Eastern Washington Fishing Report 08.02.18
Rufus Woods (WA)
The very hot days we have been experiencing seem to be letting up a bit for the next week or so. With the forecast of the highs being in the mid-80s' and the lows in the mid-50s', fishing should improve a little. Depending on where you take a water temperature reading at Rufus, it seems to be running from 57-62 degrees.
Luke McKee and I were just up there, and fishing wasn’t too bad. We were a little late getting on the water, someone overslept (me). Once we got the boat on the water, we made a short run up river. After trying a couple of different streamers, Luke hooked up a nice 4-pounder on a blue/black Kreelex streamer. I switched from my streamer rod to my 10’ nymphing rod, rigged up with a black/blue balanced leech. I set my indicator at the 6-foot mark and picked up a few that way. We were noticing a lot of surface activity but could see nothing hatching. The fish were acting like they were feeding on something emerging. We could see nothing to indicate any type of bug activity.
A little while later Luke noticed some nervous water and we eased the boat over to it in the hope of finding out what the rainbows were feeding on. That’s when I spotted the answer. Two to ten inches under the surface were schools of one to one-and-a-half-inch fry. I called Luke over to take a look, and he recognized the little fellas as walleye fry. Seeing the fry explained the feeding pattern we were seeing from the rainbows. Unfortunately, we had nothing in our boxes that would match the hatch or even come close.
We called it a day by noon since it was getting hot and we felt the day was a success. If you plan on fishing Rufus, I would suggest using rods at a 6-weight to 8-weight. You’ll have the possibility of hooking into 10-pound rainbows or bigger. I would make sure you have a floating line, intermediate line, and a type three full sinking line.
When I got back to the shop, I found the perfect match for those walleye fries. It was a #8 brown rainbow alley minnow or a #8 olive cutthroat epoxy minnow. These two patterns, or something very close to them, should work for the next 14 to 30 days. Other patterns I would recommend would be; a #10 bruised Rowley balanced leech, a #8 peacock/black gold bead flash-a-bugger, a #8 or #10 black GB rubber leg crystal bugger, or a #10 olive, black or brown Foisset’s TWS bugger. Look for seam water and work the slightly calmer water. The closer to fall we get the better fishing will be on Rufus Woods.
Methow River (WA)
The Methow is running at 436 cfs at the Twisp gage and dropping. Currently, the river is about 200 cfs under the median flows. The water temperature fluctuates depending on where you take it at. From what I've seen, it is running between about 60-68 degrees. For the most part, the best time to fish is first light until about noon to 1:00 p.m. in the day. The forecasted cool down for the next week should help with the water temperatures.
Hoppers and foam bugs are still the go-to dry flies that you’ll want to use. Also, caddis dries are getting some action too. For those using a dropper with the hoppers or foam flies, a caddis pupa or a smaller mayfly nymph will be a good combination. You’ll want to fish the more oxygen-rich part of the runs or just along the seams of those runs. Another good time to go is just after the sun starts to set until dark. You should be able to find some feeding activity on most of the water just before dark. Some of the flies that have been doing well are; a #10 yellow or peacock J. Slam, a #10 yellow 409, a #10 tan or chartreuse Dunnigan's hopper, a #8 or #10 tan, golden or pink Morrish hopper. And, for caddis patterns, go with a #16 TFP hot mess or a #14 TFP party on top caddis.
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