I had a really fun week of winter fishing again.  This time I was able to get up to the middle nets on Rufus Woods to fish from shore.  I also was able to get out on Lake Chelan to try for kokanee.

James Lebow and I had such good luck at Rufus Woods last Saturday that we had to go again.  This time he brought along his friend Ashleigh Zibell.  I had stayed at the Grand Coulee Center Lodge Tuesday night and ran into a couple of anglers that were filling their boat with fuel in the morning.  They told me that fishing was slow and that most boats were just getting a fish or two.  I was worried.  

However, when we arrived at the middle net pens on Wednesday morning the water was up but there was a pretty good current.  The beach we had fished last Saturday was under water, so we had to fish from the rocks. We cast out our rods, baited with Power Bait and settled in to watch our rods.  The rod that we thought had the least possible chance of getting a fish went off and Ashleigh landed a nice triploid.  We got off to a slow start but were getting a fish every so often.  James and I had our four fish by 9:40 last Saturday, and we had our six fish by 10:00 on Wednesday.  Maybe we were being impatient.  Having six triploids of 18 to 22 inches and weighing 3 to 5 pounds on the stringer made for a pretty good morning.  I am ready to do it again!

I got a call from Jim Paine, who I had fished with on Lake Roosevelt last winter with Alan Greenbaugh from Kokabow Tackle.  He asked me if I would like to try Lake Chelan for kokanee on Thursday.  Oh boy, you bet I would, so I met him at his home in Cashmere and we headed to the launch at Mill Bay.  

I thought that we should start at The Stairs, as I have found some fish here on earlier kokanee trips to Chelan.  We put the gear out on the downriggers and had our Kokabow blades and hoochies down at 83 and 100 feet.  I was running one of my favorite combos with an orange spinner, but Jim had two fish to my one.  He likes a green Kokabow combo this time of year on Chelan and he gave me a green blade and I put it on with one of my green squidders.  It worked!  We put a few fish in the cooler here and decided to try around Mitchell Creek.  We pulled the gear and headed up there, where we saw the only two other boats on the lake.  We got a couple here but then headed down to Green’s Landing and eventually to Rocky Point.  Neither one of these spots produced fish.  We didn’t exactly kill ‘em on Thursday, but we had a great time.  This week’s photo is of me with the Kokabow rig that worked on Lake Chelan.

When I got home from my trip to Rufus Woods on Saturday, December 4th, my wife was really pleased to see I had some triploids in the cooler.  She insisted that I get them brined and in the smoker right away.  My buddy James had traded one of his fish for a chukar with a guy that pulled into the boat ramp just as we were leaving.  James gave me his other one so I had three fish to work with.

I put them the big bowl and covered them with my brown sugar, Kosher salt and sweet basil brine and stuck it in in the refrigerator.  The next day I rinsed the fish, allowed them to dry a bit and then put them in the Bradley smoker.  I kept the temperature pretty low so that I wouldn’t cook the fat out of the fish, and I wanted to be sure they were done but not overcooked.  I pulled a couple of the smaller fillets out after about 2 ½ hours and the rest of the fish at three hours.  I let the fillets cool in my garage and them bagged them and put them in the fridge until I could vacuum seal them.  We took one of the fillets over to my brother in-law’s place the next day, as we were going to watch the football game and have dinner.  Everyone said it was the best batch ever!  Nothing like fresh triploid rainbow trout for a good result in the smoker.

I described how I smoke fish and although pieces of this are delicious I also make a spread that is very popular with my family and neighbors.  To make the spread I take about a pound of smoked fish and crumble it into a large bowl.  Then I sprinkle in a very generous amount of dried dill weed.  

The only other ingredient is cream cheese, and here is a trick I learned that makes it very easy to mix it in with fish and dill.  Take the cream cheese out of the packaging and place two bricks on a paper plate.  Put it in a microwave oven and cook it on high for three minutes.  When it comes out it is very soft and mixes easily with a fork.  The mixture is easily spooned into the small snack plastic tubs that hold 9.5 ounces.  I can usually fill two to three of these tubs of spread.  This is a very simple way to use smoked fish that people like to have on hand for Holiday parties or when watching a football game.  

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) will implement annual winter closures for sections of the Oak Creek, L.T. Murray, and Wenas wildlife areas starting 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 15 through 6 a.m. on May 1 to protect wintering elk from disturbance.  During winter and spring, elk are concentrated in large numbers near winter feed sites and on their winter range. Human disturbance can cause unnecessary stress on elk during their winter recovery period, which can result in increased damage to neighboring agricultural areas and costly repairs to elk fencing. Trespassers caught within a closed area may be subject to civil and criminal penalties. 

I hope to get back to Rufus Woods soon for more triploids and I will be sure to let you know how we do.