We like it!!!!!! Are you keeping the fish or do you think the are too badly polluted. Smallies have a habit of taking over the waters they inhabit so I hope you are taking some out.

The upper Spokane river from state line to upriver dam is a selective fishery, single barbless hooks, no bait or scents. catch and release for all species..

nice! sounds like a good bass fishery, ouch, sorry trout guys.

I knew that !!! I don't know what the hell I was thinking!!

nice job there are good ones like you are looking for near the mission bridge! do you have a float tube! if you do your inn!

Hey buzzer, great report, its too bad for the native trout, as they are the most fragile, and are getting overrun. Maybe the WDFW will allow some catch and keep of non-natives one day, it would only help the fishery. Anyway, I do appreciate that you know and understand the reg's, its rare these days. Nice job catchin smallies on a fly!!

Look at the mouth on that smallie! Nice fish.

Look at the mouth on that smallie! Nice fish.

Nice fish & nice flies there! Thanks for the report.

The native redbands are a resource which we should not throw away without a fight- I am a total C & R guy but with the smallies in the upper Spokane, I suggest taking them home in accordance with the regs and not putting them back into the river. Smallies are great.... but the upper Spokane is not where they belong.

dbk,, I would never keep fish I strictly CPR (catch, photo, release ) all species of fish I catch, including the big sailfish in my avatar.
The smallmouth bass are not what have decimated the redband trout out of the spokane river you can blame Avista but also the North Idaho counties allowing landowners to suck water out of the aquifer. Now the upper river is lower and warmer than at any time in history. It is not the small mouth that have depleted the trout population. What has happened is the trout are moving downstream to where the aquifer is recharging the Spokane with cold water again. The trout stay down in this cooler water and the bass stay up in the warmer water. The fish biologist I have talked to say that snorkel assessments have shown that it is almost like an invisable barrier between the two species.
It is too bad that the pollutant situation is not better so that some of these Smallmouth Bass could be caught and eaten by fishermen that eat fish. Then maybe the smallmouth would get to a nice size and not overpopulate and get smaller as often happens with bass.
I have had some fun days on the upper river catching small mouth, everyone might as well enjoy them they are not going away.
Whenever I see someone keeping fish from the spokane catch and release area, I approach them and tell them they are poaching and better move on or I will call the WDFG, Spokane State patrol or the local sheriff and they do respond. I have had people ticketed and arrested. It is illegal what you are asking to do, by keeping any fish from this area.

New to this site. Fish the lower Spokane for trout. Always catch and release and usually fly fishing which I enjoy and can be easier on fish caught, than bait or lure, if you play them out as quick as possible. I have no problem with smallmouth bass, grew up catching them. Have caught cutbow, rainbow, brown and mountain whitefish. Also caught several landlocked blackmouth salmon, came out of Lake Coeur D'Alene. The Spokane is a river with depleted numbers of fish for many reasons, as I have a degree in hydrology, you can take that for what you thinks it is worth. I would personally never eat a fish caught in the river and because of no stocking or state enforcement, believe as deepbuzzer that catch and release is the way to go.