I was thinking about getting out of this wonderful weather and try out these triploids I keep hearing about. I've been to Chief Joseph Dam but I was wondering if anyone could give me some direction (AREAS, GEAR, etc .)

I can't help you out really but I hear red wedding rings are killing em out there...Fishing the pens and the damn have been popular and I hear some of those trips are monsters out there. Check the search function, someone posted a thread about their trip to Rufus a few weeks ago...

Rufus Woods "corn bite" is full on, we threw this skinny dark one back in....

Where did you get that one at Chrome 22

You musta been fishin' the 'skinny' part o' Rufus there C/22... that's where all the dark fish hang out.

Here's a Rufus trip from last February:



Caught near the second set of pens with eggs. just shy of 16# on the scale and about as good eating as you could ever want. Fought pretty good on my ultra-light tackle too!

Some cracker low-holed me...& then asked for a pic with MY fish.

C/22

If I remeber right you got the first shot I had to clean up

You drink too much to remember stuff like that.

c/22

That vitawater just makes you smarter, I remember that day I was wondering what the heck you were doing dancing around in the front of the boat

I had to pi$$ all day & you go & slap that Depend's on 1st thing & never stop..

Looking forward to breaking in the wide-body next month.

C/22

I'm glad you only went once because that pink thong was killing me everrytime you dropped your wadders

Want it back?? Think its still in my tackle box....

I'm excited to break it in to but the itch is really growing

Meanwhile back @ Rufus Woods.....

This guy finds the fish that ate his bothers head.




C/22

I've been fishing R. Woods, when it's too cold for steelies. Not unusual to CnR 20 fish in a few hours (using fly gear), taking home a couple around 5#. Numbers of fish has been unreal, with lots of small fish. Takes lots of hours, or luck, for the occasional big fattie. Until a couple of weeks ago, most of the action was in the shallows along the bank- sometimes in only a foot or two of water. Fish were real obvious, with lots of rises and splashing. They're really spread out, too. No need to run to the pens.

You planning on boating, or banking?

Most boaters seem to be launching at the ramp near the dam at Bridgeport. Some bankers there, and also up at Brandt's Landing, about 6 or 7 miles up the S shore. I know that lots of folks fish from the rez side (N shore), but it costs an extra license fee. Most of the bankers are using bait, which means keeping the first 2 fish you catch. A lot of boaters have been casting spinners. When I take my 5yo daughter, I usually set her up with a small green curly tail jig, under a slip bobber.

The occasional walleye is a nice bonus-

Acme Mapper link- http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=48.02621,-119...seph%20Dam%20WA

Oops, sorry about the crappy phone pic!!

I went xmas eve got our limit by the middle pens banking with power bait. I noticed that pisco mentioned the bait keep first two. I know you have to keep the first two just wondering if this is a restriction that is related to bait only? Can you fish artificials and release? It really sucks to catch a 12"er and have to keep it when the limit is only 2 fish. Here recently the game dept. has been going under cover so you dont want to be doing anything wrong it will cost you big. The other day two guys fishing in a boat caught four fish headed in got a huge ticket because one of the guys caught three of the four fish game wardens undercover out in a boat observing OK . The real money part of this ticket came when they tried to tell the wardens they had each caught two. This is before the fishermen knew they had been observed they both got obstruction tickets and they anit cheap. Im not saying that they werent in the wrong but that is a hell of a price to pay for fish being raised to sell to resturants. Those net pens polute the columbia river just like the ones in the ocean. Lots of nitrates. I usually like to fish away from the crowds but the fishing was slow in my usual spots so I went to the middle pens and we had our limits in no time usually near the pens is a no brainer. Man are they good smoked so much oil you cant dry them out. Matter of fack I usually finish them off in the oven just to stiffen them up. Another thing wierd happened this group of four guys shows up. They start fishing down from us then one of them walks the dog that they brought right behind where I'm standing the dog squats and $#!ts. Then he calmly walks back to where they are fishing like it is the most natural thing in the world. Me and my buddies are thinking WTF. Then I here them talking they are Russians. I guess they live by a different set of rules than the ones I was brought up with. The more I think about it the more it pisses me off. Well enough of this rant. Good luck if you go

Thanks for the info I think if you use artificials you can catch and release. If your using bait it's the first two.. Any clue on artificials if that's how you spell it.

1/8oz black marabou jigs light tackle from shore hard to beat. And you are on the rez. there so dont forget your "NO FAT CHICKS BUMPER STICKER"

c,mon guys, you fish, you should understand why if you catch trout, on bait
(artificial or real bait), that you have to keep everything you bring in, because they swallow bait, ITS FOOD, if they swallow it, even a little, your dooming that fishes life when you remove said hook from their throat, thus the rule, even if you managed to just lip hook them, the rule is the same, because you have to have rules, i think its silly to post that you think artificial bait is different then real bait, so the rule doesnt apply, fishing does require a bit of thinking, thank you for letting me rant.............