I was able to get out fishing twice last week. Once with my fly rod and the second time I was back on Rufus Woods Reservoir. I picked a couple of great days to be out. The skies were sunny and the weather warm.
I have been having a ball catching big triploids at Rufus Woods this winter. I got out in December with my buddy Austin Moser, and he put me on two big kokanee. I will be fishing these two places again, but there is another favorite of mine that I did try this week. It’s fly fishing at Rocky Ford Creek, near Ephrata. I was introduced to the fishing here back in the 90s when I was living in Chelan and have been making winter trips here ever since. The Ford can be frustrating. It is full of big rainbow that are famous for turning up their noses at the most tempting patterns.

Although fishing Scud patterns under an indicator is the most popular approach to taking trout here, I am going to start with a method that was taught to me many years ago. It still produces more fish for me than any other technique. I tie on a Mini Leech and then about 15 inches below that I tie on an Ultra Scud. I cast this where there is a slight current, allow it to sink a bit and strip it in. They may take the Scud or the Leech and hit hard!

I was going to Moses Lake on Thursday, so I thought I would leave early and make a few casts at Rocky Ford Creek. As I drove into Ephrata I was pleased to see the open sign lit up and Darc Knoble’s red truck in front of his business, the Desert Fly Angler. This was my first trip to the Ford this winter and it was great to see him and visit a bit. I got to one of my favorite spots below the middle parking lot about 11:00 and could see some big trout finning by. I had already rigged my rod with my favorite Mini Leech and Ultra Scud dropper, so I was ready to go. I made several casts without any takes and was getting worried. It was about 11:30 when—Wham! A really heavy fish hit, and it took a while to get it to the shore. I measured it (23 inches), took a quick shot with my phone and after a nudge it took off for the middle of the stream.

I moved up a bit and started throwing my flies again. I would feel a weed tug on my line occasionally and would just jerk my flies free, but one weed pulled back! It was a very active fish, jumping three times and measuring 17 inches.

I have been watching a fish that was silhouetted in a clear spot on the bottom. It hadn’t moved the whole time I was casting and retrieving. I made several attempts to judge my cast so my flies would drop down and float near this fish. Finally, on about my sixth try I noticed the fish move. Then I saw the white of its gum line as it opened its mouth to feed. I realized just in time that it was feeding on my fly! I lifted my rod tip and hooked him. It was a beautiful 21-inch deeply colored fish. It is the one shown in the photo with this week’s column.

I learned two very important things on my trip to the net pens on Rufus Woods last Friday. One is that you better get your boat in position near the pens early. There are a huge number of anglers fishing here now. They have found that if they want to anchor close to the bottom end of the pens and get in on the best bite of the day, you better arrive right at daylight. That means many are running down in the dark. There are still big fish being landed on Rufus, but most are being taken by the anglers that have the best spots and are fishing right at daylight.

I have never seen as many boats fishing upper Rufus Woods as I did last Friday. When I left there were rigs parked on both sides of the road to the ramp nearly to the top, where you make the right turn down the hill.

When I fished there last Friday with my buddy James Lebow, we gave up on trying to fish the net pens, as we arrived too late to get one of the best spots. We had found an area above the nets pens that produced some good fish last summer, so we decided to try it from shore. We just nosed the boat up on the sandy beach. James actually landed a nice triploid, and we were having so much fun telling fishing stories and such we didn’t notice the water level had dropped. We were stuck. We tried to shove it off and tried to rock it free, without budging it. We were in a real fix.

I noticed a boat that had pulled in close to shore below us that was trolling upstream. When they got close enough to see us, I began to wave. When they got near us they discovered that I wasn’t just waving at them but needed their help.

James tied a bow line and a stern line together and tossed it to them. They tied it off to a cleat and tried to pull us off. The first attempt did move the boat, and the second try got us free. Whew. A big Thank You to the guys in the Sylvan that came to our aid.

This was a reminder that the water level can change at any time on Rufus Woods. If you plan on going a shore for some reason, poke a stick in the beach at the waterline and pay attention to it. We were lucky that there were a lot of boats on the water. That’s not always the case.

If you are a fan of fishing for kokanee on Lake Chelan, you may want to check out the new video I have posted recently. Just go to my website at www.fishingmagician.com and go to the Fishing TV Page and click on the title “Lake Chelan Kokanee with Kurt Middleton”. There’s some good tips on winter fishing for kokanee.