Lake Rufus Woods features big trout, bigger fines for cheaters.

[Anonymous]

Hello Fisher people,
I found this article while looking for information about Lake Rufus Woods & thought others would also find it interesting.

RICH LANDERS; The Spokesman-Review Published: November 20th, 2008 02:48 AM

Trout anglers wondering what it might be like to cast into a fish hatchery full of lunkers can quit dreaming and start catching.
North Central Washington’s Lake Rufus Woods has been even better than a hatchery.

And it’s legal – at least for those following the rules on the Columbia River reservoir.

The windfall for fishermen stems from a trout farm that recently folded after losing roughly 300,000 rainbows over the past year from poorly tended net pens and driftwood damage. That’s the assessment of Ed Shallenberger, fisheries biologist for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and a former manager of Columbia River Fish Farms.

“The guy I sold the fish farm to in July 2005 ran the place into the ground,” he said. “Another outfit, Pacific Sea Foods, bought the place out of the bankruptcy a couple of weeks ago, and they’re in the process of making major changes. But it will take time.”

Rufus Woods – the reservoir that backs up behind Chief Joseph Dam and reaches upstream toward Grand Coulee Dam – had a relatively unremarkable fishery until the 1990s.

The change began after Shallenberger helped with the pilot program for commercial fish farming on the south side of the reservoir. In 1994, he moved Columbia River Fish Farms to the north shore in agreements with the Colville tribes and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The sterile rainbow trout – called triploids – were raised and fed in the pens to sizes of 6-7 pounds before being marketed to grocery chains and restaurants.

Three sets of net pens were established and continue to produce fish on the reservoir. Two that are about two miles apart, now operated by Pacific Sea Foods under the name “Pacific Aquaculture,” can produce about 4.5 million pounds of trout a year.

One located another 10 miles downstream, operated by Chief Joseph Fish Farm, produces about 1 million pounds of trout a year.

Fish that occasionally got out of the pens – plus the 5,000 to 10,000 trout the Colvilles contracted for release almost yearly to create a recreational fishery – didn’t go far. They hunkered below the pens and bulked up on natural food and the bounty of feed that drifted down through the nets.

A progression of state record rainbows were caught from Lake Rufus Woods, ending with the current record, a 29.6-pounder caught in November 2002 by Norm Butler of Okanogan.

Another record fish isn’t likely soon, Schallenberger said.

“You’ve got way too many fish in the river and way too much fishing, legal and illegal,” he said. “It’s pathetic.

“In the 12 years I worked (at the fish farms), I’ll bet we didn’t lose more than 20,000 fish, mostly in two incidents. The big numbers of fish they’ve lost in the past year – I’m guessing a minimum of 300,000 – has made for some good fishing, but not necessarily for big fish. Most of the fish are running 1.5 to up to 10 pounds, but anything bigger than that is pretty hard to find now. We had 40,000-angler days there last year. Even with a two-fish limit, that’s still a lot of fish coming out.”

The harvest numbers swell when greed is factored in.

“Frankly, what we’re seeing is piggery,” said Sgt. Jim Brown, Fish and Wildlife enforcement officer for Okanogan County.

“We wrote one or two tickets a month on Rufus Woods eight years ago. Last November, when word got out about the fish escapes, we started writing 15 to 20 tickets a week, and we’re not there every day. Literally, nine out of 10 fishing parties we made contact with earlier this year had violations.”

One couple was caught catching their limit and returning to catch another. “They lied to the officers when we asked if they had any fish hidden in their trunk, and that alone is a gross misdemeanor, a $540 ticket for each one of them right there,” Brown said. “Then each of them got a $378 ticket for possessing twice the limit.”

High-grading is the most common violation, he said.

“You have all of these 2-pound fish out there, but everybody wants to catch the big ones. It’s OK to catch-and-release fish with artificial lures or flies, because they have a high survival rate. But when using bait, statewide rules say you must keep each fish you catch up to your two-fish limit.

“Some bait fishermen were catching 40 trout to keep two, and most of those 40 fish were dying.”

[Toni]

That was an interesting read. Thank you for posting it.

[steelhead64389]

Good Article Big D,

In my humbled opinion what we are seeing on Rufus Woods is indicative of the very greed that has this country in recession and on the verge of financial ruin. If people won't give up the greed, there won't be room for anything else. As we can see with the Top Management of all these failing companies, when 2% take 90% of the wealth, there will be mass famine somewhere else. It relates the same with our Natural Resources.

All of you poachers out there.......... Give it up... please!!