Unexpected fishing at Silver Lake,Cowlitz County

Its a good thing that over the years I've learned the fine art at laughing at myself.

So I took an unexpected trip down to Silver Lake for a quick bass outing in hopes that the recent warm weather just might produce my first largemouth of the year. I had my son in tow...I was ever hopeful that he would have his first bass as well. This trip was so quickly put together,that we did not bring the boat,basically,I was using wishful thinking and hoping that I could just rent a little 14footer. Well,I was wrong and we had to do the shore thing. Temps hovered in the 55 range late afternoon on Friday,so I thought their was a chance of at least catching a dink.....if anything else. Hours past and nothing,so I finally tried a little roadrunner jig for perch,crappie or anything else that might give me the time of day. With my son aiding me,we finally had a perch and a small one at that. We were rewarded with a great sunset and a gorgeous view of Mount Saint Helens.

Saturday we had planned to pack out but a call from my wife the night before stating that she would be able to come down later in the afternoon granted my son and I the chance for more attempts at catching a bass.

I ended up chatting it up with Chuck and John at the Silver Lake Motel and Resort,where our talk turned to carp. I was seeing the carp earlier but never gave them much of a thought. By the time I was done chatting,I thought I should give them a try. The first few hours were slow and and drove me crazy. I could see tons of them,at one time I counted over 30 of them in less time then you could blink but they had no interest in feeding as far as I could tell. Drop it in front of them,on top of their heads....they really didn't care and only added to my frustration. As the evening progressed and the temps dropped,I made my way back to our motel room. My wife arrived a bit later with some fast food(I'm on vacation,I'm not cooking a damn thing) Later into the evening,I decided to give it another try after seeing a single carp swimming near the resort dock,only visible because of the light from the resort. I decided to try the remnants of a greasy hamburger. Pulling off a small piece of a bun.

Again,an hour or 2 had past and nothing. I had just walked in and began checking to see what was on the TV and said to my wife. "Let me know if that rod moves" Seriously,less than 10 seconds pass and she said it was.

I lazily glanced up to see the rod ready to split in half. I set the hook and the fight is on. At this point,its very dark and I have to work the fish slowly,not to mention,I'm on the second floor of the resort,so I have to play a balancing act of rod hopping between the wood posts. By the time I had reached the bank,I had a small audience waiting to view the catch. I had my wife and son right behind to verify and take part in the results of my long awaited battle,only to watch the fish run 30 yards and snapped the line. It sounded like a detuned guitar string prior to the snap and I couldn't set the drag fast enough. My family looked more disapointed in the results then me. I was happy for the fight but disapointed as well. I went back to the room,opened a cold beer and thought,well nothing beats this view,maybe the next time I get down here,I'll catch that fish. Disapointed in my fishing,I was still happy to be out of the house with the family. I went to sleep,hoping the next day would have better results but I knew time was against me and my story would end with something like "The fishing sucked but I'm glad I got out" sort of thing.

Sunday morning,I was up before sunrise. I really wasn't expecting much but I quietly made my way through the sliding door while the family slept. I rigged up my bass rod with a pelet of dog food that I had began soaking a few minutes before. Dropped it in the water from the balcony,expecting the same let down performance from the

night before. 2 minutes in and I watch the rod pull and set the hook. Miss,followed by many more. By this time,I can't figure out whether to check out and be gone before my blood pressure explodes or more determined

to catch one of these turds. An hour later and I'm seeing more and more carp drifting around and I'm tossing them dry dog food. Watching them eat,I decide to change it up a bit and head to the truck,I have a ton of musky/pike gear sitting in there. I grab my new musky rod,which I had planned on using for my pike trip.

I made a leader out of 15lb. fluoro line and grab a left over french fry from the night before. Minutes later,I watch a carp grab it and began another fight. I knew I didn't have the biggest but was very suprised by the battle that followed. I worked my way down to the bank,where my son aided me in the reeling effort. By the time the battle was over,we had our first carp.

We saw plenty more that were much bigger than this but I must say that this fish put up one hell of a fight and the carp fishery has earned my respect. Fish was released healthy but might have been a little pissed off.

The trip was for bass but was happy with this catch. Ihave been fishing for almost 30years but this is my first targeted/caught carp and I will certainly give these guys a better look in the future. This trip became more memorable because my son helped me,so this is our catch to share together. I will always have the primary intention of catching bass at Silver but as an added bonus fish,I can easily add carp to the list.

I don't expect much feedback,just sharring my weekend trip. Also a big thanks to John and Chuck at Silver Lake Motel and Resort.