STAYcation! Spokane River fishing with Silver Bow Fly Shop
If you want a Jedi master understanding of how to fish the Spokane River, head on down to Silver Bow Fly Shop.
In 2010, Silver Bow Fly shop owner Sean Visintainer gazed at the Spokane River like he had done a thousand times before. As a fly shop owner and avid angler, he had a simple thought. “Why aren’t people out here fishing?”
He now gazes out and sees more and more anglers happily enjoying their craft. Here’s how he became a Spokane River Jedi angling master by helping make it happen.
The challenges to fishing the Spokane River from Stateline to Nine Mile Dam were clear. Lousy access for drift boats and cataraft, shoreline angling made difficult by steep embankments and big slippery rocks, and lack of knowledge. Rather than walk away and focus on other things, Sean accepted the challenge.
Said Sean, “Thanks to working with the Forum and others, access has improved dramatically. That part just keeps getting better.” As for the human element, Sean groomed guides and tirelessly experimented “to figure out the river’s quirks, like where the fish hole.”
Around 2012 the shop saw a “noticeable increase” in people asking for guided fishing trips. Sean saw it as “Kind of a nice coming together of learning the best way to get people out their and attention received from the Federation of Fly Fishing Conference being held in Spokane, a Tout TV segment and a write-up in NW Fly Fishing Magazine.”
Since then, interest and growth has seen a steady increase. A bulk of the business comes from visitors to the area coming for conferences, conventions, and family events. Within the tight knit angling community, the river is starting to get a reputation as offering something special and easy to get to.
With COVID-19, out-of-town visitors enjoying the river is expected to go way down this year. By the same token, however, a survey done by the Forum showed that over 40% of adults in our area are anglers. Our recommendation is for locals to get to know your hometown river.
Detailed fishing and access information is also available on the Forum’s Spokane River Water Trail web site.