10-31-21
Hello Fishing Family!
I hope you are all doing well, as I am doing pretty good. I have had to get through some pretty tough challenges lately. Fishing is not only my passion, but a way for me to escape from some of the chaos occurring in our world.
In the past couple of weeks, I have only been fishing at Silverwood Lake (4 sessions). Two of those fishing sessions were spent alone, but the other two were with anglers I have fished with over the last year. I do appreciate their company, as fishing is not about catching, but the memories created from our experiences.
Catching fish is always fun though too, and landing fish on the shore has me always wanting to get back to the lake for another fishing session whether it be during the day or night.
One night while fishing near the Marina, I kept seeing several boats on the water. There was a Park Ranger on a boat which doesn’t surprise me, but also another larger pontoon boat which stayed out longer on the water. Up until this point, I had been fishing for about an hour with not even a single strike on my rod. I watched the Park Rangers tie up their boat, and leave for the night.
I decided to switch locations, and within the next hour I was able to catch three Stripers on a jerk bait. Starting the night fishing with a jerk bait and not even getting a strike, and then switching up to casting out a jig headed fluke didn’t even produce a strike either. Moving locations to a new area had me thinking I should try a jerk bait lure again. And this time it worked, within the hour I was able to land three Striper all weighing above a pound (the largest weighing 1 lb. & ¾ ounce).
As I wrapped up my session, I noticed the large pontoon boat pulling up near me. The people on the boat were surveying the fish population which was definitely new information to me. We briefly chatted, they helped me retrieve a jerk bait lure I had lost on a bad cast, and they took off as they wished me luck. I wrapped up and left soon after that experience.
One night from the Vista Point location, I had a pleasant time fishing with an angler I haven’t fished with in about a year. He brought some anglers out to try night fishing. We linked up in the parking lot and hiked down to shore, and we made a long trek along the shore to a good spot. Within about twenty minutes, I was able to get a strike. The fish was landed (a 1 lb. Striper), quickly photographed, and released. This night was very slow in terms of action, so we hiked back out and casted along the way.
In one of the coves, I felt a small tug on the tip of my rod, I immediately thought I was stuck on something, but it was a small Catfish. I was a bit surprised as the last Catfish I caught was on cut bait, yet this Catfish wanted my jerk bait lure. I had to pack up and leave, and I left the other anglers to fish a few more hours into the night.
Meeting up another night with a different angler I haven’t fished with since June at the Vista Point location, almost turned into a skunk fest-meaning no fish landed. We both kept casting and casting, and trying all kinds of lures and nothing. Every thirty seconds, we could hear splashing off in the distance, and fish jumping everywhere. Neither one of us could get a strike on our rods.
As my buddy called it for the night, I was encouraged to stay at least another hour to see if I could figure it out.
I heard a lot of splashing in a cove to the right of me and jogged over to that area. The cast I made nearly missed the shore, as I was on a point and casted diagonal towards the shore, but I felt a thump on my rod tip which was new to me on this night because of not having any strikes. I totally missed the strike! I casting out again in the same spot, and my rod was bent instantly. After landing the fish, I noticed it was a Striper and a bit larger than most of the Striper I have been catching. It weighed out at a solid three pounds. Casting out more, got me on two more strikes of which I landed two more schoolie sized Striper (1-1 ½ lbs.).
From the way the fishing started to the way it ended, I was stoked. I finally fooled a larger Striper into taking my jerk bait. Lately, I have been catching a bunch of smaller Striper. Unfortunately, the larger Striper choked my lure very deep into its mouth, so I donated it to a friend of a friend for food.
My last fishing session was off the hook! I arrived at the Marina for a short night fishing session. The same splashing I heard at Vista Point the night before, was going off in the Marina. I was curious as to what it could be. I first thought maybe some carp just jumping around. But as it kept up for a while, I figured it could probably be some hungry Striper. I tied on my favorite jerk bait lure, and ended the session with a total of 5 Striper landed. What a night of fishing!
Overall, for my 4 fishing sessions I landed a total of 13 fish: 1 Catfish, & 12 Striper. All of the fish were caught and released, except for the one Striper that inhaled my jerkbait deep into its mouth causing it to bleed out a lot.
These are my latest YouTube Videos from Silverwood Lake. Check it out!