It had been nearly two months since my last fishing outing, so I definitely felt the need to get a line in the water! Persuaded my wife, Boni that the weather was going to be nice enough for her to accompany me (was a bit chilly, but no rain), so we set off for Silver Lake early Monday morning. Arrived at the lake at about 6:45... already one other fisherman on site. Were on the pier and fishing by 7:15. Air temp was 40 degrees and water temp at 10' off the pier was 52 degrees. Just beginning to become light, the sky was cloudy with a light breeze from the southeast. Began fishing Power Eggs (Fl. Orange)... 3 1/2' leader... on one rig, marshmallows and worms on another... 3' leader... and worms under a float on Boni's rig. Fifteen minutes in, a hit on the PE rig and reeled in a stocker of 11". Handed that rod to Boni, and fifteen minutes later she landed the largest of the day, just a tick below 12". As the sun rose higher, the bite seemed to die off totally. Tried various colors of PE as well as Power Dough... nada... nothing on worms or nightcrawler. As the morning progressed, I noticed many fish rising in shallower water to our right... we had been fishing straight out off the end of the pier. Willing to try something different, I cast parallel to the shoreline and about 40' out from the beach, using a 4' leader and Fl. Orange PE. Immediately started having bites, lost a couple on the way in, then landed our third about noon. Boni and I fished the rest of the afternoon in this fashion, missing lots of bites before she reeled in our fourth about 1:30 and I closed out our catch with another about 2:00. By now the sun was shining brightly and the bite turned off completely. We left the lake by 3:00 with five trout ranging from nearly 12" to 9".
A very pleasant day on the lake, by noon the sun had burned off most of the clouds and the park began to fill up with many children and lots of people out for a stroll. Watched a large flock of Cormorants (over 50) fishing the newly planted trout unceasingly (figure they must read the WDFW web-site on planting schedule). Saw six other fishermen come and go while we were at the lake, saw six other fish caught. All-in-all, a great start to what will hopefully be an exciting Spring fishery! PTL!

---