Idaho Fish Report

Summer steelhead fishing on the Umatilla River is now closed, will reopen September 1.

The spring Chinook season opened on April 15. There is a predicated run of approximately 3,000 spring Chinook returning to the Umatilla River. A total of 802 spring Chinook have been counted at TMFD so far this run year, with 530 over the past week. Fishing has been slow up to date, but there have been anglers out trying to take advantage of the early bright fish and the fish are starting to show up in the past week.

The flows in the Umatilla came up me up significantly in the past week from all the rain over the weekend, but flows should start to drop and this is when anglers should really concentrate their efforts as the increase in flows tends to move fish into the system. Anglers should start to find success as the clarity of the river improves and the river starts to drop. The Umatilla River is considered from the Hwy 730 bridge and upstream, the section below that is considered the Columbia River and is currently closed. Most anglers use egg set up with a slinky weigh bounced off the bottom or a some have found success with spinners with water temperatures being relatively cold.      

Trout fishing on the Umatilla River, and its tributaries, is closed currently and reopens May 22. Bass and other warmwater species remain open all year.