Rufus Woods Help please!!

[cohokid22]

I am heading to Rufus next week and I had some questions. I plan on staying at Bridgeport state park but I heard its on the other side of the lake from the net pens. I will be fishing from a boat, so is fishing good on that side of the lake? Are there any BIG Triploids over there? Should I figure out somewhere else to camp? I'm not quite sure what to use for bait either I plan on trolling weddingrings and roostertails, are thhose good ideahs for BIG Triploids? If anyone could send me any info I would greatly appreciate it thankyou guys!

[A9]

I am heading to Rufus next week and I had some questions. I plan on staying at Bridgeport state park but I heard its on the other side of the lake from the net pens. I will be fishing from a boat, so is fishing good on that side of the lake? Are there any BIG Triploids over there? Should I figure out somewhere else to camp? I'm not quite sure what to use for bait either I plan on trolling weddingrings and roostertails, are thhose good ideahs for BIG Triploids? If anyone could send me any info I would greatly appreciate it thankyou guys!

The guy you needa talk to is "northfork." He goes over there a lot. Word is the bigger the lure the bigger the fish. People are even moving up near steelhead plugs to only take big ones and keep the small guys off..

I'd also suggest the search function and type in "Rufus Woods." There has probably been a half dozen, if not more, Rufus threads in the past 6 months that you could probably dig some information out of....

[beerman1981]

I am heading to Rufus next week and I had some questions. I plan on staying at Bridgeport state park but I heard its on the other side of the lake from the net pens. I will be fishing from a boat, so is fishing good on that side of the lake? Are there any BIG Triploids over there? Should I figure out somewhere else to camp? I'm not quite sure what to use for bait either I plan on trolling weddingrings and roostertails, are thhose good ideahs for BIG Triploids? If anyone could send me any info I would greatly appreciate it thankyou guys!

The guy you needa talk to is "northfork." He goes over there a lot. Word is the bigger the lure the bigger the fish. People are even moving up near steelhead plugs to only take big ones and keep the small guys off..

I'd also suggest the search function and type in "Rufus Woods." There has probably been a half dozen, if not more, Rufus threads in the past 6 months that you could probably dig some information out of....

Sam's right. There are a ton of strings on rufus woods. Just do a search. rufusThere is one of them right there. Also, read the lake reports on rufus. That should be very helpfull. There are close to one hundred reports. Here's another link not related to this site: Rufus Woods Help

Additionally, just to get you pumped up, here is a youtube clip of rufus woods: This is actually pretty darned cool and well worth the view: big trout at rufus woods fishing video

I've only been once, last Wednesday to be exact, and I thought I had all the research needed to land a big one. There's lots of fish in there, but there is definately a learning curve on catching the lunkers. Hope that helps.

Beerman

[northfork]

Look at some of the reports where big fish were caught. The last one was on a 3" curly tail grub, the guy that made F&H news was using a Kokanee Apex. Not what I would call big lures.
I trolled a 6" Rapala last time over and hooked alot of fish that just went 16".
The 13# er I caught last year was on a marshmellow, power egg combo.
The guy next to me a couple trips ago was using a 1/4oz leadhead black leech jig and caught a 10# fish ( I used a digital scale to see what it weighed)
I really believe the whole big fish thing is just LUCK.
Not using bait and using single barbless hooks will allow you to catch more fish and maybe hook into a BIG one.
It is true, at least with my brother and I, that the bigger fish are caught in the winter. Cold, snow hardcore fishing.
We average 5-6# fish in the winter with 7, 8, 9 and 13#ers. These weights have dropped off to 1.5- maybe 5# fish.
The time we went there and had a hard time catching fish, RUMOR had it that they were slaying them down at Bridgeport.
We were hooking into trips 9 miles upriver from the upper pens. The fish are throughout the entire lake ( reservoir).
We seem to do best in 15' to 40' of water.
Bridgeport is on the same side of the river as the net pens. The lower pens are not to far upriver from Bridgeport.
Again stay away from bait. You are only allowed 2 fish, no minimum size a day when using bait.
PM me if you have any questions and I will see if I can help you in any way.

[cohokid22]

Thanx guys for all the info it is really gonna help me out next week. The only question I have is the black leech jig. How do you rig it? Ive heard two ways, under a bobber and to let it go to the bottom then reel up a bit. If you guys could let me know i would appreciate it again. Thanx guys

[northfork]

We still fish leech patterns from the bottom and jig them back. If the jig stops or does something wierd SET THE HOOK!!!
Bill

[fishing collector]

If you can get the April 2008 copy of Game&Fish magazine. It has a several page article on Rufus Woods. Every thing from how to get there to what to fish with. where to fish...etc...I found it fantastic... you might try their website... Good luck,Steve
www.wogameandfish.com

[gpc]

I have never fished up a Bridgeport, spent all my time on the Nespelem side, but I dont think it matters. I have fished a 20 mile stretch, 3 diffrent spots and have pulled 20" fish from all 3 spots. The net pens have been the most productive, but 1 weekend they didnt show me any love. I have never boat fished, but the #1 lure I keep hearing about for trolling is a black, brown, or olive colored wooley bugger. Check out darrellanddads.com or give them a call, they guide on rufus.

[wolverine]

There are trips all over Rufus. They move around a lot looking for food so you just need to keep moving. If all you're catching is dinks; move as the schools are often all like sized fish. Stay away from bait. A lot of people using lures get frustrated if they don't catch a fish every 5 minutes and switch to bait. Bingo! A limit of 2 fish in a hurry but they may only be 2 pounders. Most guides fish down by the bouy line above Chief Joe as there is a good ramp and the fishings good. If you're going to troll; long line flat line wooly buggers with just enough weight to get the bugger under water. Small flatfish, Kok or trout Apex's, spinners all work. If you want to cast spinners, spoons, plugs; stay out and cast towards shore. A lot of the locals fish up towards Brandts Landing for their fish. The net pens are good when the weather and waters cold as the fish are lazy and don't have to hunt for food. I'd guess that the water temp is still 36-38 degrees so the fish will still be either close to shore or over the humps. Once the water warms up to 40-42 the fish move deeper and away from the shore & net pens so its harder to get them bank plunking in the usual spots. The fish don't disappear in the warmer months, they just move into areas that have the temp that they like and where there's food.