Rufus Woods Reservoir attracts a lot of attention from anglers that are looking for big trout, and probably the best smoking fish available in our region. It really get busy in the late fall and winter. Many years ago, I did a magazine feature story saying the state record for rainbow had been broken four times for fish taken from Rufus Woods. Three of them were in the month January and the last one was in early February. The last time the record was broken was in November of 2002 and still stands at 29.6 pounds. Also, the releases of triploid rainbow trout by Colville Tribe are done early in year, sometimes as early as February. These fish have an amazing growth rate. Trout that may have weighed a pound or two earlier in the year, could be up to at least 3 or 4 pounds by winter. I have visited the upper net pen site in the winter and couldn’t put the boat in Spot Lock at my favorite spot. Due to the crowd. Often there are good numbers at the middle pens, and shore fishing is best here in the winter, too.