FinReaper GS - Dale Ballard is the Fin Reaper! Looking to fish top Oregon coastal rivers? Whether fishing for Salmon, Steelhead or Sturgeon, The Fin Reaper is always one of the top producing boats on the water. Our goal is a truly great fishing experience for our clients. This is what makes The Fin Reaper one of the most sought after Oregon fishing guide services in the Northwest. We fish these top Oregon rivers: Columbia, Clackamas, Willamatte, Molalla, Nehalem, Nestucca, Siletz, and Santiam per state regulations.
Well My nephew is headed for the marines in a couple weeks, so by brother brought both my nephews up for one last trip together before he ships out. They are both Great boys, and they have become Very good fisherman.
We hit Silver in the morning 6/1 and started our hunt down the east side. Not long into the day, about a half hour, my youngest nephew hooked into a nice bright 32"er. After a gentle hook removal and a couple quick pictures we slide it back into the water to fight another day. I always love to watch one of them, or any kid for that matter, hook into a tiger musky, as they get all ridiculously excited. Heck. . . . I still get the "tingle" when into a tiger, even after catching as many as I have.
My brother was dinking around darting his lure around in the water to get the weeds off after a goobered cast, and a nice 30"er or so came lurking up under it right at the boat. Unfortunately he did not see it from the sun glare, but I had a different vantage point and was trying to get him to do a few 8's, but the fish spooked and darted off.
We fish the rest of the day till around 4:00 and while we did get into some bass, we did not get another musky to take.
Unfortunately the nephew headed for the marines did not get into a tiger, but as you can see in the pictures, they had a great time, and that's all that matters!!
TAKE A KID FISHING !!!
I would like to talk to you all about a couple growing problems at SIlver lake, and I ask you all to really consider what I am saying.
We all know the water table is far lower then it should be this time of year, even after the great snowfall,and the outlook for throughout the summer is bleak considering the past drawdowns from lake owners without water rights endlessly / illegally irrigating the lake property. I think we need to band together and all contact the dept. of Ecology and give them your concerns about this, as that is what it will take to get some enforcement going. Now I understand it is a" Gimme" for people when the live on a lake or river to throw in a pump and use the water, BUT . . . . first off it is illegal unless you hold water rights, and secondly NOT when it becomes a detriment to water levels on the lake or river. I have been fishing Silver for Years, and I think all the urban sprawl / new homes & wells are finally starting to show the are water tables are dropping as a result of the increased intake / consumption, so I think it is time the home owners around Newman use their city water to water their yards, and yes, they will have to pay for it like you and I do. Unfortunately there are aprox. 48 homeowners around the lake that do hold water rights, and if being used for primary home water use, as some are = YUCK, they have first right for use, but not for irrigation purposes. . . . ALSO . . . . The weeds are getting real bad on Silver as a result of all the new home down the SW side / end of the lake, and all the skippy wake board boats that come with them. Now obviously these guys don't have depth finders, or they just don't use them, as We all know the South end is heavily vegetated, and very shallow as well, yet all the yahoo's go racing through the south end chopping the vegetation (tossing Salad I call it), and the end result is a MAJOR increase in floating vegetation being up-rooted and moved to the north end of the lake to propagate along the way. Just look at all the increased build up along the docks on both the east and west shorelines, it is ridiculous. Most the home owners are working endlessly to keep it out of the water, and off their shorelines, but it is becoming a endless battle. I think it is time that this issue is addressed by the state, before the problem is irreversible. All that up-rooting / movement of the weeds is making them re-root and propagate all over the lake in places they should not be, and heaven forbid it turn into another Eloika lake that is un-fishable after June as a result of being plugged with milfoil.
Personally I would like to see the whole south end of the lake turned into a NO WAKE 5mp max speed zone to eliminate this major problem. Now, I know what you are thinking, that will increase the skiing - wake boarding on the north portion and with that those operators inability to respect the fisherman they are driving 40mph by 15 feet away, well yes it will, but there is another benefit of that, being the increased traffic stirs up the musky and piss's them off, so you Musky Hunters will get more action as a result. :-)
We are the ones that use this lake, lets work to keep it the great fisheries it is.
I practice catch and release on all the fish caught on my boat, and I strongly urge all other fisherman to do the same. Tiger Musky are sterile and cannot reproduce, and the state is only stocking 1 – 2 hundred a year, so do you part and release them to grow and fight another day. Handle them with care, and they will always be there ?
I would think you would have to be insane to ski in the south end anyways. Could you imagine wrecking in there? It's 5 feet deep max and 100% weeds. Can you say yuck? Common sense would dictate that being a 5 mph zone.
FYI - the mention of newman was a typo, as I was talking about Silver lake and not Newman. . . Newman has even more issues then SIlver, but i can get into that on a later post for newman. I guess i did not proof read that post enough. . . . Sorry The original upload went a little hinky as it lost the pictures, but Mike got them posted for me . . . Thanks again Mike
hey TMH i just saw my first musky thx to a good man that goes by the name MUSKYHUNTER. i am trying to get into it. i do my part on c&r as well. i feel your pain on what the state does with water and to much development. i am sure i will have some talks with him soon for he is in the chapter that cam bring some notice.as far as skiers you and i know just as well other fisherman that is a never ending battle.................fish on.................
well, not sure if anyone can help me, but gotta give it a try. I am recently new to fishing, being that i haven't fished since i was about 6 or so and am now 23, but wondering if someone can help me out on how to fish for and where to find muskie? i often go to silver because of it's ease for me to get to, but have no idea how to fish for this fish. any help would truly be appreciated as all i do is catch and release. you can contact me thenalo@msn.com if you'd like. thank you
"thenalo" - did you visit the Forum yet? There is a whole section on Muskie fishing wth lots of very helpful guys.
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FinReaper GS - Dale Ballard is the Fin Reaper! Looking to fish top Oregon coastal rivers? Whether fishing for Salmon, Steelhead or Sturgeon, The Fin Reaper is always one of the top producing boats on the water. Our goal is a truly great fishing experience for our clients. This is what makes The Fin Reaper one of the most sought after Oregon fishing guide services in the Northwest. We fish these top Oregon rivers: Columbia, Clackamas, Willamatte, Molalla, Nehalem, Nestucca, Siletz, and Santiam per state regulations.
