by Mike Carey, February 27, 2005

Winter means many things to many people. Cold nights, fresh snow for skiing, and frozen lakes are probably what first comes to mind. But for those hardy fishermen it means something else - trophy triploids and rainbows on several Columbia River impoundments. One of the growing and more popular of these fisheries is Rufus Woods.



Rufus Woods is formed by the Chief Joseph Dam. Chief Joseph Dam is the second largest hydropower producing dam in the United States. And more important to us fishermen, it creates the 51 mile long Rufus Woods reservoir, home to some mighty big triploid rainbows. Triploids are genetically engineered fish. To keep it simple, they are fish with three sets of chromosomes rather than the normal two. This results in the lack of ability to reproduce. But that's not a bad thing. Because what they lack in reproductive ability they make up for in size. All that energy goes into growing bigger. Lots bigger. And Rufus Woods is stocked with these fish. In 2004, according to guide Joe Heinlen, Rufus was stocked with 80,000 one pound fish. And guess what? This year those fish will be 2-3 pounds. Even better, the last three state record rainbows came from here, with the record of 29.6 pounds in 2002!

So with the above information my fishing bug was in dire need of feeding. My friend Anton Jones (Darrel and Dad's Family Guide Service) has added two new guides to his growing business. One, Joe Heinlen, specializes fishing Rufus Woods. So when Anton suggested I go out with Joe I was ready, willing, and impatiently waiting.

My sons and I drove over from Redmond and arrived at Anton's place Sunday evening, Feb 20th. We visited and stayed up too late, catching up on things. The fishing over in Chelan has been great for Anton this last year. But even so, he was as excited about hitting Rufus Woods as I was. Nothing compares to catching a BIG triploid on light trout poles. With visions of big fish on our minds we called it a night.

Morning came early and cold, but not unbearable. We were dressed properly and Joe's boat is heated. After fueling up with coffee we met Joe and drove the 45 minutes to Rufus Woods. When we arrived we were surprised to find the lower end of the lake had ice flows scattered here and there. That wasn't going to stop us, but it almost stopped the guys in front of us - their boat was frozen to the trailer! A bit of pushing and pulling and the boat came free. Joe's boat had no problems and soon enough we were off, breaking through the ice flows as we worked our way over to the buoy line. Joe explained that this long line of buoys made an ideal barrier that the zooplankton would form up against. And remember the old saying - fish where the fish are? Well, the fish swim where the bait is, so this must be the place.



James bundled up - note the ice on the water.

Joe fishes out of a brand new 2005 21 Foot Custom Weld. It is one sweet boat. With the curtains down and the heater on my boys and I were as comfortable as you could ask for. Anton had told me that Joe brings a high level of enthusiasm and fishing innovation and I would have to agree with that assessment. One of the first things he pulled out that caught my attention was a 15 foot Church Tackle outrigger. Joe told me that by using these outriggers he is able to cover a 38 foot wide piece of water. He runs two Scotty electrics and uses a variety of methods to get his other lines down to the "fish zone", which can be anywhere from surface to 30 feet or deeper. He generally runs his rigs about 60-70 feet behind the boat. I must say, the outrigger was way cool. I am definitely looking into one for my boat. The possibilities for adding additional rods without tangles was immediately apparent.



Guide Joe Heinlen - 15 foot outrigger on the right.

We worked our way as best we could along the buoy line. It soon became apparent that the amount of ice in the water would prevent us from fishing this hot spot. So after a couple of hours with a few light hits (no hook-ups) we ran about a mile up lake. By now the sun was beaming down on us and it was quite comfortable. I checked the fish finder and saw the temp gauge reading 36.8. We had climbed a degree from first launching and fishing the buoy line. Still, I feared this water was too cold for the fish to be active. Joe worked every manner of lure on our five rods, changing lures, depths, and speed (generally 1/2 to 1 mph going up lake - there is a definite current) . I could see he was pulling all the stops in an attempt to get us hook ups. Still, no takers. We moved back to the buoy line around noon. The ice was gone and we were able to troll the routes he wanted to. Water temp seemed to be stuck at 36.9 degrees. My kids were having a good time - filming everything and everyone with our camcorder - at least it kept them entertained.

I would love to tell you the fishing suddenly came alive, but unfortunately at 2:30pm my boys finally began to get restless. I turned to Joe and said "I think it's time to put the guide out of his misery and call it a day". I truly felt bad for Joe. He worked the lines so hard and it was obvious he was pained to not get us on any trophy fish. I assured him that it was still a great day on the water - and it was. The weather was beautiful, the kids had fun, and I got to sit back and let someone else do all the work for a change! So to me it was a good day. I've fished long enough to know that everyone, even the best guides, get skunked sometimes. I also know that next time we go out we could very well catch that 25 pounder that's swimming around. That's the name of the game when you are fishing for trophy fish.



Day's end and still happy.

Rufus Woods is one of Washington's trophy waters and you owe it to yourself to put it on your list of lakes to fish. Joe recommends December and January as the best time for winter fishing. The water hasn't had a chance to get quite as cold and the fish are more aggressive. I know where I'll be next January. Maybe I'll see you there.

February 24, 2005



Here's some nice Rufus Woods fish on display!





Anton with some nice kokanee.

Joe displays a 14 pound walleye

Dave Poirier of Malaga with a 26 inch / 12 pound Rufus triploid rainbow.
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