Anyone turning up steel in the lower Walla Walla?

No need to reveal your secret hole, just wondering if there has been any activity yet...

I hope the creel checks are a little delayed or the people being checked have no clue how to catch a fish.

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(anglers) from the Oregon state line to the mouth of the Walla Walla River were averaging between 17 and 18 hours of angling effort per steelhead caught

Any news on the Walla Walla?

I haven't heard a word Guess I may have to find out for myself.

OK here's my psuedo-scientific approach to predicting fishing on little heavily drawn rivers like the WW: During the late summer and early fall, the WW is basically a non-flowing ditch--the fish will not pull into the river under these conditions. In September, the cool temps and occasional shot of rain or fluctuations in irrigation needs cause the flow to sporadically increase a bit and the fish will start trickling in; I've caught them as early as mid-Sept on the WW, but that was only after an unseasonable rainy day.

This time of year, you need a good shot of rain for the fishing to be hot--otherwise fish can be had, but it's a long shot. Fishing at Wallula is a sort of indicator for fishing on the WW--if Walllula is hot, the WW is not, and the reverse is true. Of course, those creel surveys are only as accurate as the size of the sampling set--I could go on and on about confidence intervals and statistics, but in general, if you hear word that Wallula has been hot and your in the middle of a dry spell (weather-wise), don't bother with the WW unless you really like hiking and bushwacking, or sitting in a chair and watching your bobber float.

By the time december rolls around, if it's been relatively wet, there should be fish all through the WW. If we have a good wet fall/winter; It will be a lousy season at Wallula 'cause all the fish have wandered into the WW. If we're having a drought winter, give Wallula a shot, you may get rewarded.

Here are a few resources to use when judging the river levels/rainfall/fishing prospects:

www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/
waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt
fortress.wa.gov/ecy/wr.../state.asp

The first is the NOAA's river forecast center. It attempts to predict river levels particularly during flood events. It can be really helpful when a river is blown out as to when it may come back into shape. Sometimes the prediction is pretty good, sometimes it can be way off.

The second site is the USGS realtime data site. There are gages on the WW and on Mill creek. Here's the important thing to realize--it can be raining like mad in the Blues, but it takes about 2-4 days for the surge to reach the mouth, and the fish won't come into the river 'till then. For me, I like to fish the falling/clearing river, but other's like to fish it a bit higher and muddier. Don't be fooled--some folks will see rain in Richland one day, check the WW gage the next day and see that it hasn't changed, then figure that the rain missed the WW drainage. That's where the third site comes in handy. It is the State's network of gages and it will show which drainiages are getting rain, and which ones aren't. Sometimes the Touchet will get pounded, but the rain will completely miss the upper WW. The other nice feature is that it shows water temp, and it's obvious when the river freezes because the gage will just sit static (normally the water temp fluctuates a few degrees each day). If the water is frozen, don't bother fishing...

Knowing all this crap really helps. When things permit at work, I drop everything and hit the river when the weather/river conditions are just right. When I do this, I'm just about 100% that I'll at least find fish. Lately, I seem to be able to only get away on the weekends and I'm stuck fishing under less-than optimum conditions and my record shows--I'm probably worse than 50% for hook-ups/trip.

Anyway, I hope some of you find my $0.02 useful. I personally find it more useful than one person saying that the fishing was hot, because you can never discount lady luck and it may have just been his day and you'll show up for another day of casting practice.

One item to add is I read a fisheries study (pit tag/migration analysis) that determined steelhead typically will not move above the mouth of the touchet before December due to low water/high water temps. I think this falls right in line with E-Manns observations.

So as usual, someone spent a lot of $ to study something and come to conclusions that could have been had for free by talking to a fisherman

I did an exploration trip out to the Walla Walla today to see how things were shaping up. I saw several anglers on the river but didn't see any fish on the bank.

The river is low and clear. I watched the drift of one anglers bobber and it wasn't moving very much compared to late season. I suppose you could get an official report of flow rates from other sources.

The pressure is being put on at the banks of the nearby Junction area. I counted 24 vehicles parked at the Junction and another 20 scattered along Highway 730.

Any news on the Walla Walla yet? I plan to visit my folks in Milton-Freewater for christmas and would like to know if I should bring my gear.

BTW, first post on this site. Hello All!

Joe,

I would say now is a good time to bring your gear. The rivers came up and let the fish in.

That's good news.... you think i should fish below or above Milton-Freewater? I don't have a washington license, just Oregon. thanks

Try around the Nursury Rd. Bridge.

I Can't seem to find Nursury Rd. on a map. Is it the last bridge on the north end of town (Milton-Freewater)? I'm seeing that as Eastside Road. Thanks in advance. You all have been a ton of help already.

I've fished the Oregon side of the WW many times but have never scored a steelhead. One the other hand, I've caught many fish on the WA side and all but a few have been hatchery fish. It's my understanding that ODFW does not plant the WW so there are much fewer fish available on the OR side and of course none available for harvest. I believe there is a sorting facility just over the border on the OR side and all of the upriver brats are likely removed and recycled. I'm speculating on some of this from bits and pieces of info I've read and heard here and there, but this is my hunch. In any event, the WW should have a good portion of its total run for the year in the river now, so bring your gear and good luck.

joesnuffy wrote:

I Can't seem to find Nursury Rd. on a map. Is it the last bridge on the north end of town (Milton-Freewater)? I'm seeing that as Eastside Road. Thanks in advance. You all have been a ton of help already.

Yeah it's eastside Sorry about that.

DoubleD,
Thanks, I looked all over for it using google earth.....

What kind of gear do you all use over there?

Here's what I plan on taking with me:

Corkys
Bobber - Jig
Fly Gear

From what I've seen, the water isn't very deep anywhere, maybe a few pools here and there?