Silver's perch were SLOW yesterday and were even SLOWER today. We arrived at the lake at our usual 7:30 start time. Motor1 had Jim with him, a gentlemen I've seen slay perch before! Stan showed up about 8:00.....he's been known to knock em silly at times, too.

While the rest of us felt more comfortable on the gray, thicker ice, Stan headed straight out to the area where we've been nailing them for several weeks, in 40' of water. The ice is down to 3" there, but he made it OK. Motor1 and Jim fished just east of the buoy in 25' of water. I fished to the south of them, directly off the red boat house in 36' of water. After 45 minutes and lots of yelling back and forth, it was obvious the morning bite was not going to materialize in earnest. Everyone got a fish or two early, but mostly we received light bumps and taps that were near impossible to hook up on. When Stan came off the "honey hole" with only 1 fish, I knew we were in trouble!

At about 9:30, Motor1 and I each located a hole that held some fish. Still, they were not biting good at all, and hook-ups were few and far between. It was the lightest bite I've experienced at Silver all winter. I was only hooking up on every fifth or sixth take.

I had to leave at 10:30 with only a half dozen keepers, "mini-jumbos" as well call them, fish in the 8-9" range. Being that I was in shallower water than normal, I was able to release another half dozen smaller, uninjured fish. Motor1 had a dozen or so and the other guys each had a few.

Any day spent fishing is a good day though, especially when it's spent with Motor1 and the other fellas I've met this year. My days in WA are numbered, but I will make the most of them!

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