Had to go try Silver lake today been sick in bed with a crummy flu
bug. Still not up to par but fishin will cure any type of sickness,
blues, humbug, or whatever troubles you in my book. Well any way got
to the lake at about 7am and thought on my trip down that it was going
to be a great day fishing because on my trip thru Thurston and Lewis
County the sun was out and had to put on sun glasses.
Seems as soon as I hit Cowlitz County the fog was present. The chill
was in the air and the cold hit me as soon as I got out of my bass
boat transporter (my trusty truck). That did not discourage me because
I was at the lake and I was ready. I had prepared for the trip late
the night before and was ready to go try out a new lure modification
that I prepared into the wee hours of the preceding night. I launched
my boat at Silver Lake Resort and as the outboard warmed up I put on
my life vest and kill switch lanyard. As I slowly motored out of the
log boom at the resort I turned on the sonar and noticed that the temp
gauge said 50 degrees. I thought to myself,Oh!Oh!, the water temp had
dropped a good 7 to 8 degrees from last week on th main lake but
thought 0-well usually the temp at this lake warms up 5 to 6 degrees
by the middle of the day and the sun was about ready to break thru the
fog and all was going to be well. As my boat slowly picked up speed
and I looked around to make sure everything was in it's place and not
able to blow out from the movement of the boat across the water. My
thoughts were in my mind that this is going to be a good day. By the
time I got about half way to my first planned fishin spot I had to
slow the boat down and put the outboard out of forward movement, take
off the kill switch lanyard, and put on some warm gloves for my hands
were telling the truth of how cold the lack of sun and fog had make
the lake air temp. I thought that was O-K because I had learned from
many fishing trips before to be prepared for any emergencies from
inclement weather (rain clothes, gloves, dry socks, stocking hat) to
personal restroom articles for waters that have no facilities (toilet
paper) to emergency repair (duct tape, screwdriver, vise grips, fuses)
so on to the first hole. As I motored in to the first casting spot of
the trip I felt that the fish were probably holding tight to cover so
the first lure for the day was the old reliable jig and pig. After
casting, pitching, flipping,swimming, and anything else that I could
think possible to work a jig I decided to switch to another lure. The
next pick in my arsenal of fishin poles already tied up th night
before was a fat bodied crankbait. After working this bait as close to
cover as possible, which consisted of rocks and brush growing out from
shore. There were no takes on either so I decided it was time to try a
different tactic. My thoughts was that maybe the bass had moved off
from shore line structure and should try some logs in deeper water.
After running to spots in the lake that I knew had submerged logs from
shallow to deeper water which were located off of points and in some
coves.Still no luck so my thoughts were of trying some docks. The
first dock I came to I flipped a Spin Jig that I had made up just for
flippin. As I worked all around the dock when I was just about ready
to move to the next dock and was lifting the jig with line in my hand
a large bass, maybe in the 5 lb range, came out from under the dock,
made a tremendous swirl, grabbed the jig, and preceded to swim back
under the dock. Well, here I was line in my hand, fish with lure in
mouth, and no way to get proper hook set go I let the fish go under
the dock, lowered my flippin pole, cranked a couple of turns on the
reel and set the hook for all she was worth. To my surprise the fish
had did a complete turn around back out from under the dock and was
between my boat and the dock. As I set the hook the fish did a massive
swirl and turned and swam back under the dock without my jig. Needless
to say the cold morning got really warm from the adrenaline rush of
this 3 or 4 second action. My hopes for th day just brightened up for
I thought I found where the fish were. After about 10 or 12 more docks
of flippin the same lure and no bites I thought maybe I should try to
find a little bit warmer water. I noticed at the other end of the lake
the sun was just starting to peek thru the fog and it was shining in
on one of the coves I nicknamed "Carp Cove" which usually holds a
little warmer water than where I had been fishing.
Once I got to carp cove I knew of some sunken logs off of the shore
line and tried the same jig by flippin to a couple of logs. At the
third log my lure was laying on the bottom when it felt a little
tension so I set the hook. I sure felt sorry for the 2 pound fish that
came flying out of the shallow water, flew into the air, and almost
landed in my lap, which I caught in mid air. Must have had a little
adrenaline left over in my system for my reaction time seemed to be so
quick the fish didn't have time to try and swim or even wiggle in my
hand. By the time the fish realized it was caught I had put it in the
livewell which I usually do when fishing shallow water so as not to
spook other fish in the area and to let the fish revive a little bit
with fresh oxygen generated in the livewell. As soon as the fish was
placed into the livewell the fish came alive and made such a ruckus,
which I thought was unusual for a fish this size, that the aluminum
boat shook which seemed to be warning the other fish in the area that
I was there. After a few minutes fishin the area and no luck on any
strikes I decided to release the fish for it seemed to settle down and
was ready to be released. When I opened the livewell lid the fish came
back alive and splashed cold water into my face. Also when I finally
got a hold of the fish and was letting it go she managed to get me one
more time with cold water up my sleeve of my coat. Sure would like to
catch that bass when she adds a few more pounds. That was ONE MEAN
BASS!!!
The sun never did come all the way out even though the fog lifted but
clouds had blocked most of the sun for the day. The highest water
temperature that I could find only reached 53 degrees compared to 63
the week before.
The trip ended with only 1 fish in the livewell but I know where a big
one lives. Next time I will try for the dock fish. Hope she's still
there waiting for me if she's any relation to the 2 pound log fish
another story could be in the makings..

---