Silver lake

[warsawbassman]

they over fished it the last few years and put too much pressure on the lake

Wrong. The fish are there, just not where we want them to be. Low, clear water conditions this past late summer/early fall pushed a lot of the fish deeper than usual, combined with a HUGE amount of small perch for forage in the main basin and a never ending ending supply of bloodworms in the mucky bottom that makes up 99% of that main basin, they never had a reason to come back up to more fishable water. It didn't help that the wind this fall when the water was still open beat the snot out of the weed cover on the flats, turning the water murky, which stayed murky until ice up. Then tons of snow got dumped on the lake cutting off any light needed for healthy weeds and you have a dead zone from 0'-12' of water this year. Roaming, well fed fish are difficult to find and catch, and the fact you have to beat the thousands of aggresive dink perch away makes for tough fishing. I was catching 100s of bluegills a day in mid november when I could find them out in the abyss. They are still there.

[Doubles Shooter]

Bassman, Let them believe it's fished out. More for us .

[perch chacer]

I have looked back at some of my Silver Lake posts from 2007 when I joined Ice Shanty.   I was catching a lot of 5"-7" perch back then and a doz to doz and a half of 8"-11" to take home, very few perch below 5".  This year I caught a lot of perch under 5" and only a 1/2 doz to 10 perch 8"-10" to take home.
The question isn't whether this lake is fished out but why the perch aren't growing.  A well fed perch in a balance ecological system grows to 8" in 4 years.  Why haven't those 5"-7" perch from 2007 grown into good size fish by now?  And it's not because there fished out, look at a camera sometime.  I believe it is over population.  I think more fish should be taken from this lake.  Chautauqua Lake has the same problem, you can catch 150 to 200 perch in a 10 hr. day and only keep 30-40 perch 8"-10".   Anyone know a good DEC fish biologists, maybe he could give us the answer?   By the way, I have perch fished WNY since 1965 and been very successful over the years.

[Shouldabeenhereyesterday]

I have looked back at some of my Silver Lake posts from 2007 when I joined Ice Shanty.   I was catching a lot of 5"-7" perch back then and a doz to doz and a half of 8"-11" to take home, very few perch below 5".  This year I caught a lot of perch under 5" and only a 1/2 doz to 10 perch 8"-10" to take home.
The question isn't whether this lake is fished out but why the perch aren't growing.  A well fed perch in a balance ecological system grows to 8" in 4 years.  Why haven't those 5"-7" perch from 2007 grown into good size fish by now?  And it's not because there fished out, look at a camera sometime.  I believe it is over population.  I think more fish should be taken from this lake.  Chautauqua Lake has the same problem, you can catch 150 to 200 perch in a 10 hr. day and only keep 30-40 perch 8"-10".   Anyone know a good DEC fish biologists, maybe he could give us the answer?   By the way, I have perch fished WNY since 1965 and been very successful over the years.

Ladies and gentlemen we have a winner!!   how many times have people said that we need to take more fish out of there, only to be attacked that it is fished out?!!

[dabills]

Maybe a walleye (although I hear there are many) or tiger musky stocking. It is true about the dink perch, very very few of them grow to the desired size.

[warsawbassman]

 Silver lake has ALWAYS had a dink perch problem, even when the walleye stocking was going on. Except for a few times when a year class or two bucks that trend, but it's random, and you never know when/what year class is going to be the one to break out of the dink pattern. Gills/sunnies are bigger on Silver than Conesus, but they too run in cycles.........several years of lots of dinks, then the get bigger, then they get smaller, etc...... Silver is a giant pond, not a sprawling impoundment, you have to take the bad with the good, but it's fertile, well populated, and the game fish (Pike, Largemouth/Smallmouth) are healthy and abundant, all be it well fed and not the easiest to catch.

[Shouldabeenhereyesterday]

Warsawbassman for farm pond president!  If some of these guys would listen to people like you who obviously fish this pond year round, they might actually learn something about this fishery!  Your last few posts have been right on!  But it's much easier for guys to blame their lack of success on a fished out, over pressured, nothing but dinks lake.  Maybe if these guys would come fish the other 8 months of the year they could learn something about this lake.  Instead they show up around new years day out of maxes and fish till about April 1st in the same spots all winter and if the fish aren't there, the lake is fished out   I can't even tell you how many times you can take the boat out even on a weekend and only have a handful, if that, of trailers in the parking lot!  But that's OK, don't waste your time on this dead sea!!

[Shouldabeenhereyesterday]

Maybe a walleye (although I hear there are many) or tiger musky stocking. It is true about the dink perch, very very few of them grow to the desired size.

According to the last several dec shockings there is an over abundance of walleye and the pike population is ridiculous!  Definitely no lack of preditors  in the lake...Imo that could be why the eyes are so big in this small lake and pike reach 40+"...plus they get some toad bass they are all well fed

[JerryofWNY]

Wrong. The fish are there, just not where we want them to be. Low, clear water conditions this past late summer/early fall pushed a lot of the fish deeper than usual, combined with a HUGE amount of small perch for forage in the main basin and a never ending ending supply of bloodworms in the mucky bottom that makes up 99% of that main basin, they never had a reason to come back up to more fishable water. It didn't help that the wind this fall when the water was still open beat the snot out of the weed cover on the flats, turning the water murky, which stayed murky until ice up. Then tons of snow got dumped on the lake cutting off any light needed for healthy weeds and you have a dead zone from 0'-12' of water this year. Roaming, well fed fish are difficult to find and catch, and the fact you have to beat the thousands of aggresive dink perch away makes for tough fishing. I was catching 100s of bluegills a day in mid november when I could find them out in the abyss. They are still there.

This from the guy who most likely spends more time on Silver Lake than anyone else on the planet.  Good to hear from you, Brad. Hope all well. Miss you on the Other Side.

[dabills]

According to the last several dec shockings there is an over abundance of walleye and the pike population is ridiculous!  Definitely no lack of preditors  in the lake...Imo that could be why the eyes are so big in this small lake and pike reach 40+"...plus they get some toad bass they are all well fed

That's what I hear about the walleye too. What size range have you seen out of there? I'm not one from "the lake is fished out" crowd but I hear these stories about years ago it used to be a great place for big perch. I'm just wondering what has changed. Obviously there are huge numbers of perch but they just don't get any bigger. Open to all theories!

[Silverlakeslammer]

Anywhere from 6-23" with an occasional toad if u hit it just right.