When You say lower pens,do You mean the lower of the upper two?

Hey ndn
I think it's the next one down, several miles down stream from upper two pens. When boating up from Cheif Joe Dam, it would be the first pen you come to.
We fish this one cause our boat has a small fuel tank (and engine is thirsty) and it maxes out the fuel to run to the upper pens. Great fishin at all the pens though. Hope this helps

Good luck fishing

Nice fish! I'm thinking about going with the wife this weekend. I have never been there. Any help would be appreciated. Take care!

Hey tmac03hog
Hope ya get over to RW, this weekend is forecast to be partly sunny and in the low to mid 30s in Bridgeport. Should be great out there. I'm looking forward to going on Saturday, and hope for good weather also.
What type/style fishing do you enjoy, as this will dictate information received. If you would reply with the info, I'm sure there will be several "experienced" fisherfolks who will be willing to share information. Looking forward to your reply.

Hi blufin loui,

My wife and I fish nearly every weekend somewhere. We are usually trying to find perch and crappie. In my opinion two of the best freshwater eating fish out there. We have started fishing for steelies this year on the Snake. So far I have been skunked but the wife has caught four. We also enjoy Muskie fishing at Newman and Silver. And we spend quite a bit of time on Long Lake fishing for small and largemouth bass. So needless to say we like to FISH period. All of our gear is for spinning and bait casting. No fly rods in our arsenal. Thank you in advance for any input I receive. Where is the best place to launch at RW?

tmac03hog, You have my agreement on the tastiness of the perch and crappie, can taste em just thinking about them.
As we launch at the lower end (at the corps launch right above Chief Joseph Dam), I'm not sure where the "best" place to launch would be. Maybe others will kick in with info in regards to the launch up at Seaton's grove or the other launches.
Putting in at the lower launch, you can start fishing along the shoreline and work your way upstream and expect to get hits. Persons that troll, will be working the water across from the launch along the can lines and also the shoreline upriver from the launch. We usually motor up river several miles and work some flats and weedy shorelines. We cast Spoons, some spinners, but mostly we use jigs. In the colder water temps, we usually fish shallow, unless we make a run up to the pens. The fish we have cleaned were full of snails. We caught them in weedy areas in 3-12 feet of water.Utilizing your crappie fishing techniques, with minor adjustments you will be able to catch RW trout. Unless you are fishing the pens, the trout are cruising areas searching for food. Still fishermen will cast out, and wait for them to make the rounds and pick up the offerings. We enjoy moving along shorelines casting lures. In this way we occasionally cross paths with the trout, and the action begins. Granted, there will be some areas that are more productive than others. But the fish seem to be wide spread.
PM me if you need details on spots, baits etc.
Good luck and stay safe

Hope to see you guys out there this weekend. A couple of us are making the trip over for 3 days on the lake and hope to better than last year. Blufin, would you be willing to pm me in the right direction of some decent spots other than the pens? Last year we fished 2 days at the first pen and upstream at Buckley Bar and did pretty good but most were tripps. We would like to play with a few natives if you know what I mean.

Thanks in advance :)

nice trips....

thanks mattbass, they sure smoke up good. "if I could figure out how to keep them lit""



;o)