Second trip to Rufus this month. Wife had to work so made this trip with the good doctor. Arrived on 1/22 at 11:30 AM. Took a full 5 hours to land 4 nice triploids - 4, 4.5, 5 and 6.5 lbs. Needlefish spoons at 19 to 20 feet on the wire did the trick. Day two 1/23 on the water at 8:00 AM. Took about 3.5 hours to limit. Same drill, Needlefish spoons at 19 feet on the wire. Fished the can line both days. All in all a great trip at one of the premier trout fisheries in the entire country. Outside temp was 25 to 35 degrees. Water temp was a consistent 38.1 degrees both days. Water was very calm with mild current. Trolling speed was 1.25 to 1.75 MPH. Of note was the way the fish struck. On 1/1/14 the fish hit hard and fought fairly strong. On this trip the bites were almost imperceptible (almost like a trout mouthing a bait while still fishing). Had to watch carefully and snatch the rod from the holder quickly. Had few nice ones come unpinned and had several drive by's. My guess is that with the colder water temp the fish are not aggressively feeding, hence the light bites and misses.

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