by Dave Graybill, November 29, 2011

Welcome to December everyone! To my way of thinking, this means that we are getting into the heart of the steelhead season. The best fishing of the season is coming up. It usually means that the fishing for triploid rainbow at Rufus Woods will be getting very good, too. Also, toward the end of the month I start looking for safe ice on area lakes, and start making plans for some ice fishing trips.

To get everyone tuned up for the steelhead action ahead, I have once again arranged for a steelhead seminar with my friends at Town Ford in East Wenatchee. I was able to get Shane Magnuson, of Upper Columbia Guide Service, to come and show anglers his tackle and techniques for taking steelhead on the upper Columbia and the smaller rivers in our area. Magnuson will most likely begin with tips on bobber and jig fishing. I really like the way that he does his presentations. He takes a step by step approach and shows everyone exactly how he rigs his rods, what kind of rods, reels and line he uses and what he puts on the end. Everyone that follows his instructions will be more successful when fishing for steelhead this season. The seminar will take place at Town Ford’s new location just up the hill from Costco in East Wenatchee. It will be held on Wednesday, December 7th, beginning at 6 p.m. There will be drawings for some prizes as usual, too.

I have talked to people that have fished throughout the region lately. From the Okanogan River up north, down to the Methow River and even the mouth of the Wenatchee. Of all the spots that I have heard about the area around the mouth of the Methow has been the best. Fish are being taken in the other areas, but not in the numbers they are getting near Pateros. I spent a couple of hours the other day, drifting the Wenatchee and pulling plugs with Kevin Winters, near Leavenworth. We just ran a short stretch and didn’t touch any fish. We had one boat below us and another passed us, throwing bobbers, but I don’t think anyone caught anything.

I should note that anglers are still getting a lot of triploids while fishing for steelhead, especially in the Columbia below Chief Joseph Dam near Bridgeport and below Wells Dam. I know that there are plans to have another special season like we had last year on the Columbia for triploids. It will most likely happened earlier in the year than it did last year. I hope it comes off. I sure had a blast catching and keeping them last summer, and I filled the freezer with lots of tasty fillets.

If I was planning a trip to Rufus Woods right now, I would head up river to the net pens. It seems that anglers fishing both from boats and from the shore toward the top end of the reservoir are doing much better than those fishing near Bridgeport. Things change from day to day this time of year on Rufus it seems, and current is always a factor. Some days anglers do very well fishing off the “Cans” above the dam and even from the shore at the bottom end of Rufus, but fishing near any of the net pens up river is more consistent. From what I have heard the fishing at the upper net pens is the best. Due to the release this past summer there is more than the usual number of big fish in the reservoir this winter.

Speaking of Rufus Woods, there is a derby planned for May 12th of next year. It is a combined effort, with local businesses in Bridgeport, the Corps of Engineers and even the Colville Tribe helping out. I will be sharing more details about the derby as we get closer to the date, but it sure sounds like a good idea and a good excuse to get up to Rufus in the spring for some fishing.

I plan to be on Rufus Woods Reservoir and the Methow River quit a bit soon. I am planning several trips to shoot video for my new cable television show that will start in early January. My plan is to get together with Shane Magnuson, Anton Jones, Keith Roe and Kevin van Bueren to develop shows to air the first month. These shows will be different from the ones that I do on my Fishing TV Show. This new program will be an hour long, so my “guests” will have time to really provide details about how they do their fishing, in a “seminar” style in the first half hour. In the second segment we will put their tips to the test, actually fishing with them and hopefully catching fish with their tackle and techniques. I have a long list of show ideas, but would welcome yours. If you have something that you would like me to cover, send me an e-mail and let me know. One suggestion that I will be acting on is devoting a show to winter walleye fishing techniques. This should be a good one.

If getting away to someplace warm and doing some fishing for some exciting species like bonefish and tarpon, give the folks at Journey Travel and Tours a call right away. With their help I am planning to take a group of just twenty people to Ambergris Caye in Belize for ten days, leaving on February 3rd. You need to call soon to get a seat on the plane, so call Gary or Sandy at 509-662-7775.


Dave Graybill - The Fishin' Magician

week of Nov 28th, 2011