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Friday Nov 20, 2009, Mission: To get to the Upper pens and catch a HOG. What a ride. We put in at the corps launch at Chief Joe Dam, and headed up river. We made the trip up to the upper pens without mishap, but it was a long ride, with a few stretches of choppy water, but otherwise perfect conditions. We usually see eagles in the lower section of the river, but today we didn't see any until we got above the lower most pens, then we saw several. Also saw some deer, hope the pic loads, that we took video of from the boat during wave action so the focus wasn't the best. It was a lil 2X3 who was asaulting the sage brush in hopes of impressing the 5 does that were paying him no attention at all. Nice to see though. On to fishing. We haven't been to the upper pens in several years, so it was a surprise to see all the work that had been done up there. New metal structures for the net pens to ride in and new barges and boats for the workers.
Everything was different from our previous visits. As we were passing the middle pens there was a vehicle with flashing blue and red lights parked down by the shoreline. Not sure if it was local law enforcement or game agents. Anyway, we went up there to cash in on the hot bite riprap101 had reported, and we weren't disappointed. As we were there we noticed fish surfacing on the pens side of the river, so we went to investigate. We used spinners, spoons, and jigs before we found what they wanted. Dark colors in the jigs were the flavor of choice today, and the fish seemed to be holding about 15-20 feet in 50-60 feet of water in that particular spot. It was a slow presentation day today to get the fish to bite. The lil Black 1/16 oz marabou jig pictured on my blog post was the downfall of several trout today. We ended up with a two person limit with 3 of the fish being between 5 and 6 pounds and the big fish for the day (Cindy's by the way) was 8# 12oz. She's still looking for that over 10 pounder. LOL
A great day on the water but will try the drive to seatons grove next time to compare the wear and tear on the ole body. Beautiful part of the country up there, and a boat ride is a great way to sight see.
Every one keep your lines tight and the hooks sharp

sellis_414

11/21/2009 9:41:00 PM

Great day of fishing had by the two of you!!!! On your jigs did you use any bait?

blufin loui

11/21/2009 9:51:00 PM

Thanks for the comment sellis_414. On this trip it was just the jigs. We usually leave the bait and scents at home when we fish the RW, just in case we are boarded by agents, there will be no question if the fish we are C&R were bait caught. A couple months ago we took some shrimp to use if the artificials didn't work, but the bait didn't produce that day either, so we just take our chances that we can get them to take a fake bait. LOL Sometimes it works out great and other days we get alot of exercise.

riprap101

11/21/2009 10:00:00 PM

Glad to see that area paid off for ya. Hope the wife can get her 10 plus. Like I mentioned, it was only our 3rd trip and the old man got lucky, but it will certainly keep us coming back! Funny how when you catch a ten you suddenly want a fifteen.

blufin loui

11/21/2009 10:05:00 PM

Thanks for the comment sellis_414. On this trip it was just the jigs. We usually leave the bait and scents at home when we fish the RW, just in case we are boarded by agents, there will be no question if the fish we are C&R were bait caught. A couple months ago we took some shrimp to use if the artificials didn't work, but the bait didn't produce that day either, so we just take our chances that we can get them to take a fake bait. LOL Sometimes it works out great and other days we get alot of exercise.

blufin loui

11/21/2009 10:39:00 PM

Sorry for the double entry, must have double clicked something. Can't seem to delete it.
Hi ya riprap101, thanks for the info in your report. it did pay off. Cindy had one on today (Sat) that would have pushed the ten mark, but alas, the big one that got away. We all got one or two like that. And I agree, I'm also looking for the bigger one.LOL.

Toni

11/22/2009 6:16:00 PM

She will get that big one. Great report and pictures!

blufin loui

11/22/2009 6:22:00 PM

Hi ya toni, we were thinking of the flies you tied up while out on the water. Can't wait to try a toni's special. Take care

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