Greg K: Rufus Woods - 9/22

I couldn’t have asked for a better day at Rufus Woods. The sky was clear, the wind was light, temperatures in the 70s, and the water was moving. The walleyes were biting, too. I had my limit of walleyes and a trout by 3 PM. The walleyes were thick and measured between 16 to 20 inches in length. In the fall, the walleyes on Rufus are often dark and gold. Beautiful fish! I spent a couple more hours on the water mapping with my Humminbird and enjoying the scenery before heading home. Water temperature was 65 degrees. Water clarity was an amazing 15 feet.

More info for club members: I had heard rumors that the Seatons Grove launch was closed due to COVID. Banks Lake was my backup plan, if it was closed. When I arrived at 9 AM, there were at least 15 empty trailers at Seatons Grove, so it was open for fishing.

Current is king at Rufus during the late summer and fall. There was very little current when I arrived, so I looked for bottlenecks in the river near the launch where current was obvious. I worked channel edges between 35 and 55 feet with 3 ounce bottom bouncers and worm harnesses. By 1030 or 1100 AM, the current was noticeably stronger and I began to catch walleyes in bottleneck areas with chunky rock bottom. I tried several of my best Rufus colors through the day (lime, chartreuse, and fire tiger), but chrome was the ticket. The only walleye that wasn’t caught on chrome occurred on the back half of a double. My chrome spinner was in the boat because I had just caught a walleye on it. The second walleye of my double took a copper blade.

A 20 inch walleye was a nice way to start the morning.

The darkest walleye of the day. The back of it was almost black.