Hit the water a bit late, had to take care of a few things around the place before we left but got started about 10 am. Water temp. is still fairly cold, although its nice not to see ice forming on the rods anymore!!

Went up to the pens just to check things out for a little while but the fish were hanging right at and around the bottom so we went down stream to a spot we like because of all the boulders on the bottom, its just about halfway between the first and second net pens, as your coming up from Bridgeport. The river narrows there quite a bit and you can feel the turbulance from the water swirling around the underwater mounts there as you boat past them.

We have been trying to perfect a new fly for Rufus this winter ...with mixed results. Some days though like this time, things just seem to fall into place. We use a streamer fly, tied with wieght on the forward part of the fly so it can be used almost like a jig. I got turned onto a very different fly pattern quite by accident here so I can't really take much credit.....

On a previous trip, my best fishing partner and wife was fly casting and very slow jerking the streamer in and around some rocks near the shore and she had a very nice fat 9 pounder hit her fly, During the fight, the weight of the fish caused the fly to get bent in the middle of the shank on the hook....thus a new pattern was born!!

The bend in the hook give the fly a great action, don't know why I never thought about doing that before, but it gives it an action much like a light trolling spoon. Then with the streamer tail it has a great action when retrieved very slowly in the cold water. Basically, its a streamer fly fished like a jig.

We caught 34 fish today, all released to grow up a little bigger for the next trip out. They ranged from 2 lbs. to an average of 3-4 lbs with two that were right at 6 lbs....not big monsters, but still lots of fun.

I just love fishing RW this time of year, the birds are all stirred up, flying around, squawking, honking, quacking, chasing each other, its fun times.

Aaron

4/9/2009 11:25:00 AM

Nice report! Good luck with perfecting the fly.

mav186

4/9/2009 11:41:00 AM

Thanks for sharing your success and the information on your 'new' fly. I've used steelhead jigs there with great success and the more battered, bruised, banged up, tore up, hackel shredded the lure got...the better it fished! I still have it and smile every time I see it!!

Mav

blufin loui

4/9/2009 12:39:00 PM

Hellooooo Outdoor Chris, It's great to see a report from my RW Mentor, Friend, and RW Fisherman (and FisherWoman) extraordinair (sp?). Love to hear the stories of how different folks work on a pattern (adjusting, improvising), then hit the "right" combination. Thanks for sharing and eagerly await future posts. Looking forward to crossing paths on the water.

rodrob43

4/10/2009 6:15:00 AM

Send us a picture of the fly! That was an interesting comment.

outdoor chris

4/10/2009 7:54:00 AM

mav,
I have used spinners for the smallmouth spring bite over at bank lake and they start out with a really nice color but after a hundred fish or so a day on them the only colors they have left on them is the lead color of the body of the spinner and it does seem that they like that even more!!! You just can't beat those old lures!!
Makes one wonder why all the hype on a particular color or fly pattern...have used pellet flies at Rufus untill there is just a little piece of yarn left on it and they still hit it!

outdoor chris

4/10/2009 8:01:00 AM

Hey there Loui,
yes it is good to see you on here too!!......., looking forward to seeing you once again out on the waves!! Am going to try for some Chelan lake trout this weekend, if weather allows.

Big D

4/10/2009 11:34:00 AM

Thanks for the great report. Glad to hear your catching some fish.

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