North Silver Could Be Opened For Fly Fishing

North Silver Lake, once one of the most popular trout fishing lakes in the Spokane region, could be opened as a fly fishing-only lake next fall.

Terence M. McNabb of Tumwater, Wash., has agreed to permit fly fishers to launch small watercraft from the property he owns at the shallow lake, which is just east of the city of Medical Lake.

A few days ago he signed a “Public Fishing Access Agreement” with the Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club. Under the agreement, according to Boyd Matson, past IEFFC president who represented the fly fishers in negotiating with McNabb, the club will be responsible for maintaining the access area, installing a screen at the lake’s outlet, building and maintaining a chain-link fence and erecting a 20-foot-wide gate.

Bruce Smith, Spokane regional manager of the Fish and Wildlife Department, said that he will ask his agency to request the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission to schedule treatment of the lake with rotenone as soon as possible and designate the lake, in accordance with McNabb’s wishes, as a fly fishing-only water.

If the commission authorizes the rehabilitation of the lake, he said, the department will release triploid (sterilized) rainbows into the lake as soon as the water is no longer toxic.

The triploids probably would be the same as those released into Rufus Woods Lake, the big reservoir below Grand Coulee Dam. Growth rate of the triploids was so phenomenal that anglers caught some weighing more than 10 pounds. The average size early this year was about 5 pounds.

He said he suggested to fly club officers that new regulations for the lake permit the killing of one trophy-sized trout a day. The minimum length could be set at 24 or 25 inches.

“However, if fly fishers still want all trout released,” he said, “I will recommend that the department will go along with their wishes.”

Getting North Silver, which has been closed to fishing to the public for several years, back into production will take months, perhaps more than a year, Smith said. He added, though, that he is asking top department officials to start the process immediately.

First, the department will have to comply with the state Environmental Policy Act. Then, the agency will schedule a public meeting to hear from anyone interested in the lake’s proposed fish management program. If all goes well, Smith said, the state could treat the lake with rotenone next spring.

Before rotenone is used, though, a screen will be installed at the lake’s outlet to prevent unwanted species, such as perch and bass, from re-entering the lake from Silver Lake. There are numerous fish species in both North Silver and Silver lakes.

Meanwhile, Matson said, the fly club will build an 8-foot-high chain link security fence to separate the public access area from McNabb’s property. The club also will erect a 20-foot-wide gate at the entrance of his land.

The club will be responsible for maintenance of the fence and the access area. Access fees won’t be charged.

The access area will be closed for four weeks each year starting two weeks before the opening of the migratory bird hunting season with McNabb having the option of extending the closure for one week any time during the bird hunting season.

North Silver once produced excellent fishing for rainbows up to about 20 inches long, but the Fish and Wildlife Department stopped stocking the lake with trout after the property owner closed the public access area.

Gene Hackney, who built the fishing resort at West Medical Lake, opened a small resort at North Silver after he sold the West Medical resort. Later, Bill Butler, a longtime IEFFC member, operated the North Silver resort.

Because North Silver always has been rich with aquatic life, fish have grown fast. Rainbows planted as 2- to 3-inch fry in April or May grew to 10 or more inches late each fall. Two-year-old trout were deep-bodied and 14 to 16 inches long.

Numerous Eastern Washington lakes, many of them privately owned, have been planted with sterile trout the last few years. Because they don’t have to undergo the rigors of spawning cycles, sterile fish live longer than non-sterile trout and become trophy-sized after three or four years.

The best-known lake in the Spokane area that’s been planted with sterile trout is Amber, a selective-gear lake. The fly club has been paying for the purchasing and planting of sterile rainbows in the lake. Members hope that the sterile fish that haven’t been killed by anglers will be more than 20 inches long.

A few hundred triploid rainbows were released into Aenaes Lake, a fly fishing-only lake south of Tonasket, Wash., after the lake was treated with rotenone a year ago. Fly fishers were catching 14- to 16-inch-long trout just before the lake was closed to fishing Sept. 30.

Quail Lake, a fly fishing-only, catch-and-release lake on the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge about 5 miles north of Othello, Wash., was treated with rotenone recently and will be planted with sterile rainbows.