Greg: Rufus Woods - 9/1/2022

The kids are back in school! After a couple months of pulling them and their friends around on a tube at the lake, I am back to fishing mode. In the past, I have had good success at Rufus Woods in late August into mid September. Unfortunately, I was not able to duplicate my past success during this trip. I landed 4 triploids and a couple of smallmouth. There were 2 hookups that felt like heavy walleyes, but both of them came unhooked about 2/3rds of the way to the boat (never saw them). I arrived at Seatons Grove launch at 1030 AM. Launching the boat was tough since the water level was down 5 feet below normal pool before the current picked up around 11 AM. By early afternoon, the river was near normal pool with current seams and back eddies. I am surprised that I didn’t do better. I only saw 2 other boats on the river the entire day.

More info for club members: I started trolling deep in the vicinity of the boat launch and around Buckley Bar. My first hook up was in 65 feet on the fringe of the deepest hole near the Bar. It was a heavy walleye, and I took my time bringing it up since I hooked it in such deep water. I would have liked to have seen the fish, but I wasn’t terribly disappointed when it came unhooked since I would have released it anyway. As the current increased, I worked my trolling patterns closer to the bank and current seams. I hooked another solid fish that felt like a walleye in 40 feet, but it also came free before I could see the fish. Both walleyes took chome Colorado spinners on a 3 ounce bouncer and a crawler. I tried lots of other colors including copper, gold, green, chartreuse, and fire tiger, only to catch a few trout. Blade baits in current seams were unproductive. For me, blaid baits become less productive late in the summer into the fall on Rufus as I find walleye scattered far apart along channel edges.