Silver lake...last trip of the season

[Saba Slayer]

Silver Lake Aug/Sept

Sorry about all the sideways pictures...if anyone can help on that please PM me...THANKS...

Did a quick Tuna trip out of SD on my friend’s new 65’ Hatteras (WOW, what a ride) for some of those 20 lbs Ahi…then packed up some fresh fish and headed North….

I just got back and I already can’t wait to make a few reservations for next season…
This was my last Eastern Sierra Trip for this summer season… I did three 2 week trips this year…May/June…Mid July…and August/September.
A campsite lakeside at Silver Lake was the central location for this whole trip although we also fished Grant, Gull, and Convict Lake and Bryce hiked up to Agnew Lake for some Brookies…
This last trip was a revolving door of friends and locals…and lots of Crawdads, Deer, Food, and Brown Trout…with a few Rainbows thrown in…and a Music Festival to top it off. Andy and family dragged a cool looking “Vintage” trailer up there on the day after Labor Day and they stayed in an adjacent campsite for a few windy days…thanks for the breakfast burritos Wanda…! They hiked up to Fern Lake but they didn’t stay long enough to fish there.
Big Foot sighting…

The water temp was really warm…I saw 66 degrees on the Lowrance meter on one afternoon. A few Rainbow lake fish were caught with the downrigger or lead line…Robby and John were pretty religious about getting up early and using the deep stuff to catch fish before the sun hit Silver Lake…Bryce got creative at one point and rigged a drop shot and caught two Browns at 30’ on the pink worm.
I brought the PA 14 and the new Outback up there…both boats are fun to fish from but the PA with the Bixpy makes it easier to use the downrigger with Ford Fenders or flashers and also run some lead line…the Outback is fun for the quick runs in the mornings and evenings when the fish were on the surface or for fishing the creek when it was windy.

Bryce was the first to arrive on Sunday with his dog Porter…what an excellent well-behaved pooch…he didn’t bark or try to chase the Deer or other dogs and he loved to chase the stick into the lake to cool off…his scent and Tony’s dog Coco’s kept the Whistle Pigs out of the campground for the whole Trip. (thieving little rodents…LOL).
Bryce brought up some exotic Ibex stew and also some Duck stew that he had made and both were delicious additions to dinner.
We had a big Sushi and Poke dinner with the fresh Ahi and served some local Mammoth and Crowley lake friends on Monday night…we made plenty of food, and served some appetizers to our campground host…I always bring her some of our local fresh fish.
Bryce fished out of his float tube the first afternoon and caught about 6 fish…then I introduced him to the Outback…which he fished out of till he left on Wednesday…his poor float Tube sat deflating on the shore…LOL...I guess he got tired of looking backwards…!
Tuesday morning around 5:30am Bryce hiked up to Agnew Lake and C&Rd about 20 beautiful Brook Trout before the sun hit the water and he was back at the campsite by 12:30.

We picked up our first two night soak of the crawdad traps Tuesday and had a pretty good haul…sooo…we cooked up a delicious Louisiana boil that evening…with coleslaw and some hot Schatt’s bread…and a few Mammoth IPA brews to wash it all down!

It was pretty windy the next morning so we hit the resort café for one of their great breakfasts and then peddled and paddled up the creek for some fantastic C&R fishing on medium size Rainbows and some small Browns. They wanted the worms on a sort of flyline rig that you had to let down the creek current…then retrieved with lots of hits…!
We each both had about a 20 fish day and only stopped fishing since Bryce had to drive back to Oceanside. I kept a couple of fish for dinner and fillet them boneless style and then fried em in really hot oil with some Louisiana cornbread fry…they were sooo good…the skin was crisp and the meat was delicious.


After Bryce left I had a couple of kickback days to just fish and chill till Tony, Eric, Roby, John and Ed would arrive…along with Coco…!

An old local Mammoth friend asked me to give her a fishing lesson on Friday and guide her on Saturday for a Trout Fishing Derby at Convict Lake. Convict Lake is really DEEP (100’+) and so beautiful with that steep mountainous dead-end canyon and the two gorgeous little streams feeding into the upper end of the lake.
She was a quick learner on Friday and on Saturday she managed to catch a 14” Rainbow that was the minimum size to get her qualified for the end of the season derby.
I had gotten tired of replacing her nightcrawlers (since she was fishing from a SUP with no storage) so I gave her a pack of pink worms…I turned around to fish and cast while she baited up then looked back to a hilarious sight of the entire pack of pink worms on the hook…(apparently the worms needed to be separated to the desired length)…LOL…We re-rigged to a single worm and whamo…first cast and she had her 14” fish…LOL

Roby and Eric arrived first on Friday and shared an adjoining campsite that I snagged for them before the Holiday crowds arrived. John arrived later on Friday.
Tony, Ed and John had tents that they set up at my campsite…There was no shortage of outrageous fishing stories to be heard and no shortage of food…we had another big crawfish boil…seared Bluefin…Schat’s jalapeno and bacon and cheese bread heated on the fire with lots of butter…HAMBURGER BUNS AND MEAT (but that’s another story)…LOL…a Huge Breakfast and enough Mac and Cheese to feed any army…and some famous Big Stick cocktails with pineapple vodka…!!!
http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/a...1&d=1568089523
The guys put about 25 traps out on the lake to catch the elusive Silver lake Crawfish…LOL…and yet, they still ate the Crawdads that I had caught earlier with Bryce…LOL
Roby borrowed my Promar traps, Eric had a mixed bag of hard and soft traps, and Tony had a bunch of some type of hard cylinder traps…I think the Promar 501 24” traps worked the best and are the easiest to store and deploy and they have the best retention of the catch.
The mini lobsters were really clean and tasty as usual and there were some really big bruisers in the traps. Those giant claws are so delicious…The guys all took home some bugs for the family and friends.
When Silver Lake got blown out on Sunday afternoon the guys decided to go shore fishing somewhere in the June Lake Loop…I sent them to the Rush Creek inlet at Grant Lake and they did pretty well with everyone catching Rainbows, and Tony came back with a nice 2 pounder and a couple of other fish that he donated to an older Russian couple that hadn’t been lucky enough to catch a fish…they were delighted and had the fish for dinner that evening…we had seared giant Bluefin sashimi…Thanks Tony!

Roby, Eric, and John cleared out early on Monday to try and avoid the holiday traffic…while Tony and Ed argued their way into packing up and getting the crawdad traps and kayak gear packed up…I offered them the number of a good divorce lawyer…(but they declined)…LOL…
My oldest high school friend and best man at my wedding was the last to come up from LA….Denis arrived on Tuesday to a quiet and empty campground….he also brought limits of wind and a few thunderstorms with him for the 5 days he was up there…he has been visiting Silver lake since he was 3 years old…he is now 66.

He has a tradition of fishing nightcrawlers from the shore at the campsite and he always seems to catch a few Brown Trout…this year was no exception…he caught at least one fish from shore everyday…no matter how windy it got…LOL
I fished the creek again and had another 20 fish day and kept 4 of the ravenous ones that swallowed the hook too deep to release…they’ll be de-boned and smoked on the Treager.
Thursday night Denis (who’s Japanese) made some Udon noodles and soup with fish cake and all the trimmings along with some precooked crawdad tails and claws that I had cleaned. Our local friends from Crowley Lake came by with their kids to enjoy this delicacy and they brought some delicious Coconut Rum and Pineapple juice. I’m surprised I don’t gain weight on these trips…
Friday night we went to the Tiger Bar for Chicken Fried Steak then spent the rest of the evening at out Crowley friend’s campsite at Gull Lake and listened to the last two bands play at the June Lake Jam Fest music festival while next to the lake and the campfire with a few more cocktails…it was a great way to end the trip…I think I’ll try and snag a campsite at Gull next year for the festival weekend…

I caught a few fish on the Hookup baits in the morning and evenings when they were on the surface and the highlight was an 18” Brown C&R near Reverse creek one evening. Most of my fish were caught on the deep drop or on the down-rigger with a Thomas Bouyant blue and silver lure at about 30’.
This is my first trip in a few years with no lunker Trout caught…it was really tough lake fishing for me with that warm water…at least the crawfish kept it fun and provided some catch. We caught a lot of smaller Brown Trout on this trip…many more than we usually see…I must have C&Rd about 10 or 12 of those beautifully colored Trout.
As usual, it was sad packing up, and heading south through the Mojave into that wonderful 405 traffic Saturday night and all those brake lights…Welcome to LA…LOL…!
OK…I’m ready for the local Bonito to show up and make their way to my smoker...
More photos to follow...

[Saba Slayer]

Mo pics...

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Mo Pics 2

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Mo Pics 6

[Saba Slayer]

last pic...

[Saba Slayer]

Bigfoot...?

[Roscoe]

Nice pictures make me want to go camping.
Thanks for sharing really enjoy the pics

[jruiz]

Nice cap to a great summer. Jim, thank you for your generosity, hospitality, and friendship. Nice seeing Eric, Roby, Tony, and meeting Ed. Best fishing for me was on day 1. Kinds of tapered down after that. I'm sure the fish got tired of seeing that Thomas buoyant. Highlight was catching a fish on the dry fly that last night. Look forward to doing it again next summer.

[(a D u B)]

Do you feel it would be too chilly in late September or October to go up to there?

[blitzburgh]

This is awesome Jim! I can't wait to get back up there!

[Hunters Pa]

Great report and awesome pics as always Jim

Originally Posted by (a D u B)

Do you feel it would be too chilly in late September or October to go up to there?

I have been up there in October and launched my kayak in 27 degrees. Plan for the cold and you will be fine

[Iceman]

Jim thank you for all your generosity and hospitality! Love going to that lake! I did not get to fish nearly enough this trip!..........next year!

[Iceman]

I'd love to go up in a few weeks for all that Fall color........but ya expect ice in the coffee cups.


there are some nights dipping into the 20s in the forecast right now.


https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l...33cf946473cb67

[roby]

Great trip with the fellas in the beautiful Sierras. Jim, thanks for your hospitality and holding a campsite for us. You came through for us big time. Even if you have been in the Sierras for years, you gotta experience camping with Salazar. The man has his gear dialed-in.

The weather was awesome when we were at Silver Lake. Overall, the fishing was consistent for me very early in the morning (I got up at 530 every morning to troll). I usually fish mice tails when I'm up in the Sierras and recently started using mini-jigs and having some success. This trip, however, I focused on just using the downrigger and I was happy with the set-up and hook-ups I was getting. Majority of my bites came before the sun came up on a Thomas Buoyant. I also got them on a gold colored Phoebe on leadcore. Most of the fish I caught were small brownies.

* Hey Jim, you forgot the double fried tater-tots.

** On a side note - below is a true story of an event that happened at Silver Lake.

Ericko: Hey Salazar! I was responsible for making cheeseburgers this trip. You want me to grill up a burger for you.

Salazar: Nah! I'm good. On second thought, just hold the meat. I'll take the buns and ALL the fixings that go with the cheeseburger. I'll just make my own sandwich.

Ericko: Ok Salazar (Ericko hands him the two buns and a slice of cheese. Ericko then proceeds to grill all the burgers at low heat on his camp chef).

THE END

[YellowYaket]

Thanks for the report Jim. It sounds like you had a fantastic trip. I just pulled into Silver Lake Campground and plan to stay through the weekend. If you have any recommendations beyond what you included in your report, please let me know!

[Saba Slayer]

The water temp in the lake is dropping like a rock...Is the fishing getting any better...?

Originally Posted by YellowYaket

Thanks for the report Jim. It sounds like you had a fantastic trip. I just pulled into Silver Lake Campground and plan to stay through the weekend. If you have any recommendations beyond what you included in your report, please let me know!

[YellowYaket]

We hit the lake at the crack of 10 this morning after a good breakfast at the Silver Lake Resort cafe, so it isn’t surprising that fishing was slow. Surface water temperature fluctuated between 61 and 62 degrees. Lots of marks on the meter between 28 and 40 feet when trolling in about 50 feet of water. We were trolling between 5 and 7 colors. I only caught 1 Rainbow (about the size of a large sardine) in 2 hours, but that isn’t too surprising given the time of day we were fishing. Regardless, it is beautiful here (this is my first time fishing Silver Lake). I will try again tonight and hopefully earlier in the morning. Any suggestions on trolling speed when using Thomas Bouyants, Needlefish, and similar lures?

Originally Posted by Saba Slayer

The water temp in the lake is dropping like a rock...Is the fishing getting any better...?