Silver lake fishing

[perch chacer]

Today I talked to the guy that owned Higgins Family baits on the West Lake Rd at Silver.  He moved to a different house and he is no longer going to run the bait shop.  He said it was not profitable.  He told me the next closest bait shop to Silver Lake is Finger Lakes Bait & Tackle in Lakeville at the North end of Conesus Lake 1-585-346-7000.

[skinny4]

That's horrible news. Higgans was a great place. 24 hour bait sold by the pound.

[windburn]

That stinks. He had a nice little shop. Great selection of pike bait and panfish jigs. So I guess we'll be off to Ted's on Conesus for bait.

[TNT5859]

That stinks. He had a nice little shop. Great selection of pike bait and panfish jigs. So I guess we'll be off to Ted's on Conesus for bait.

Agree 100%>> he always had a great selection... What a shame.

[IceFever74]

He knew the right way to keep bait healthy. He showed me his set up once. He had 4 or 5 metal water troughs, each with a different baitfish. In them he had a steady drip of spring water, keeping the water temp at about 50 degrees. Kept them refrigerated until we bought them. This was so much better than other places with indoor tanks at room temperature. With being so close to the lake, the bait would still be warm had he not done it this way. It made dropping them into 30 degree lake water much less shocking on the bait. I wish more places would do this.

[Riddlefiddle]

This sucks. It's a long drive to Lakeville just too get bait. Guess I will try and order bait online and have it shipped.

[BUCKSKI]

Camera showed quite of few folks out there. Be safe & tight lines!

[Chromer 69]

How thick is the ice?

[budman3890]

How thick is the ice?

I was out today for a couple hours, south end, there is a good 5 inches of ice. Not much snow at all. After the next few days of below zero, it'll be close to double that. Whole lake is froze, but didn't see anybody other than at the south end.

[perch chacer]

I was out of Perry Beach on Sunday.  Ice was 7" of solid dark ice.  Bite was slow, but did manage a few.   The North end had a couple doz huts or so from Standpipe Rd to the golf course.   

[Walliefisher54]

New to the lake this year, haven’t been out fishing yet. There’s about 14” of snow currently on the lake after that storm. Just talked to the new owner of what used to be Mack’s, he said he was not allowing people to access the lake through there and that it’s now all private. Looks like the state park it is then.

[Rippinlips89]

Any brave souls been on the lake at all? If so any ice reports

[ph10]

The web cam shows a couple people out on the south end yesterday late morning. It doesn’t look like they stayed too long.

[Welshans32]

The Dec website claims there's walleye in silver lake. Has anyone ever caught one or witnessed it, I know I haven't.

[conesusguysouth]

very very rare. saw a picture of a decent one a few years back a guy caught jigging perch. buddy of mine caught a 12 incher last year.

[steinea286]

Used the catch them all the time in open water but seems to have become pretty rare in the last 10 years. I also know a guy that caught one towards the north end jigging for perch. It doesn't happen often but I am sure there are a few in there!

[tipupesox]

A number of years ago we caught a decent eye on a tipup with a shiner, South End weed edge.  Needless to say we were quite surprised.

[Kendog]

We were at the State Park in summer 2020 and the DEC was stocking walleye that day. They were tiny, so basically just feeding the pike.

[BUCKSKI]

Gotten shorts there is years past, fishing in 30 fow jigging for perch.  I like it when you get a high flying slab cali that takes the bait. Walters are def. rare here and in some other lakes that have them. Kinda the MO for some of these lakes. Just a rant, but maybe an effect of the tournaments being held in the winter??

[Riddlefiddle]

Heading to Silver tomorrow. Planning on fishing off of Traber. Will have to go with the Maki plastic baits. The spikes that I ordered from Ja da baits have not come in yet. It sucks that Higgens bait closed up.

[Kendog]

Not to worry Riddle, plastics have been fishing well (on Perch).

[mikeonice2011]

Was out this morning, only guy one. The south end. Fished in front of the marina.  7” perch most of the morning. Forgot my graph so wasn’t as productive as I could have been. Probably be there in the morning unless I think of a better option. Maybe Conesus.

[Riddlefiddle]

The fertile Perch grounds of Silver have once again given up it's bounty

[perch chacer]

We were at the State Park in summer 2020 and the DEC was stocking walleye that day. They were tiny, so basically just feeding the pike.

The yearly walleye stocking program for Silver Lake was stopped in 1996, because the walleye were reproducing naturally.  Due to decline in the walleye population in the early 2000's the stocking of walleye fingerlings was reinitiated in 2016 and 2018 and was continued in 2020 and is suppose to continue bi-annually, stocking fimgerlys again this Summer in 2022.  Fishermen do catch walleyes trolling the weed edges just before night in the Spring and early Summer.  During late Summer the weeds are real thick.

[32degrees]

Nice catch Riddlefiddle. Silver is worth a look again. A frame basin?

[andy95]

This sucks. It's a long drive to Lakeville just too get bait. Guess I will try and order bait online and have it shipped.

There is the bait shop in Scottsburg right next to par-keys

[Riddlefiddle]

Nice catch Riddlefiddle. Silver is worth a look again. A frame basin?

fFor perch, silver is good for 7 to 12 inch. Pike are very plentiful and large. Crappies are average and the gills as well.

[perch chacer]

bump it up

[Riddlefiddle]

Is this a stripe Less perch or a small walleye? 

[62&done]

The head & eye ball looks more like a perch to me   I've caught several different looking perch   A small lake near me has a stain of almost white ones with the typical stripes in a greyish color