Northwest Fishing Reports

been watching the temps in chelan, kinda seems warm for the time of the year, anyone know if the ice is off roses yet?

I really want an excuse to get over there and make sure my place is still in working shape

Hello catfishcharlie,
I was fishing on 10 inches of ice last Saturday 01/24/09 and it has been in the low to mid teens every night this week. We plan on fishing the hard water again next weekend and I'm sure that there will plenty of it. I don’t think the ice will be off of Roses Lake anytime soon. Rufus Woods is a very good choice for large Trout and Perch this time of year and it's only about 30 minutes from Chelan.
Good luck.

God I wish I lived up in that area.

thanks for the info!, probably try Ice fishing for the 1st time on roses this sunday. And yeah, I think its time for me to try rufus, been putting off going there for some odd reason for awile now, probably try that saturday morning. Can anyone give me some info on rufus though?, I printed off the map of it but theres 50 something miles of lake so I'll have to bank fish ( don't think the 7HP evinrude is up to that ).

so.............. can anyone give me a spot to shoot for for decent bank fishing?, thanks again!

Hello again catfishcharlie,

If the fishing at Roses Lake is slow you can also try Rat Lake above Brewster. Rat Lake is about half way between Roses Lake and Rufus Woods. As of yesterday the ice was running about twelve inches thick and you should limit very quickly using power bait just a couple of inches off of the bottom.

Be sure to check out the reports on fishing at Rufus Woods in particular the reports posted by Malottguy because I think he fishes mostly from the bank and he does very well.

I would recommend fishing behind Chief Joseph dam in the park area around the Corps of Engineers boat launch because you are not required to have a tribal fishing permit in this area. Picnic tables, fire pits and access to restrooms are all provided by the Corps. I was out there last weekend in my boat and the fish were deep and hugging the bottom. I would recommend that you fish for them the same way that you would fish for trout in any other lake. Spinners, jigs, slip sinker rigs baited with power bait, worms, night crawlers, marshmallows & eggs. Use leaders in excess of three feet to get you up and out of the weeds on the bottom and fish/cast as far away from shore as you can because as I stated above, the fish are deep and holding the bottom.
Remember that if you use bait of any kind that your limit is two fish and you are not supposed to catch and release. For catch and release fishing you can not use bait of any kind and you must use only a single barb less hook. The game wardens in the area around Rufus Woods are not very forgiving.
Good Luck and post some reports when you get home so that we can see how you did.

Hey catfishcharlie fishing has been slow on Rufus but I have still limited.

I changed up a bit the other day from my usual. But normally what I use is a size 4 hook on about 18" to 2' leader swivel then about 1/4 ounceslip(egg) weight on the hook I use 2 Chartreuse Power Eggs and then a Fl. Red Nugget.

But for last Tuesday I decided since they weren't biting to well I would try something new I went up to a 1/2 ounce slip(egg) weight and try to get out into the deeper waters further from shore. I stayed with the Chartreuse Eggs but instead of the Fl Red Nugget I used a big pinch of Orange Dough Power Bait. I didn't role it like you normally do, because it was SO COLD lol. I just pinched off a Nugget size amount.

It caught my limit and I lost two also. They where smaller than most with biggest being about 3/4 of a pound.

But all in all was still fun.

As for where to fish along the shore. It seemed anywhere just above the dam was producing a few fish. Like I said was slow but they are there.

Also your 7hp would do fine to troll around the "can line" and such. Look up posts from many who troll BlufinLoui would be a great place to get that info I am sure as he is a fish slayer on Rufus.

You never know it may be you that catches the next 10+ pounder.

Robert(Malottguy)

thanks for the fast replys!, sounds like I'll be hitting up rufus for sure on saturday morning and roses or rat on sunday, havn't fished rat in a couple of years, would be nice to go and check it out.

yeah I know about the wardens and such, but I keep it legit so no worries here.

Oh and yeah I'll post up how I do when I get back, hopefully with some pictures of fish!

just posted my reports for Rufus and roses, thanks again for the info everyone!.

figure I'll hijack my own thread here instead of starting a new one.

anyone know the thickness or if its even changed?, temps in the 20's at night and mid 30's during the day makes me think no, but i'm no ice expert. hoping to take the GF out there on valentines day this weekend.

oh and anything on aniliton?, havn't been up there in awile can't remember if they close off the access road or not.

The Antilon roads are utilized for snowmobiles and skiers in winter, so the road is blocked off at the bottom of the hill at the snow park area.
Good luck fishing Roses this week end.