Chinook are the largest of the Pacific salmon, and a river with a run of them is a different place for a few weeks each year. Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, king salmon in most of the West, spends two to five years at sea and comes home to the river it hatched in, stops feeding once it enters fresh water, spawns once, and dies. Everything about fishing for them follows from that: the fish are big, they are only in the river briefly, they do not eat, and every one you hook is at the end of its life. Fishing for kings is timing first, gear second, and technique a distant third.
Spring kings and fall kings
Chinook runs are named for when they enter fresh water. Spring Chinook enter from March into June, bright and full of fat because they may hold in the river for months before spawning in late summer, and they are the most prized for the table. Fall Chinook enter from August into November closer to spawning, in larger numbers on most rivers, and darken quickly once in fresh water. Summer runs exist on a few Columbia tributaries. The distinction matters because it decides when you go and how the fish behaves: a spring king holds in deep, cold pools and is hard to move, while a fall king pushes upstream fast and stacks below barriers and dams.
GBIF records place Chinook in California, Oregon, Alaska, Washington and Idaho on the coast, and in Michigan, Wisconsin, New York, Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota, where they were introduced to the Great Lakes in the 1960s and now run up tributaries every fall. Lake-run kings never see salt water and are generally smaller, but a Great Lakes tributary in September works the same way as a coastal river in October.
The rivers on this site that list Chinook
- American River, California: fall Chinook entering in October and November and staging below Nimbus Dam in the middle of Sacramento, which the page calls an urban wildlife spectacle. Fly anglers work large streamers and egg patterns in the tailwater section.
- Rogue River, Oregon: wild spring Chinook present April through June, fished with big streamers and egg patterns in the upper river above the Wild section.
- Wenatchee River, Washington: fall Chinook present August through October near Leavenworth. The page notes they are not typically targeted by fly anglers, and the Wenatchee's salmon fishing has been closed or tightly limited in many years; check WDFW before planning around it.
The California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho salmon hubs list every water in each state with recorded Chinook. The Sacramento, which the American joins, is the main stem the Central Valley kings ascend.
Timing a river
Because kings are in the river for weeks, not months, the difference between a great trip and an empty one is often a matter of days. Three things tell you where the run is. The first is the agency's fish counts at dams and weirs, published through the season; a jump in the daily count at a downstream dam means fish will be in the river above it within days. The second is flow: kings move on rising water and hold on falling, clear water, so a storm followed by a drop is the moment to be on the pools. The USGS gauge on each river page shows the trend. The third is local reports, which for salmon are more current and more honest than for any other fishery, because everyone can see the fish.
Gear that will hold a king
On a fly rod, a 9- or 10-weight with a fighting butt, a reel with a real drag and plenty of backing, and a heavy sink-tip or a Skagit head with T-14 or heavier. Leaders of 15 to 20 pounds, straight fluorocarbon. Flies in the sizes the river pages list: Egg Sucking Leech and Flesh Fly in 4 to 6, Intruders in 1/0 and larger, Comets and big marabou streamers in chartreuse, pink, orange, purple and black. Kings sit deep, so the fly has to be on the bottom of the pool, swung slowly or stripped in short pulls right through the fish. Most takes are a stop rather than a strike.
On conventional gear the standard approaches are back-trolling plugs from a drift boat or sled, drifting roe or a yarn-and-egg rig under weight through the deep slots, and casting large spinners across and down. Heavy rods, 20- to 30-pound line, and hooks strong enough not to open on a fish that may weigh more than the reel. Whether bait is allowed, whether barbless hooks are required, and whether the river is open at all are the questions to answer first.
Handling a fish that is done feeding
A king fought to exhaustion in warm water will often not recover, and a spawned-out fish is not worth keeping. If you intend to release, fight hard and fast on heavy tackle, keep the fish in the water, and let it go in current. If you intend to keep, bright fish early in the run are the ones to take. Kings that have turned dark red or black and developed the hooked kype are close to spawning and past their best. On every river here, do not fish over fish that are actively spawning on the gravel, whether or not the rules require it.
Before you go
Chinook are the most heavily regulated fish on this site. Seasons open and close on in-season counts, some runs are listed under the Endangered Species Act, wild fish must be released on many rivers while hatchery fish may be kept, and gear rules vary by reach. None of that is stable enough to print. Check CDFW, ODFW, WDFW or Idaho Fish and Game for the specific river the week you plan to fish it, then check the dam counts, then check the gauge.