“The trout are concentrated in that slot of darker water between the launch ramp and the dam,” advised Jay Warren of Roseville, as a stiff, steady wind hammered the clear, icy cold waters of the lake. “If you cast short of that, you’re missing the fish.

Warren fishes the lake frequently from shore and had caught 10 trout, keeping five browns in the 11 to 12 inch class, while using Thomas Buoyant lures and Kastmasters. None of the fish were the big lunkers you hope for in the spring, but they had the beautiful, crisp dark brown and gold colors of browns typical of right after ice out.

I tossed my nightcrawler on a sliding sinker rig into the relentless wind. The set-up landed about 30 yards from me and began sinking. “You got the bait in the right spot,” he commented.

It was hard to feel the bite in the wind, so I felt the line with my finger and soon felt several tentative bites. Then the rod dipped down and I set the hook. I landed the fish, a 13 inch brown, near a snow bank adjacent to the now-boarded up Kay’s Silver Lake Resort.

“Look at its tail,” he noted.

I suveyed the tail and sure enough, there were tell-tale teeth marks from a mackinaw around the tail’s base. The fish was an escapee from the mackinaw, but we wasn’t going to escape me!

I caught and kept another two fish, one colorful holdover rainbow and another scrappy brown, before I drove back to Sacramento after my short afternoon venture. The fish were biting the bait very softly, probably a result of the cold water temperatures, and it was very difficult to get a hook into them.

The wind went through periods of calming down, but then would start howling again through the canyon. However, it was difficult to convince myself to leave, because of the solitude of being at Silver Lake at ice out time.

Snowdrifts still surrounded the lake, even though most of the snow had melted, and the peaks of Sierra jutted into a clear blue sky studded with fluffy white clouds – classic post-frontal conditions.

It was right after ice out, on May 12, 2002, that Mark Wiza set the lake mackinaw trout record of 22 pounds while he trolled a no. 11 black and silver Rapala. While drifting in a canoe after his motor failed as the wind came up, Wiza landed the biggest fish of his lifetime – and the biggest fish of any species ever taken out of Silver. His fish beat the previous mackinaw record of 18 pounds set in 2000.

(To hear a hilarious account of the reaction of the former owner of Kay’s Resort to Wiza when he asked for a scale to weigh a fish, see Mark’s fine article at http://www.fishsniffer.com/wiza/051702silmac.html). Though anglers didn’t report catching any big macks during my recent venture, some hardy, snow gear-attired boaters tried for both lakers and browns.

The most successful group of anglers was the piscatorial quartet of Danny Bowers of Jackson, Todd Hobbick of Jackson, Nicki Hobbick from Jackson and Nikki Reis of Ione. They landed a total of six browns to 2 pounds and one rainbow while trolling rainbow and gold/black Rapalas on the surface.

Wiza recommended trolling large rainbow pattern A.C. Plugs, Rapalas and Rebels for the mackinaw in the spring. “Start top lining over 10 to 20 feet of water first thing in the morning,” said Wiza. “Then switch over to lead core and troll at 30 to 40 feet later in the day.”

For the browns, he advised trolling rainbow and silver and gold plugs – smaller and slimmer versions of the mackinaw lures - tighter to the shoreline, generally in less than 15 feet of water.

Located off Highway 88 between Bear River Reservoir to the west and Caples Lake to the east, this lake is often overlooked by anglers and vacationing families on their way to Lake Tahoe and other destinations. Silver Lake is a natural lake augmented by a dam that expanded the size of the lake. It has been a resort location for over 100 years. Maurice and Caraletta Platte, the descendants of pioneer Raymond Peter Plasse who established a trading post on the Emigrant Trail in 1853, still operate Plasse’s Resort.

If you want to catch good numbers of trout in the Highway 88 Corridor, it’s hard to beat Silver. “The trout bite is generally active from spring through fall, although there was a slowdown last spring when an insect hatch took place,” said Dale Daneman of Dale’s Foothill Fishing Guide Service. “There isn’t much guesswork to catching trout at Silver. We caught limits on just about every trip I made there last year.”

Since the lake is located at an elevation of 7200 feet in the headwaters of the Silver Fork of the American River, the water temperature stays relatively cool throughout the summer and fall. Downriggers and lead core line are advisable if you want to target mackinaw, but top-line trolling is productive for rainbows and browns most of the year.

Daneman’s trick is to top-line troll with broken back Rapalas first thing in the morning and then to switch to nightcrawlers behind a Sep’s sidekick dodger when the sun looms higher over the water.

“Most of the fish we catch at Silver are rainbows, but the browns were thick there last season,” said Daneman. “My clients landed 8 browns and a couple of mackinaw during 6 trips there.”

Catching a trophy rainbow is always possible when trolling Silver. Mike Helmer landed a beautiful 6.5 lb. rainbow in September 2006 while trolling a brown grub behind a watermelon Sep’s Sidekick.

“It was one of the best looking fish I’ve ever taken in my boat, as well as the biggest rainbow that a client of mine has caught at any lake,” commented Daneman. “Helmer is left handed and it was a real challenge for him to get that big fish in, but he did it with the right handed reel upside down and reeling in the line backwards.”

The DFG stocked mackinaw in the early 1990’s – and the fish have grown quickly as demonstrated by the 22 lb. mack that Mark Wiza bagged in 2002. The Department stocks 10,000 pounds of rainbows and 1800 pounds of German brown trout annually.

Silver is a surprisingly fertile fishery, in spite of being located in a large, high elevation granite basin. “It is a typical west slope lake with some unique features, such as the marsh at the lake’s south end that adds nutrients to the food chain,” said Stafford Lehr, DFG senior fishery biologist. The food chain is sustained by zooplankton, primarily daphnia, as well as tui chubs and Lahontan redsides that were illegally introduced.

The only drawback to fishing Silver is that personal watercraft enthusiasts and water skiers can whip the water into a froth during the summer. The Amador County Board of Supervisors recently voted down a proposal by the El Dorado Irrigation District to impose a speed limit of 10 mph and ban personal watercraft, saying that “self regulation” was a better option. For more information about booking a trip to fish Silver Lake, call Dale Daneman of Foothill Fishing Guide Service, 530-295-0488, or Mark Wiza, fishing guide, (530) 545-1475.

Silver Lake (Amador County) Facts

Location and facilities: Located 52 miles east of Jackson on Highway 88, Silver Lake is situated on the headwaters of the Silver Fork of the American River and is the gateway to the Mokelumne Wilderness. The lake is 7200 feet above sea level and freezes over during the winter.

Camping and Lodging: The U.S. Forest Service manages a campground at Silver Lake East, while PG&E manages the Silver Lake West Campground. Plasse's Resort also offers camping. Cabins and boats are available for rental at Kit Carson Lodge.

Plasse’s Resort’s facilities include tent and RV sites with water, hookups, table and fire rings group campsites, horse camping, a general store/gift shop, a restaurant and bar, a children’s playground, canoe and kayak rentals, a propane and dump station, shower facilities, a laundromat and a boat launch.

Kit Carson Lodge’s facilities include lodging, a restaurant, an art gallery, a store and canoe rentals.

For more information, call El Dorado National Forest, Amador Ranger District, (209) 295-4251. For fishing and lodging information, call Kit Carson Lodge at (209) 258-8500, and Plasse's Resort at (209) 258-8814,

Fishing Guide Services: Dale Daneman of Foothill Fishing Guide Service, 530-295-0488, or Mark Wiza, fishing guide, (530) 545-1475.

Hydropower Relicensing Agreement: The El Dorado Irrigation District in 2003 signed a 40 year relicensing agreement with FERC that will maintain minimum lake levels according to the type of water year. The agreement, which went into effect in 2006, also improves stream flows in the Silver Fork and Caples Creek to maintain the trout fishery, according to Stafford Lehr, DFG senior fishery biologist.