Skunked for the last time at Silverwood on Labor Day

[1Skunked]

Hello everyone, I'm a newbie on this site, but have read a lot of information. I have fished all my life even though not very much in regularity. Recently, I have been reading a lot and fishing often trying a couple of lakes, with not much success. I grew up in Chino Hills, so about a month ago I thought I would try Prado, since I know the lake, from living nearby. Went early in the morning, caught nothing.....There were dead LMB, Catfish and thousands of shad floating around, so needless to say I'm done with that place. So a few weeks later I thought I would give Silverwood a try for a few different reasons. 1. They don't charge for fishing like almost every other place does. 2. It's in relative proximity to my current residence. 3. I haven't been there since I was a kid, and enjoyed it back then. But to my dismay, the first trip was not so good. I got there at about 7 a.m, first went to the marina parking lot didn't like the look of the fishing spots there, so I headed to Cleghorn. Spent half the day there didn't even get a bite, all I caught was nothing but algae LOL! So my father and I headed out to go to the dam, did some fishing there for a couple of hours, once again nothing for me. My father is an avid fisherman and I like to think he knows his stuff, which he does. He caught a tiny LMB, with a spinner behind a bobber. We tried everything Anchovies, topwater, cranks, plastics.....Nothing. So we called it a day since it was 100 degrees and headed out. But I was determined to catch something so on labor day I had a choice of either going back to the Wood, or DVL. I chose Silverwood one last time, and this time got there as soon as they opened, to beat the crowds. Tried to go the other canyon (I don't know the name) across from cleghorn, but the park staff had the road to that side blocked off for whatever reason. So, back to Cleghorn, this time I was even more prepared than the first; I had anchovies, garlic worms, stinkbait, as well as all the other tackle. When I showed up to parking lot 6 it was just me and one other person. He was off by the dock and his pole was going crazy so I ran 100 yards down the bank, grabbed his pole before it got pulled into the water and set the hook, then started yelling at him to get back here. He hurried back and brought it a pretty decent size cat. So, I went back to where I was set and continued on...I had 2 poles one with garlic worms on the bottom, and the other for plastics, and topwater. Once again nothing. I asked the other guy what he was using, he told me "shrimp and marshmallows, and he gave me some. I geared up a pole with a piece of shrimp and a marshmallow and almost instantly on the first cast with it on the bottom, I got a sharp hit, then nothing....and nothing to follow all the way till about 12 in which I had enough of catching nothing but algae. The algae around the lake is absolutely horrendous, obv fishing from the shore is not an option anymore, guess you gotta have a boat for that lake. Not to mention, I know it was labor day...that's why I got there as early as possible, but there were morons speeding into Cleghorn on seadoos and jet boats literally 25 to 30 feet offshore, right over my line. That's when I said I've had enough, gave the rest of my bait to another guy fishing, told him "hope you have better luck than me" and bailed out of there. You should have seen the circus when I left that place. When i got to the lake there was no one at cleghorn, when i left there were people parking in the bushes, there were people parking as far as the lookout viewpoint on the 138 walking with ice chests and so on and so forth just to get into the lake LOL. So to sum it up, Silverwood has skunked me over and over, I'm done with that algae and the shallows of shore fishing, but for anyone else who goes there and cast from shore good luck, All i've done is lose good lures and countless hooks, the only thing I have caught was a buzz from the beer i brought. : )

Thx for reading this and letting me vent.............1Skunked

[qbi2001]

Silverwood can be a great fishery,2 years ago it was common to get a striper limit almost every outing. This is the worst year I can remember at silverwood, and the weeds are rediculous.The only thing I've caught this season are catfish. With the weather getting colder I don't expect much of a striper season. Watch the posts and when they start hitting its a great lake. To avoid alot of the weeds try some of the points, they are better but you need to hike in a bit.

[seal]

It's all about timing at the Wood. I was there also on Labor Day in the afternoon, couldn't get into the parking lot until after 5:00pm due to parking being filled up. Labor Day is the absolutely WORSE day you could ever plan on going to Silverwood, worse than the 4th or Memorial. I went knowing that and just can't stay away from my favorite lake. But the good news is, now the crowds are gone, the fish should want to fatten up on all the bait in the water, algae and weedbeds should die off, oh and did I mention the crowds should be gone!!!!!

I love fishing the Wood in the evenings during the week, topwater has been way slow this year for me except on LMB's, the stripers have been a no show in Cleghorn and from my discussions with the Ranger the boils haven't really shown up anywhere in quantity on the lake so far this season.

[Deyymonayy]

Going fishing at silverwood on labor day? man, thats crazy. I have attempted to fish Lake Silverwood a whopping four times and all but once was I skunked, Silverwood is too far for me to drive for a skunk considering I am about twenty minutes from perris and several other small lakes. I had luck once in Cleghorn with powerbait and my family and I only managed four trout, my sister landed a nice four pounder and my dad and I got one or two that were about a pound. If anyone on here has this lake dialed in, I would love to meet up and learn some techniques...

[1Skunked]

LOL @ seal. Yeah i know man, i know about the crowds being that it was labor day, but I was so itching to fish, thats why I got there at 6 am sharp. The crowd was definitely ridiculous, I went in knowing that, but maybe when the algae disappears or I get out on our boat i'll go back. : )

[GREENSTINKYFEET]

Yeah thats fishing. At least you didnt have $250,000 invested in a yacht and spend alot of time on the ocean and not get any albacore. It happens! Find one or two species that you want to target and learn how to fish them well. Alot of us started out catching stocker trout and moved onto largemouth bass, stripers, ocean fishing etc. Fishing is an art form and you have the rest of your life to develop it. Try joining a loocal bass club as a non boater. Getting skunked happens to all fishermen regardless if they aknowledge it or not. Persistence!!!!