I have been out chasing steelhead on the upper Columbia River and on the Methow, and in my next report I will give you all the details. In the mean time I got a call from the Colville Tribal Hatchery in Bridgeport, altering me to the fact that they are planning a big release of triploid rainbow trout later this month. The release from the upper net pens is going to happened either the third week of October or a little later. There will be 20,000 triploids weighing about a pound and a half. This will really add a lot of fish to the existing population of trout in Rufus Woods. Although these fish aren’t the trophies that people are after at Rufus Woods, they do grow. My contact at the hatchery did mention that there was a 15-pounder was taken near the upper pens recently. It is still possible to catch that fish of a lifetime on Rufus Woods. On the steelhead front, the counts over Priest Rapids will pass 19,000 and we could even hit 20,000. This could be another great steelhead season in our region. Combine this with our fall salmon and coho fishing and we are having a great fall.