Lake Rufus Woods fish kill may impact anglers

FISHING — The Colville Tribe is saying the recent loss of perhaps a million rainbow trout in commercial net pens downstream from Grand Coulee Dam might scuttle the regular release of net pen trout for anglers in Lake Rufus Woods.

A story in Northwest Sportsman Magazine quotes Colville spokeswoman Sheri Sears as saying the tribe’s normal release of 4,000 3- to 4-pounders a month from fall into spring  helps ensure good fishing in some areas of the 50-mile-long reservoir.

“Typically we buy $60,000 worth of triploids from the netpens. This year we probably won’t have those available,” Sears told NSM.

She said tribal managers foresaw the high flows and released their redband rainbow broodstock from the pens.

People are catching fish in a wide range of sizes.