Steelhead and salmon fishing the lower Umatilla River

A fishing report from Tyson - 31 October

The Umatilla: We met in Walla Walla at 5:30 and headed down to the Chinaman's Hole. There were already a few locals there. We wandered out into the water with a beautiful sunrise behind us.

Looking upriver -towards 3 Mile Dam- from Chinaman's Hole

Tom immediately hooked up with a King salmon on a purple egg-sucking leech. He landed the fish, and as it was still fairly bright he decided to keep it. 

Tom with his early morning Fall Chinook hookup

Diane put on the same pattern and proceeded to hook and lose two fish in the next couple of hours.

Diane at the head of Chinaman's Hole

We wanted to find some other water, so drove down into town by the walking bridge.

We decided that wasn't going to work for us, so we headed back to the Chinaman's Hole and looked at some water towards the top of the falls. We tried a couple of holes but no luck.

Umatilla River flow of 31 October - 210 cfs

By then--probably close to noon, we headed back down to Chinaman's Hole and tried our luck there for another hour or so. No luck, and with the rain picking up, we called it a day. 

The Umatilla River's current and historical steelhead and salmon run recorded at Three Mile Dam.

Thank you Tyson for this report and pictures of the day. 

Tight lines and good fishing

Walla² Fly Fishers

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