The snow has melted off enough to allow me to park my boat in the driveway, and I got it “fishing ready” in time for a trip to Rufus Woods Reservoir. The forecast wasn’t for great weather, but I had a serious case of spring fever and just had to get out on the water.

I made some calls and got Rollie Schmitten and Eric Granstrom to come along. We left Wenatchee Monday morning and launched at the Colville Tribe Net Pen site on Rufus Woods Reservoir just before 10 a.m. I had picked up some olive-colored 1/8th ounce jigs at Hooked on Toys and had high hopes that the triploid rainbow in Rufus would find them irresistible. I nosed the bow of the Smoker Craft just below the middle pen here, and we started casting. Eric hooked up in no time, and Rollie netted his nice trout of 3 or 4 pounds.

Our confidence in these jigs was high and we didn’t feel we needed to make a change. Sure enough, our instincts paid off as Eric hooked another fish, and this time he knew he had a good one on. I was giving him a bad time about how long it was taking him to get the fish up to the boat, but when I got my first look at it, I completely understood why he was having a hard time getting it in. When I looked over the side I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Rollie was ready with the net and when Eric was able to gently steer the fish to the net, he slipped it in—barely. It took both hands to heft it into the boat. We were shocked. None of us had ever seen a rainbow trout this size. The head and tail hung over the top of my cooler and it was as wide as the lid. The fish was 30 inches long and we figured 25 inches around. We guessed its weight of at least 20 pounds! We took a bunch of photos but none of them did it justice. It certainly qualified for the technical term for a fish of this size—a Hogaroo! This week’s photo is of Eric’s fish.

Rollie got into the act a little later, landing a triploid of 5 or 6 pounds. All of the fish came on jigs, in the first hour of fishing. I, of course, lost mine on one of the cables that anchor the pens and although I picked through my tackle boxes I had nothing that came close. We moved up to the upper pens when the bite slowed, and we didn’t get a bite up there. I put out a couple of trolling rods with large Flicker Shads and Bandits. We had a couple of hits on the plugs, but nothing stuck.

Anglers often say that fishing has its ups and downs. My fishing partners Eric and I can sure attest to that. We were elated with our luck, when we landed three triploids at the middle net pens on Rufus Woods Reservoir, including the big one. As Rollie said, it was just great to be present to see probably the biggest trout we’ll ever see successfully landed. We raced to Coulee Playland to get some additional tackle to use the Tuesday morning. Of course, there wasn’t a single olive jig on the pegs at Coulee Playland, which has an amazing selection of all kinds of fish-getters. We did find some things to try.

We headed back to Coulee Dam and checked into our rooms at the Grand Coulee Center Lodge.  As usual they had a slot set aside for me to park the boat within easy reach of an outlet so I could charge my bow mount batteries. We had dinner at La Presa, the Mexican restaurant and then tried to get some sleep. It was not easy with the prospect of doing battle with more triploids in the morning.

We started our day at the same place and had a dramatically different experience. We didn’t even get a bite. Really, not a single bite at the middle or upper pens. I dug out a couple of trolling rods and clipped on some big Flicker Shads and trolled up the river. I finally landed my only fish of the trip, a dinky 12 incher. What a difference a day makes. As they say, That’s Fishing!

I saw my buddy Mike McKee at the boat launch on Tuesday and saw him working the Nespelem Bar on our way to the upper pens. He told me later that he got four triploids and an 18 inch walleye over there.

The Quincy Chamber of Commerce Trout Derby was a big success. Anglers really liked the idea of having a two-day event, and also liked catching the trout planted by the Chamber. A total of 182 people registered to participate this year: 96 adults and 86 kids. The number of kids registered in the youth category was the highest ever and speaks to the family aspect of the derby. Organizers made sure that everyone age 17 and younger got a prize, usually a rod and reel. Also appreciated by those who participated was the ability to fish both Quincy and Burke lakes. There was a really big winner in the Youth Category. Jasmin Guiteron won for the Longest Fish with a trout of 22.5 inches, and for the Total Weight with a stringer that weighed 6.35 pounds. The Adult Category winner for the longest fish was won by Abraham Santos with a 20.25 inch trout. The winner of the Adult Total Weight category was won by Juan Rios with 8.8 pounds of trout. To see more details about the derby and winning anglers, visit the Quincy Chamber Facebook page.

As many of you know there are lakes open to fishing throughout the region, and people are renewing their fishing licenses to fish them. Washington State licenses are due to be renewed by April 1st. Don’t be the one that causes a delay on a fishing trip because you forgot to get your new license. It’s easy to do online now. Colville Tribal licenses should also be renewed on this date. You can get all of your licenses and permits to fish reservations online by going to www.cct-fnw.com/regulations-permits.