Fishing the Wallowa River for trout and whitefish can be good in the spring especially when flows are moderate and water clarity is good. Trout and whitefish can be caught on a variety of baits, lures, and flies. Casting flies like wooly buggers and nymphs to pockets of slower moving water near shore can be good ways to catch trout and whitefish on the Wallowa River in the spring.

Like the Imnaha, relatively few Wallowa River spring Chinook have been observed migrating up the Columbia River. Because of these low returns, it's unlikely that enough fish will return to open a Chinook salmon season on the Wallowa River.

Steelhead fishing closed on April 30 and will reopen on September 1, 2024.