The payoff on this getaway is a river that looks like a trout stream where the fish are six pounds instead of six inches. There's a catch, of course. It's out in the middle of *******' nowhere. You've heard about drives that seem endless. This one really is. It's a brain-grinding 401 miles from San Francisco, and once you get there, you drive some more to find the best spots.

This is the Salmon River in Northern California, set in a cold, deep canyon in Klamath National Forest. It is the prettiest of the dozens of tributaries and feeder creeks on the 200-mile Klamath River and also provides the best bank fishing access for winter steelhead, the fastest of the state's freshwater fish with a burst speed of 27 feet per second. It is open to fishing through February, catch-and-release.

The canyon is a work of art. The river's pool-and-drop composition makes it a perfect canvas for an angler to create a masterpiece, using a fishing rod as a brush. Steelhead in the four- to eight-pound class are sprinkled throughout the river in February and March, best from Forks of the Salmon on downstream to the mouth of Wooley Creek. A logging road at the bottom of the canyon provides access to dozens of good spots, with turnouts and faint trails leading to the river. When ready to cast, remember this rule of thumb: Look for bubbles floating on the river surface. These are often the runs that hold steelhead, typically the edge of riffles at the entry points of rapids, tail-outs, and the upper and lower ends of pools amid many bowling ball-size boulders.

Most anglers use traditional steelhead setups, three-way rigs with roe for bait. Others will cast Little Cleos, and a handful will fly-fish with Assassins, Silver Hiltons, or weighted nymphs with a copper head. One of my all-time prize catches was on the Cal Salmon, a seven-pound steelhead that went berserk when hooked with a 5-weight fly rod more suitable for small rainbow trout. An excellent fishing shop, The Tackle Shop, is available in Yreka. A few words of warning: Because the canyon walls loom so high, the river gets very little direct sunlight. While that is good for fishing (steelhead turn shy in bright sun), it makes temperatures frigid, often 15-25 degrees F on clear winter days. In addition, the most direct route to the river is over a logging road at Etna Summit (5,970 feet), which can get buried by snow, requiring an even more circuitous drive on Highway 96, the Klamath River Highway. When the Etna Summit is open, the nearest lodging is 37 miles away (in Etna).

Yet these problems become solutions for the ambitious few. Because it is so remote, cold, and difficult to reach, you can often have much of the canyon to yourself.

While the Salmon River is known for its adult steelhead, good runs of half-pounders do enter the lower section below Lily Creek. You can catch them here using conventional methods, including spinning gear, and also fly-fishing. Through November, most techniques can work on the Lower Salmon River, including night crawlers. Once the water gets cold, Glo Bugs will be your best offering.

Once you reach the tributary of Lily Creek, the road starts to separate from the river and then climbs to the Forks of Salmon. There is still access in this section, but it is far more difficult. Even with good access, the Salmon River is very lightly fished. Most people traveling to this region fish the nearby Klamath instead.

This is a place dear to my heart, with many special memories with my old friend, the late Ted Fay. The first time I fished the Salmon River, I witnessed one of the most amazing fishing episodes of my life. I was with Ted, a legendary fly fisher and storyteller who invented the dropper system of nymphing with two flies. We were sitting in my pickup truck, watching a black bear try to catch a steelhead in the river. After a half hour the bear gave up and left, still hungry, probably to see if he could find a camper visiting from the Bay Area, or maybe an outdoors writer.

Later that day, Ted and I had not caught anything either. As we drove out, I pulled over to the same spot where we had watched the bear make his fruitless attempt. "If the bear knew a steelhead was in there, then we know there's a fish there, too," said Ted.

We approached the spot quietly, walking lightly. Then Ted performed the kind of feat that creates legends: He caught the steelhead that had eluded the bear. His cast was delivered so lightly that the fly, a customized Silver Hilton, drifted from riffle to hole as if no line were attached. An instant later, it was a hookup, and Fay -an older man -was taken to the limit to land the fish. After 15 minutes, he succeeded. For a young outdoors writer, it was a baptismal indoctrination to the Salmon River.

Facilities, fees:

The main stem and both forks of the river are open to fishing November through February only. Campgrounds are available nearby, off Highway 96 on the Klamath River. Camps are also upstream on the Salmon. Supplies can be obtained in Orleans and Somes Bar. Fishing access is free. Open through February 28, catch-and-release.

Directions:

From Sacramento, take I5 north to Redding and continue 103 miles to the exit for Yreka and Highway 3. Take that exit, turn left at the stop sign, and drive a short distance to Highway 3. Turn left and go 38 miles to Etna. Turn right through town (it becomes Sawyers Bar Road) and go 37 miles to Sawyers Bar (legal fishing starts here) and continue 16 miles to Forks of Salmon. Legal water is from Sawyer's Bar Bridge on downstream on North Fork Salmon, and from the confluence of East Fork at Cecilville on downstream on South Fork Salmon.

Contact:

The Tackle Shop, 614 South Main Street, Yreka, 530-841-1901, www.thetackleshop.cc/. Lodging: Motel Etna, 317 Collier Way, Etna, CA 96027, 530-467-5338 or www.visitsiskiyou.org/svlodging.html; Klamath National Forest, Ukonom Ranger District, 530-627-3291, fax 530-627-3401. Information and supplies: The Tackle Shop, 614 South Main Street, Yreka, 530-841-1901, www.thetackleshop.cc/; Somes Bar General Store, 530-469-3350; Orleans Market, 530-627-3326. Guide: Klamath River Outfitters, 800-748-3735.