Lake Silverwood, The Dock (the lowdown)

[theangler]

[size 2][size 1]Hello All,[/size]

[size 1]Made it out to Silverwood Lake and fished the dock on Saturday again and think I finally have the lowdown. Silverwood Lake is located off the 15 freeway at the bottom of the Cajun Pass (cant miss the sign). Gates open at 7am (we get there at about 6:30 and there was already a pretty descent line), and parking is $3.00. [/size]

[size 1]I went with a friend of mine and my son this week. We had heard that the striper bite at the dock was steady and we were going to make another try at it. We were fishing the dock (my son gets stir crazy on a boat all day) this is a great spot for stripers in the 1 to 6 pound range and from a local boy scout master I heard that not to long ago someone caught a 24 pounder from the dock.[/size]

[size 1]The Bait-
[/size][size 1]Anchovies seem to be the best ticket for the Striper. Cut them in small chunks (we tried bigger chunks and even full anchovies) the small chunks increase the bite frequency although you will catch some smaller stiprer as well.[/size]

[size 1]Mackeral will work also and increases your chances of getting a catfish as well. We tried it for a couple of hours on 1 of the reads and didn't get bit.[/size]

[size 1]Worms would probably be the best all around bait, you can get crappie, largemouth, striper, trout, or catfish. We did try night crawlers also on one of the poles and got one bite.[/size]

[size 1]Lures, using lures the blue and white kastmaster will produce the most fish but they are generally pretty small. Rapala trout broken back, osprey, and bomber trout, lures produce the best from the dock for bigger striper (so I hear, we only tried the kastmaster)[/size]

[size 1]Rigging
[/size][size 1]We talked to a lot of people and were pretty middle of the road with what are set up was. The general consensus was 6# to 15# pound line, size 6 to 10 size hooks, straight hook rig with a couple of larger split shots about a foot and half up the line. We saw people fishing Light to middle saltwater Rod and Reels, lite to heavy freshwater rod and reels, cane poles, and scooby doo zebco combo's, so as far as what rod and reel to fish, its wide open.[/size]

[size 1]Technique
[/size][size 1]Most people are casting out and letting their line settle back (fishing off the bottom). We saw people catching fish, just dropping their line straight down on the dock and running bobbers, but all our fish were caught casting out (fishing off the bottom). A little side note: Act fast when your line is hit, set the hook and retrieve as quickly as possible (run as tight a drag as possible without risking losing the fish). We lost the first 4 fish and were lucky to get one (we waited it out) because there are cables holding the dock in place and the bass seem to know to go straight for the cable. Once their in the cable, they will either break off the line, you will have to break off the line, or you can give them time and slack and hope they free themselves , we had one that we were able to retrieve by giving him time and line (we lost one this way to).[/size]

[size 1]Company
[/size][size 1]We met a great bunch of people on the dock and my son had friends to play with when he was bored. So if you have children the docks are a great [/size][/size][size 2][size 1]place to go.[/size] [/size]

[size 2][size 1]Results
A lot of striper in the 1 to 6 pound class and a great time had by all, the picture below is my son and a friend we were fishing wwith.
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[size 1]Next Saturday we are going to give the lagoons a try for the trout.[/size][/size]
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