Silver Lake Cowlitz County, Oct 11-12

One of my favorite get togethers that I started back in NorCal were "fishin' and chillin'" days. We'd all go fish and then at lunchtime take a break and barbecue on the shore somewhere and then get back to more fishin'. Each person would bring an ingredient (packed in their yak) which turned out to almost always be hot dogs n' fixins. Not sure if there's a beach area to do so at Silver but a lunchtime barbecue in the lot would be cool too. Whatdaya think?

Z "I'll bring the grill!"

Here's a map.  Click on the marker and select "Get Directions".

Brian

I think you misunderstood me.  I want a full size image of the map Pole posted.  Did you notice all the areas marked by species and or season? 

I'd be down for a BBQ in the parking lot!

Saturday noon?  I got some ground bison from the ranch in Ellensburg....

Mark,

Ah.. that's the size that was posted on Ifish. I'll see if I can't hunt it down from the source.

Brian

I'll be bringing my 60k BTU two burner stove (w/grill box) & propane tank.  I'll also bring all my cooking gear including kitchen, cast iron cookware, and a fryer pot w/ peanut oil for a fish fry.

I'll be bringing my 60k BTU two burner stove (w/grill box) & propane tank.  I'll also bring all my cooking gear including kitchen, cast iron cookware, and a fryer pot w/ peanut oil for a fish fry.

Don't worry about bringing too much. Just a quick grill, eat, and get back on the water.

Saturday noon?  I got some ground bison from the ranch in Ellensburg....

Yep. Never had bison. Sounds good. I'll bring some hot dog and hamburger buns.

Z

I'm still working on the day pass, but if I come maybe I'll hard boil up a dozen of my chicken's eggs.

I'll be bringing my 60k BTU two burner stove (w/grill box) & propane tank.  I'll also bring all my cooking gear including kitchen, cast iron cookware, and a fryer pot w/ peanut oil for a fish fry.

Don't worry about bringing too much. Just a quick grill, eat, and get back on the water.

Saturday noon?  I got some ground bison from the ranch in Ellensburg....

Yep. Never had bison. Sounds good. I'll bring some hot dog and hamburger buns.

Z

I'll bring the stuff just in case...  I've got the room for it; worse case it'll stay in the Jeep and not get used.

I'll bring some Terriyaki chicken thighs.  They'll be cooked but we can warm them up on the grill.

Holy Super Buffet Bat Man! you guys have been busy today havent you?!

at the top of the Kerr Road boat launch, just to the left as you enter, are several picnic tables and a small area you can set up a grill. it's all tree covered, but there is no fire ring or post mounted box grille that i've seen. it's a bare bones launch area, on about a 20 degree slant, with room to launch a single PB or about 6-8 yaks at once if we get cozy when we do it.

Seaquest has a large covered "Outdoor Kitchen" , about 200 feet inside the entrance and to the right. the difference is having lunch at the top of the boat launch or having lunch 5 miles away, after reloading your boat and gear and driving over.

also, just past the Kerr Road turn off, maybe 1/2 mile, is a resturant on the left hand side of 504. forget the name, has an out door eating area and looks like a ski lodge...cannot vouch for the food or service, they were closed when i went there both times, mainly due to it either being too early in the day or too late in the afternoon. so there's another alternative, but i really like your ideas so much better.

You bet your ass I will be catfishing with you.  I miss going after cats since all we have around Seattle are dinky bullheads.  What has always worked for me is chicken/beef livers, dog food, or rancid dough.  Forget the bell unless you want to sit on the shore with your rod in a rod holder.  That does bring up a good question- is Silver Lake open for night fishing?  I did it at Banks lake and had a blast.

Yar, the guide we both have, page 424, r.h. column.....sorry partner looks like bullheads again and not much else in that family.. wonder why there arent channels, blues and other species out here???

guidebook also says year round fishing, but does not mention it being closed at night... and i dont remember any signs warning against it on my scout trips to there...

I'm not sure which guide you guys are looking at but a 1997 survey report does not mention catfish other then bullhead.

The survey report lists the following species found.

Largemouth Bass
Yellow perch
Bluegill
Warmouth
Black crappie
Yellow bullhead
Brown bullhead
Pumpkinseed
White crappie
Largescale sucker
Grass carp
Common carp
Rainbow trout
Cutthroat trout
Sculpin (Cottus sp.)

FYI, the only Silver Lake specific regulation that I'm aware of is for crappie.  The limit is 10 and with a minimum size of 9".

brian,
yeh, was lamenting the fact there only seems to be bullheads out here and not any of the other species of cats... channels, blues and sevral others are seriously good sport.

using the foghorn outdoors "washington fishing , the complete guise to lakes rivers...etc" written by terry rudnick...2005 edition..Yar has a copy of same book as i recall.

like your info on crappie.. they're mentioned in this guide but not much else said about them

Hmm I read a few fishing reports on washingtonlakes.com about silver lake and "catfish".  Then I searched for catfish and silver lake, of course I can't find that site now, thought it said channel cats... Must have been the wrong Silverlake...

d'oh

  The most common catfish in WA is the brown bullhead catfish, some lakes have channel cats, inclding HARTS Lake in Pierce county:

http://washingtonlakes.com/ReportList.aspx?id=52

Washingtonlakes.com sez about SIlver Lake:

2,996 acres: This large lake is reached off I-5 going east on Hwy 504 to the west end of the lake. Public access is just past Kerr Rd. There is a boat launch there as well as several resorts in the area. The lake is shallow with abundant lilly pads and weeds for fast growing fish. Spiny rays with large mouth bass reported to 10lbs. The lake also has planted rainbows. With four islands and miles of shoreline the lake will give you plenty to explore.

A nice view of Mt Saint Helens and a "no wake" zone help to make Silver lake a quality fishing experience. Brush and logs in the lake should help the crappie fishing.

   That is a great site, some basic info then fishing reports from varous guys, some with pix, like these bass from Silver:

and

Channel cats are not common in western WA lakes, here's what the aafishing.com has to say about WA cats:

The Columbia and Snake Rivers are notorious for big catfish. Most rivers in WA are likely to contain at least a few catfish. They will also be found in some ponds, parks, small lakes and of course some of the major lakes in Washington. These major lakes include Alder Lake, Banks Lake, Franklin D Roosevelt Lake, Lake Bryan, Lake Chelan, Lake Sammamish, Lake Umatilla (John Day), Lake Wallula (McNary), Lake Whatcom, Mayfield Lake, Palmer Lake, Riffe Lake,  Vancouver Lake and Wanapum Lake.

The Washington state record blue catfish was taken out of the Columbia River and the state record channel catfish [26#] was caught from the I-82 Pond No. 6 . The Snake River produced the WA state record flathead catfish.

the site is
http://www.aa-fishing.com/wa/washington-catfish-fishing.html