Gary Lewis.

~OCTOBER~
Rainbows
Klamath River, Ore.
When everyone else is gearing up for deer season, grab your gear and head to the Klamath River. The river opens Oct. 1. Fish the six-mile Keno Reach below Keno Dam. Access is good from Highway 66. Find a trail down to the river. It’s pocket water with heavy current and a few fast-moving pools around big boulders.

Spin-fishermen should tie on a heavy orange or brown Rooster Tail. Cast and retrieve, or let the current tumble the lure. No bait is allowed.

The Keno Reach is a great fly-fishing destination as well. Best bets at this time of year are October caddis patterns, Zonkers, Kiwi Muddlers and Blue-Winged Olives. When fishing nymphs, try a tandem rig with beadhead flies beneath an indicator. Get the fly to the depth right, and you’ll catch good fish in this stretch of river.

Most anglers consider this section unboatable, but Darren Roe, of Roe Outfitters, runs a raft through it. For a guided trip, call (541) 884-3825.

Other Choices
Smallmouth bass fishing can be red-hot. Try surface plugs on the Umpqua River early in the month.

Use jigs and spinners on Washington’s Kalama River. It should be pulsing with coho salmon in October.

~NOVEMBER~
Steelhead
Grande Ronde River
The Grande Ronde starts in Oregon and flows through Southeast Washington. For most Northwestern anglers, it’s a long drive. But after a couple of days on the river, that’s one of the things you’ll like about it.

If you want to catch steelhead on a fly, then this is your river. It’s intimate, classic steelhead water with long runs that are easy to read. Look for water that moves about the speed of a fast walk. Use floating lines until the water drops below 50 degrees.

From Oregon, take Highway 3 from Enterprise. From Washington, take Highway 129 down from Clarkston. It’s possible to drift the Grande Ronde, but most anglers fish from the bank. For flexibility, have a license for each state.

For a guide, try FishHawk Guides at 1-888-548-8896. For information, go to www.westfly.com

Other Choices
The John Day River doesn’t get the press when there’s so much else going on in November, but it gets the summer steelhead. For tackle-busting chum salmon, the Skykomish River is Washington’s best bet.

~DECEMBER~
Steelhead
Olympic Peninsula
Fish Washington’s Hoh, Queets, Calawah and Bogachiel on the Olympic Peninsula, for wild and hatchery steelhead.

These rivers host strong runs of hatchery and wild fish from late November into April. Olympic Peninsula rivers are short and steep, average 30 to 40 miles in length, and run straight to the ocean. With catch-and-release regs, management that keeps nets out of the water a few days each week, and no gauntlet of sea lions to run, many steelhead make it back to the spawning ground each year.

Hatchery steelheading peaks in December. Before heading out, check out the river flows at waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt You’ll have the best fishing when the water is emerald green with 3 to 5 feet of visibility.

For a guided trip, call Jim Mansfield at (360) 374-9018.

Other Choices
Tackle winter steelhead as the run heats up in the lower 10 miles of Oregon’s Wilson River.

Head to the Elk and Sixes rivers in southwest Oregon for winter steelhead and fall chinook.

Find more about hunting and fishing in Washington and Oregon at WOgameandfish.com