bazzdude
12/1/2008 6:48:00 PMblufin loui
12/2/2008 6:18:00 PMYep, RW is a pretty good fishing hole, but if you watch the anglers and ask questions around the launch area you'll hear many stories less glamorous than most posted here. As has been posted here before , it can be a difficult water to fish given the size of the lake. That said, when you say a "small trolling motor" do you got a gas or electric motor. I personally put in on the lower end of the lake close to the Chief Joesph dam, and run up lake to fish. Hopefully there will be others who have used the upper launches will pitch in with more info of those areas. The cool thing about RW is there are fish to be caught just about anywhere you put in. The pen areas are mentioned regularly because there are big fish there and you can count on the fish being in a relatively localized area (around the pens) where they take advantage of the "free" food. The fish at the pens can be pretty picky at times but with perseverance you can catch fish on the toughest days. The black jig is a good bait to use, although we primarily use small minnow imitations (perch color) and small (1 1/2 inch nymph/crawdad imitation) in dark colors and Crocodile spoons (once again in perch), and Kast Masters in Fire-tiger color. Other colors are effective, but these have worked for us. There are so many successful ways to fish this water that you will hear many techniques on how to do it. Our method/techniques have been refined over a couple of years of modification/experimentation from information gathered from other "more experienced"--and successful-- fishermen until we have become comfortable and confident with them. I have had fishing partners use the black jigs in marabou 1/16 & 1/8 oz size with good luck, so don't hesitate to use them. The Rooster Tails in Black & Green are also successful baits, and account for alot of fish. Let me know what style of fishing you enjoy and I'll try to be more specific. This is a great site to glean info for the next fishing trip. Thanks to all the contributors.
Good fishing dude and keep the line tight.