The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has produced another excellent, short video on fishing Lake Roosevelt, this on one shore fishing in the winter.
Filmed in January, the video includes several tips and how-to advice on fishing the lake, which is stocked with 750,000 rainbow trout a year.
Rather fish from your boat? Check out the latest boat ramp and lake level information.
One of the reasons Banks Lake is one of the best fishing spots in the state has to do with volunteers, and a little known group called POWER, the Promoters of Widlife and Environmental Resources.
The group raises young fish in net pens in Electric City each year, releasing them into the lake.
The video clip below is of them getting ready to release 150,000 rainbow trout today, Saturday, June 6, 2015, when they had a little help from five members of the Wenatchee Fishermen’s club.
Staff from the Colville Tribes Resident Fish (CTRF) program released approximately 5,700 “triploid” rainbow trout ranging from two to three pounds each into Lake Rufus Woods July 31.
The fish, which can be identified by the absence of the adipose fin, are part of a supplementation effort of the Rufus Woods Net Pen Project, which the program’s staff oversees. The CTRF program purchases these fish from a local commercial aquaculture facility. Since 2011, some 118,100 triploid rainbow trout have been released into Lake Rufus Woods. Approximately 48,000 will be released this year alone.
“Normally, fish are diploid and have two sets of chromosomes (one from each parent),” Hatchery Manager Jill Phillips said, explaining the word triploid. “When a treatment of heat or pressure is applied to a fertilized egg prior to a certain egg development stage, the results are triploid or three chromosomes within the cell.”
She said, “Triploid rainbow trout females do not develop eggs. Male triploid rainbow trout sperm is not viable. Basically, both sexes are sterile. Utilizing triploid rainbow trout to supplement fisheries allow managers to mitigate impacts on native fish species.”
“Our overall goal of the CTRF program is to provide a subsistence and recreational fishery on Lake Rufus Woods which remains a popular fishing attraction,” said Bret Nine, resident fisheries manager for CTFW.
All non-members fishing by boat on the boundary waters of the Colville Indian Reservation or from the shore of Lake Rufus Woods at a Designated Fishing Area must have either a valid Colville Indian Reservation Fishing Permit, or a valid fishing license issued by the state of Washington, a tribal press release states. Tribal members must possess a Colville tribal identification card, which is a legal permit to fish.
Watch this great little video by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife with great tips on fishing Lake Roosevelt in the winter.
