simple. Pinks, reds, oranges, and peach are my go-to Chinook colours. Often, I will use jigs with two contrasting colours, and a combination of feather and UV polar chenille. When float fishing jigs for Chinook, a little bait is an important addition. For this, I use small pieces of raw, uncured prawn- or raw, uncured squid legs. Simply slip a very small piece of prawn or a few squid legs onto the hook, at the back of your jig. Important to note with float fishing jigs, is that dragging your jig on the bottom will result in less hook ups and lost jigs! Be sure to set your depth so that the jig is 6-12” off bottom. For the set up, I fish jigs in a very similar manner to bait and beads- with the important difference of shortening my depth to keep that jig off bottom. The float fished jig will often rise to the occasion when other presentations aren’t performing! I think this is because the jig elicits an attack response from the fish, as opposed to a feeding response.
While this is not currently a technique being widely used for Chinook Salmon fishing in the Fraser Valley, twitching jigs is quite popular throughout the Pacific Northwest and on the Skeena River system. As Chinook Salmon will often sit in deep and fast water, your choice of twitching jig size is of utmost importance in order to get it to the depth needed. I favour the 1/2 oz jigs for twitching Chinooks, and will even use 3/4 oz jigs if a situation requires it. Colours for twitching jigs are not nearly as important as the technique. The colours I lean towards are purple, black, blue, orange, and pink. I like jigs with a least two different colours, or even three. I use a 9’ medium bait cast rod, with a low profile bait caster with a high gear ratio. I use 30 pound braided mainline with a minimum 15 lb leader, uni knotted to my mainline. A spinning set up will also work well. The key to twitching for Chinooks, is to get it down in front of them and use a fairly sharp ‘pop and drop’ technique. Remember, the fish will bite the jig on the drop, so giving some pause to let the jig drop is key!
The key to finding Chinook, is knowing the type of water that they will hold or rest in, depending on the river conditions.
High Water When rivers are high, Chinook Salmon will be mainly travelling up river. In these conditions, I target their REST SPOTS or TRAVEL LANES. Rest Spots: A rest spot will typically be a seam where two channels meet; a side channel or a soft piece of water before a section of very fast and heavy water. As I hike the river, I target and move through those spots very quickly and directly. If fish are present, they will generally hit your offering right away, so you will know if the spot is productive or not within a short time frame. Travel Lanes: When targeting the travel lanes, I try to identify spots where Chinook will be slowly traveling in their upstream journey, as opposed to the faster surrounding waters where they will be traveling through more quickly and be unlikely to bite your offering. An example of this is a long narrow run where the water is traveling faster than the rest spots, but slower than the rest of the river. It is good to find 3 or 4 travel lane spots, in different sections of the river. Spend at least an hour in each spot. The purpose of fishing this travel lane for a somewhat considerable amount of time, is that Chinook can move into the spot anytime while you are fishing it, and you could get lucky in one of your chosen zones. I will often circle back through these spots two times in a full day of fishing.Prime Water Levels When the river is at ideal fishing levels, the Chinook Salmon will often hold in slightly faster parts of a run that are at least 4 feet deep, which provides them with visual cover from predators. I seldom find Chinook holding in slow or shallow water. They seem to prefer water a minimum of 4- 8 feet deep, flowing at a brisk walking speed. In these conditions, fish will hold for a day without moving up river. These prime water levels provide fantastic fishing opportunities for willing biters.Low Water In low water, Chinook can be found holding in the deep, fast heads or deep sections of a run. Look for water that is roughly 7-12 feet deep with a fast current. One strategy I employ, is using a light leader like 12 lb fluorocarbon with 12mm-10mm soft plastic beads, rather than my go-to Chinook bead size of 16mm-14mm.
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FAQ
FAQ
What is the best method for salmon fishing?
For faster-flowing rivers, float-fishing is generally considered the most popular method, as it’s the easiest to present your lure to fish. Use a single-action centrepin, levelwind (sometimes called baitcaster), or spinning reel with a matching rod.
What time of day is best for salmon river fishing?
Can I catch king salmon during the day? Yes, but it’s more challenging. Early morning and late evening are far more productive times to fish for king salmon. 4.Jan 24, 2025
What are the best river conditions for salmon?
Once a river has risen to its full potential (after excessive rainfall) and the river water levels start to recede and the water starts to lose any discolouration from the rise it’s also a great time to fish for salmon.
What depth do salmon swim at?