Woooo Hooooo, October is here and cooler weather to follow. Man I love this weather. Sunshine (eastside anyway) moderate temps, and fall is upon us. Cindy and I took a trip to Rufus Woods to explore the different areas for bite activity, and launched at the Corps launch (Chief Joe Dam) around 1130. There were several rigs with trailers in the lot, and a couple of boats trolling the lower section. We started working the tribal side above the Brigeport Stat Park area, fishing with spinners, jigs, and spoons in water depths out to about 30 feet. Marked very few fish (may have been suckers), and no bites. we worked various spots up to the pump #3 area, then We decided to try for some perch so hit the douglas side in the Pump #3 area, and picked up several Small ones, but not enough size to keep a mess. We then took a boat ride up to the Lower pens area to check the conditions up that way. We fished our usual routine, jigging, mooching around the pens area, and drifted the shoreline below the pens. Casting spoons and spinners to no avail. There were few fish showing on the depth finder, and the current was slow to non existent. there was disturbance on the finder at 50-60 feet that may have been thermacline, but there weren't any fish marks corresponding to the reading. we ended up catching two 5# 14oz twins right above the pens, although the bites were about two hours apart. Cindy caught her's on a plastic grub in grey/blak color, and mine was on a B-2 Squid in Rootbeer color. I was using 1/8 oz jighead, and letting the line out until I could hit bottom (or weeds), then jig it back to the surface. The fish I caught was deep, but not sure of the depth as the current started to move, and I'm sure it moved the offering up in the water colum. Other than those two bites, no go on the trout. Surface water temp 67*-68*, so not much change yet. A beautiful time to be out on the water, and I look forward to the water cooling over the next month or so. While at the lower pens, One of the workers mentioned they planned to release some 3-4 pounders next month. Didn't say when or how many, but maybe they will move down into the lower system to provide some action. Spoke with some boaters who had fished at the upper pens, and they hadn't gotten any hits up there, but mentioned they had picked up a few trolling around "Coyote" creek. Tight lines, sharp hooks, and Hungry fish.

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