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A short report on Slow fishing at RW. We launched at the crack-of-dawn 30, and ran up to the pens. Witnessed a beautiful sunrise with the scattered clouds, but the bite was slower than usual. W fished the pen area, and the first quarter mile below the pens until about 1300, the headed down river hitting our usually productive spots. Saw one other boat in the area of the pens. One of the fishermen was casting and jigging, and his partner was plunking bait. They mentioned they had no bites, and hadn't been having much luck their last few times on the water. We were able to entice two hits at the pens, one was about 12-14" and the other was a heavier fish but it came off before we could get it up to see. One other bite down at the cabin hole, 16-18" native, and that was all the trout action we had. We did hit a cove below Pump #3 and jigged for yellow perch, and were able to boat around 9, but only a couple were of any size so all the fish for the day are still swimming around growing bigger. The pic shows our usual method of in the water release. This trout was nose hooked, so a perfect canidate for C&R. We tried all our arsenal with no luck, and if we had of had some bait, or even scent, with us we would have tried that.
The lower pens were being moved around by the employees while we were up there, so that MAY have been a factor at that location, but lock-jaw was the word for the day.
Hope to get back up there again this weekend as the bite can change at anytime on RW.
Stay safe everyone and enjoy your time out.

riprap101

11/19/2009 7:02:00 PM

Both of the big trips we caught on the 18th had a full set of treble hooks in there lips. They also both bled like pigs. As we continue to fish this body of water we will only release fish caught on a single barbless hook while in the water. I have a plastic lip grip we use for salmon that works great. If we hook a fish on anything else it's coming home with us regardless of size (plus I love my megastrike gel). Trout are not like bass. If they are bleeding from the gills chances are they won't make it far. They get so excited and thrash around so much, at times it seems to be to much to handle for these critters. I now see why they have a 2 fish limit in place, and think it is an excellent rule.

blufin loui

11/19/2009 10:03:00 PM

The two fish limit is one of the things that Makes RW the fishery it is, I (along with many others) wish more people would follow the regs when using bait, as most everyone who has fished RW has at one time or another noticed someone over limit. The game agents can only patrol the area in a limited fashion seeing how big a body of water it is, but they do a pretty good job with the resources they have. C&R; that's one of the reasons we like using jigs, it is single hook and you can pinch down the barb. Also when you get the fish up along side the boat you can reach out and slide the hook out without the fish ever leaving the water. I would estimate at least 90 +% lip hooked fish since we started using jigs consistently. Also replacing the treble and double hooks on the lures and spinners with single hooks creates the same results. Thanks for your comment, and may your fishing Prowess continue to thrive.

Big Smooth

11/20/2009 9:05:00 AM

Excellent advise to follow. Thanks both of you. Now I hope this mountain pass weather holds off a little longer!

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