I was planning to do some shore fishing at Brandts Landing this week, until I saw the single digit weather forecasts. When temperatures are this low, you just can’t fish. Believe me I have tried. When the line freezes to the spool, casting is impossible. I still wanted to check with my contact on the fishing on Rufus Woods. Dave checks anglers that are fishing above Chief Joseph Dam, all the way up to Brandts Landing. He isn’t enforcement, just monitors angler success for the Colville Tribe. The first thing he told me was to clarify the number of fish that were recently release. There were rumors that there were 16,000 fish put in Rufus Woods, but the actual number is 1,600. They put 800 fish in at Seatons Grove and anther 800 were released from the State Park above the dam. The fish weight 3 to 6 pounds and a few have been caught from the shore above Chief Joseph. Most anglers are catching two categories of fish at the lower end of the reservoir. One group are just 12-inchers, and the others are 2 ½ to 3 ½ pounds. I’ll try it when the weather warms up a bit.