Dang, I’m tired of this winter. It just keeps snowing in Leavenworth, and I mean SNOWING! It has been quite a job just keeping up with it so we can get in and out of the house. Fortunately, we have a great service that keeps my driveway clear enough to get my truck out and they have already had to pile up snow with a front end loader, and it’s higher than the street sign. We’re due for another visit with that machine.

I traveled to Grand Coulee Dam on Thursday, spent the night at the Grand Coulee Center Lodge and fished Rufus Woods Friday morning. I wanted to leave early enough to get a spot on the bank at the middle net pens. Turns out there was no reason to hurry. I had the short beach area to myself, except for a brief visit by two other anglers. These people made some casts with jigs, and when they didn’t get any bites, took off.

There was also some traffic at the boat launch. I watched at least a half dozen boats take off from the launch and either run out to the middle pens or further up lake. I think most of them were headed to the upper net pens to fish for trout, but at least one boat was going to try to find some walleye.

I could see Austin Moser with a boat load of clients, and their presence made my time fishing miserable. While I watched my two rods, checking baits occasionally, I could see Austin running with the net and people posing for photos. I only got one bite all morning, and it turned out to be a dink. Austin managed to get limits for all those on his boat. The fish ranged in size from 3 or 4 pounds to 8 or 9 pounds. They got a couple on bait on the bottom, but most of the fish were taken on jigs or tubes. Austin fished Lake Roosevelt, out of Keller the day before. His group landed 31 rainbow and got one that was 24 inches. Everyone can have a bad day, and Friday was mine! This week’s photo was taken at Rufus Woods.

Austin’s report on the good trout bite was encouraging. The lake hasn’t dropped at all, and fishing should be good at the spots I like to fish from at Spring Canyon and Keller. I stopped at the Desert Angler Fly Shop in Ephrata on my way up to Grand Coulee Dam, and there was a customer there that said he had fished at Spring Canyon twice earlier that week. He didn’t have great luck himself but saw a guy on one of those days with his limit of nice trout to 24 inches.

I have been busy writing my free E-Letter for Winter 2023. If you aren’t aware I have been sending out this free e-letter for many years. It is sent out quarterly and I describe the top prospects for the coming season and provide a detailed description of a couple of them. The Winter e-letter includes maps and photos of the areas I write about and links to videos I have done on featured fisheries. A long winter season is ahead of us here in Central Washington, and there are always lots of terrific opportunities for anglers.

In this issue I have one of the longest lists of top prospects I have ever published. The reason is the early and heavy winter we are experiencing this year. So, I mention a lot of great ice fishing destinations. There is a link to a video I did that shows four lakes I visited last winter. I haven’t forgotten about boat fishing opportunities and dedicate much of the e-letter to fishing on Rufus Woods for triploids and Lake Roosevelt for giant kokanee and trout. To get a free copy just go to www.fishingmagician.com and click on the Free E-Letter button on the Home Page.

Now that the Holidays are behind us, I try to remind everyone of the sports shows that come up early in the new year. These are great events, as they are focused on what we all enjoy in one form or another. They are all about the great outdoors. The first one in our region is the Tri-Cities Sportsmen Show, that takes place on January 27 through the 29th. This one has been going on for nearly 30 years, so they must be doing something right. It will be at the HAPO Center in Pasco. Right on the heels of this show is the Washington Sportsmen’s and Fishing Boat Show in Puyallup. It runs from February 1st through the 5th and is by far the largest of these types of shows every year. Beginning on February 3rd is the Seattle Boat Show, which continues to be the biggest boat show on the West Coast. Once again I will be doing a seminar for this show, and again it offers “on-line” opportunities to attend. The last show of the season will be the Central Washington Sportsmen Show at the Sundome in Yakima. It is scheduled for February 24th thru the 26th.

On Saturday, January 14th the 19th Annual Northwest Ice Fishing Festival will take place in Molson, Washington. The whole community turns out to make sure that everyone that attends has a great time. I have attended a couple of these events, and Eric Granstrom and his Dad Dave went one year. The contest fishing time is 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. ALL fishing contest participants must check in to complete registration and get a number assigned, at the Molson Grange Hall in advance, and be licensed to fish.

The grand prize of a $500 check and a $500 gift certificate will be awarded to the adult contestant with the largest combined weight of either one fish or a total of five fish. Youth prizes do not include money but will have prizes for each category. In the event the catches are not made, the winners will be drawn from the registered fishers. CHECKS will be awarded to winners in the adult category for 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place for $500, $300 and $200 respectively. First place will also receive a $500 Gift Certificate from the Country Store.

I hope that you have safe travels on your way to your favorite fishing spot. There are a lot of great places to go in the region!