silver lake sat.

[codeman]

Me and my bro went up to silver on sat. Little cold to start out, but was really a pretty nice day. We started fishing just after 8 am and had to leave at 2:45, my bro was going to a ball game that evening. Fishing was non stop, but outside of three nice perch and one decent blue gill, all of the fish were pretty much dinks. a few of the crappie were just under 9 inches, yet they were still paper thin. I have my doubts if even a 10 incher was really worth keeping as all the fish seem to be very skinny. Hopefully they'll bulk up over the summer. I finished with 1 blue gill, 2 large mouth, 175 perch, 101 white crappie and 153 black crappie. My brother ended up with 380 total fish, he didnt keep track per species. so just over 800 fish in about 7 hours between the two of us was a pretty fun day. I highly reccommend bringing kids up here. They'll have a blast.

[Ta-Keel-La]

thank you, with all the "big people" fishin Ive been doing, my oldest (4 Y.O.) has been buggin me to go, guess Ill take him to silver, so he can get into some fish of his own! thanks for the post!

[Midnghtshdow]

Originally Posted by codeman

Me and my bro went up to silver on sat. Little cold to start out, but was really a pretty nice day. We started fishing just after 8 am and had to leave at 2:45, my bro was going to a ball game that evening. Fishing was non stop, but outside of three nice perch and one decent blue gill, all of the fish were pretty much dinks. a few of the crappie were just under 9 inches, yet they were still paper thin. I have my doubts if even a 10 incher was really worth keeping as all the fish seem to be very skinny. Hopefully they'll bulk up over the summer. I finished with 1 blue gill, 2 large mouth, 175 perch, 101 white crappie and 153 black crappie. My brother ended up with 380 total fish, he didnt keep track per species. so just over 800 fish in about 7 hours between the two of us was a pretty fun day. I highly reccommend bringing kids up here. They'll have a blast.

MMM not bad I was there sat. at around 430. I ended up with 5 over 10in They are in there just gots to find em

[codeman]

ya i was stuck on the bank, i was too cautious to cast too close to the structure. Ganna try to head back up there wed. after work. would like to make it up there around 3, and fish till dark. I'll be in my float tube this time. Maybe I'll find a few of those larger crappies. Do they have shoulders on them when they get over 10 in or are they still pretty skinny??

[Midnghtshdow]

Originally Posted by codeman

ya i was stuck on the bank, i was too cautious to cast too close to the structure. Ganna try to head back up there wed. after work. would like to make it up there around 3, and fish till dark. I'll be in my float tube this time. Maybe I'll find a few of those larger crappies. Do they have shoulders on them when they get over 10 in or are they still pretty skinny??

Ah, you will see my friend. I will not ruin your fun, you will know is all I have to say.

[FelonFinder]

Codeman, that's why I don't bother with Silver for crappie. I found myself in Idaho yesterday getting into them. Brownlee will be better too. I just can't see going through a hundred fish to find five keepers that have no meat. But I'm left wondering if there is any viable crappie fishery around here. Seems like the fish are either too small or toxified from pollution...here in "green" Oregon. The Island and the Willy are both nasty. Hagg has a few but are they worthy??

[codeman]

luckily I seem to make it over to owhyee res. a few trips every may, so catching quality crappies happens. I usually bring home 20# of fillets or so for the freezer. any more than that and it will freezer burn before i can eat it. Im really not too interested in cleaning fish right now anyways, by the time i get home from fishing, there is homework to correct for my kids, getting ready for work, etc, so im perfectly fine just catching and releasing. little fish are better than no fish!!! Hopefully i can rise to the challenge and locate some of those larger fish out of silver. My buddy lives in boise and he has already started catching some nice crappies out of owhyee from his kayak. Nice fat 10 inchers, a few even larger. can't wait until may!

[perchmaster]

dumb question but where is silver lake? how far from central oregon? thanks for the input

[Ta-Keel-La]

Originally Posted by perchmaster

dumb question but where is silver lake? how far from central oregon? thanks for the input

bout an hour north of vancouver

[arkansasbasser]

Originally Posted by codeman

I usually bring home 20# of fillets or so for the freezer. any more than that and it will freezer burn before i can eat it.

Put them in freezer bags then fill with water. The fish will keep for a couple of years like this.

[Ta-Keel-La]

or vacuum seal em.

[codeman]

ya i hear ya. Its pretty easy to catch all the crappie you could ever want at owhyee, so when i want some more, just go catch em fresh. (gives me viable excuse to the mrs to go fishing again!) In early to mid may, its fairly easy to catch hundreds of 9-11 inch fat crappie per person per day. Cleaning fish just takes time away from catching more fish. We usually keep a couple of hundred the last day to bring home. sometimes we'll keep 40 or 50 during the week to make a shore lunch. I love fish, but i couldnt eat it more than a couple of times a week at the most anyways. one of these days, i'll plunk down the money to buy a vacuum wrapper.

[arkansasbasser]

What you need over there is fishing cleaning boy.

[codeman]

ya we keep talking about bringing the wives so they can fillet while we catch, its not going over well!!

[FelonFinder]

Idaho has been putting out some crappie since winter. It was slow Sunday, but we still got dinner. Big thanks to Mojo, fellow Ifisher!