It is getting chilly here in Central Washington, but the steelhead fishing is getting difficult on the smaller rivers. Ice is starting to form and flow, catching anglers lines and many will now switch to fishing on the upper Columbia River, which is ice-free. I had a hot morning of fishing in the cold weather last weekend. My two fishing partners landed four steelhead, with two being keepers—one was taken on the first cast! We were fishing below Wells Dam and it was terrific until the water flow died and the clouds moved in. When I arrived at Wells, I took a look at the anglers fishing above the dam, and saw a nice fish lost by an angler fishing from a boat there. Fishing above Wells has been fairly consistent for both from boats and from shore. When the weather gets really chilly and the smaller rivers clog up with ice, many anglers switch their efforts to Rufus Woods Reservoir. There are good spots to fish from shore here, with fire boxes available above the dam at Bridgeport, and further up the impoundment at Brandts Landing. Boaters button down their tops and fire up their heaters to keep the chill off when out on the water at Rufus. I’ll get an update on the fishing at Rufus Woods and let you know what to expect from this popular winter trout fishery.