In 1996, the Colville Tribes, working with Columbia River Fish Farms (an aquaculture facility on Rufus Woods Reservoir) began a fish release program using Tribal funds in order to supplement the Rufus Woods rainbow trout fishery.  This project was a huge success but grew beyond the capabilities of Tribal funding.  The current Washington State record rainbow trout was caught in Rufus Woods.  In 2007 and 2008 there were more than 40,000 angler days spent fishing in Rufus Woods each year, making Rufus Woods the most popular fishing destination on the Colville Reservation.  The current bag limit is two fish per day.  In 2007 and 2008 boat anglers averaged approximately 1.6 fish per angler per day.  During some months the average fish caught exceeded two kilograms.

In order to ensure the continued success of this fishery the Colville Tribes will undertake a detailed creel study in order to determine: (1) Angler effort; (2) Angler success rates; (3) In reservoir fish movements; (4) and the source of fish (entrainment through Grand Coulee Dam, net pen escapement or releases, State or Tribal fish plants or natural reproduction) caught by anglers.  The fishery will be supplemented by the release of 11,000 4 lb fish purchased from one of the local aquaculture facilities.  All released fish will be Floy tagged.

The results of the study will be used to determine the necessary management efforts needed to ensure the continued success of this fishery.