Volunteers Re-Open North Silver

Thanks to some hard work by members of the Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club and other volunteers, North Silver Lake will re-open to fishing this year for the first time since public access was lost in 1989.

Club members and others have installed a screen to prevent movement of fish between North Silver and Silver lakes. They have been erecting a chain link fence and creating a launch area. The club so far has paid for all of the improvements, but is asking other fly fishing clubs to help pay for additional work.

The lake will open April 29 as a fly-fishing-only water.

The biggest expense this year will be the installation of an aerator. The lake is so shallow that the only way to prevent winter kills and periodic summer dieoffs is to oxygenate the lake with an aerator.

Like Silver Lake, North Silver is scheduled for rehabilitation this fall. Some property owners along Silver Lake are still opposing the Fish and Wildlife Department’s proposal for treating the lakes with rotenone.

The main purpose of treating the lakes with rotenone is to kill massive numbers of tench. Silver will be stocked with trout and bass after it’s rehabilitated.

The department has stocked North Silver with 4,500 catchable-size rainbows and 500 broodstock rainbows. It has released 5,000 catchables and several hundred broodstock rainbows in Silver. Fly fishers will be permitted to unload their equipment at North Silver, but they’ll be required to park their vehicles in the Silver Lake public parking area across the highway from North Silver.

Wildlife agents have issued citations to several persons who have been caught fishing North Silver off the highway since the department stocked the lakes this spring.