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Home › Waters › Washington › Sultan River
Tailwater · Snohomish County, the Sultan basin below Culmback Dam and Spada Lake, running south through a bedrock canyon to the Skykomish River at Sultan · Washington

Sultan River Fishing Guides

A Cascade tailwater below Culmback Dam running through a bedrock canyon to the Skykomish at Sultan, with managed flows rebuilt around salmon and steelhead recovery.

A red drift boat on a moss-lined river in the Pacific Northwest
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Sultan River

The Sultan River drops out of the Cascade foothills through a steep bedrock canyon and joins the Skykomish River at the town of Sultan, an hour from Seattle. Its flow is controlled by Culmback Dam and Spada Lake, which supply water to Everett, and the river below the diversion dam is one of the more interesting managed rivers in western Washington precisely because the management has changed. Flow regimes on this reach have been rewritten in recent decades explicitly to support salmon and steelhead, and fish passage and habitat work have reopened water that was effectively written off.

The gauge below the diversion dam reports discharge, stage and water temperature, and all three are worth reading. Releases are operational and stepped rather than weather-driven, though the unregulated tributaries below the dam still add a rainfall response in the wet season, so the lower canyon can come up after a Cascade storm even when the dam is steady. Temperature is the reading that matters most for fish, because a deep-release tailwater in a coastal watershed can run cold enough to slow the fishing and, in summer, cold enough to make this the best water in the valley.

The fishery is an anadromous one. Winter and summer steelhead are the headline fish, coho and chinook use the river, pink salmon appear in odd-year runs and chum enter the lower reach late in the year. Resident and sea-run cutthroat are present throughout, bull trout are protected and must be released, and mountain whitefish are common. Seasons and gear rules on this system are restrictive and change year to year, so the state regulations must be checked before every trip. Access is at Sultan and by trails into the canyon.

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Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Posting to Sultan River.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Sultan River cfs

Now: 181 cfs, read 5:00 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 12137800, SULTAN RIVER BELOW DIVERSION DAM NEAR SULTAN, WA).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Sultan - the town at the Skykomish confluence, the primary access to the lower river.
Skykomish River confluence - the downstream end at Sultan, with formal river access and boat launches.
Sultan Basin Road - the road toward the dam and Spada Lake, giving access to the upper reach.
Culmback Dam - the upstream limit of the fishery, with the Spada Lake recreation area above it.
Osprey Park - the town park at Sultan with bank access on the lower river.
Monroe - the nearest larger town to the west, with tackle, guides and lodging.
Canyon trails - steep informal trails reach the middle canyon and should be treated with care.

Seasons

Spring: high flows with steelhead in the system, and regulations that close much of the water to protect wild fish.
Summer: cold stable releases make this the best water in the valley when the Skykomish runs warm, with summer steelhead present.
Fall: salmon enter on the autumn rains, with coho and chum in the lower river and the best variety of the year.
Winter: winter steelhead season, high water after Cascade storms, and difficult but rewarding fishing for those who time it.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Sultan River?

As of Oct 18, 5:00 pm, the USGS gauge SULTAN RIVER BELOW DIVERSION DAM NEAR SULTAN, WA reads 181 cfs, with water temperature 52.5 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Sultan River?

Anglers target Bull Trout, Chinook Salmon, Chum Salmon, Coho Salmon, Cutthroat Trout, Mountain Whitefish, Pink Salmon, Rainbow Trout, Steelhead on the Sultan River in Washington.

Where can you access the Sultan River?

Sultan - the town at the Skykomish confluence, the primary access to the lower river. Skykomish River confluence - the downstream end at Sultan, with formal river access and boat launches. Sultan Basin Road - the road toward the dam and Spada Lake, giving access to the upper reach. Culmback Dam - the upstream limit of the fishery, with the Spada Lake recreation area above it. Osprey Park - the town park at Sultan with bank access on the lower river. Monroe - the nearest larger town to the west, with tackle, guides and lodging. Canyon trails - steep informal trails reach the middle canyon and s...

When is the best time to fish the Sultan River?

Spring: high flows with steelhead in the system, and regulations that close much of the water to protect wild fish. Summer: cold stable releases make this the best water in the valley when the Skykomish runs warm, with summer steelhead present. Fall: salmon enter on the autumn rains, with coho and chum in the lower river and the best variety of the year. Winter: winter steelhead season, high water after Cascade storms, and difficult but rewarding fishing for those who time it.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Sultan River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Washington agency site: https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations