The north-central Washington State fishery 150 miles straight south of my home in Kelowna B.C. has been on my wish list of Big Trout waters to fish for several years. Finally on May 24th I got a chance to try it out. It was a long weekend and everything worked out to give this State Rainbow record holding body of water a try.

Four hours after leaving home, which included crossing the Canadian/American Boarder with no problems, I was setting up camp at the Bridgeport State Park Campgrounds. Rufus is an impoundment of the Columbia River backed up behind Chief Joseph Dam for approximately 60 miles. Once again I lucked out when I stopped to visit with Bob Fately at the Triangle Shell (509-689-3473) in Brewster. Bob's a wealth of information regarding Rufus Woods and I suggest anyone wanting to fish Rufus contact him for a up to date report.

Not being used to fishing for Triploids the first morning was a real learning experience as I had to scale way down and slow down in comparison to when I fish for Kamloops or Gerrard Rainbows here in B.C. There are only a few native bows in the lake, the majority of Bows are Triploids most of which are located in the lower section of the impoundment. The upper section is better known as a Walleye fishery.

On Bob's suggestion and on the advice of a few other local anglers I started by pulling small dodger/black hootchie combo tipped with a piece of deworm with only an oz. of weight at about 1.5 MPH off the GPS. Bang,Bang, Bang in no time at all trolling in front of the Dam I was into about as many one to three pound bows as a guy wanted. As the temperature was fast approaching record highs, (topping out at 105 degrees that afternoon) I got every fish caught back into the water ASAP.

The daily limit for any one wanting to retain some is two. The Washington fishing regulations say only one rod per person so as far as running one proven fish catching rod and one experimental rod like I do here in B.C. where when fishing alone in a boat we can run two rods I was forced to run only one rod. The little dodger combo was slaying them so I started to pull bigger lures trying for a bigger fish as well as running various lures/combo's down a little deeper off the downriggerwhere I was marking fish with the sounder. No go, No fish hitting deeper then 20 feet and no fish hitting bigger lures. Not taking anything with any size I spent the afternoon trolling up to Brant's Landing and back. Shore fishermen seemed to be spread out along the bank where ever there was a road access to the lake as well numerous boats were casting spinner/worm combo's right up tight against shore and looked like they too were taking fish.

That evening I was fortunate enough to be camped besides the Robertson brothers who came over from Seattle to fish for Walleye. Running about 30 miles upstream to the Net Pens they fished bottom bouncers and crawler harnesses for Walleye but the poor guys only caught the biggest and prettiest Bows I seen the whole trip. These fish like many of the bigger Bows on Rufus in the summertime are being caught by fishermen fishing for Walleyes. Other big trout this time of year and apparently through the summer and early fall are caught by Walleye fishermen jigging Buzz Bombs and Jigs tipped with Night crawlers rite on the bottom.

If you're wanting to key into some big fish (The State record at over 28 pounds was caught here) and you're willing to battle the elements Jan.,Feb.,early March seem to be when Trollers pulling a multitude of lures and fly's are taking the bigger fish coming up from the depths to feed. Checkwith Bob or local Guide Joe Heinlen at 509-393-9665 for what's currently the hot ticket. Don't count on me being there as much as I'd like to as I'll be in Nevada chasing Stripers on the Colorado or over on Pyramid trying for a 10 pound plus Cutthroat.

Day Two was much a repute of the first day only a little hotter. I managed to click into some nicer bows to seven pounds by using a 4" Silver Lyman Plug which I removed the hook from and using it as the attractor I attached a Red Wedding Band 12" back again tipped with worm. Rufus Bows this time of year love anything fairly small and Black tipped with worms. For the Fly fishermen a sinking flyline and a Black fly trolled slow or cast up against the bank also works. A Black Speckle 3" Lyman with a half a deworm slow trolled rite on the surface was also a killer.

One trip does not make you an expert on any body of water. But in this case, Black tipped with worm was without question the hot ticket. I suspect this is in part because these Triploids were imprinted since birth with dark colored fish pellets. These fish are not in any way spooked by boats or a heavier line as I was at times trolling only 50' behind the boat with 17# test Trilene just to see if they would still hit and if it was small,black and tipped with worm another fish. For anyone looking to introduce kids to or are looking for big number easy to catch fish days with a chance at a bigggggnnnnn Rufus is probably one of the best bets in the North West.

Day Three: The evening before had cooled off so I managed to get a little better sleep, sleeping in till about 8AM, then I managed to fish till noon taking 18 bows before I had to wrap things up before heading home. No problems at the boarder crossing. Will I be back? After spending $48.00 for a out of state fishing lic. and enjoying the desert scenery and meeting people like Bob Fately and the Robertson bros. and the chance at a BIGGGGGNNNNNN... You Bet!

Jim "Hey" Sutherland