Silver Creek Res...

[CrappieJohn]

Every year we see posting about Silver Creek Reservoir and why it is posted as no fishing or hunting. I got the scoop from Gary Neumann, a city administrator who was directly involved with the land acquisition process for the flood control project.

When it was determined that this site was the one needed to place a control dam, the joint powers committee ( corps. of engineers, city of Rochester, dnr) approached the township to gain access to the land. The township had a problem with the wording in the agreement regarding usage of the land. It finally boiled down to the JP's having to agree to signing into this with the stipulation that the land usage be ONLY for water storage and allow no other kind of use such as fishing. Thus the posting. If anyone sees people fishing there, they are in violation of the law and can be arrested. Just a heads up.

I asked Neumann if there was a chance that the usage be expanded to include fishing and he offered no encouragement as far as what the city will(can) do. The dnr is so short of funding that it would be a long shot to get them involved. Forget the corps. Neuman did say that if people, interested with the idea of expanding this as a recreation area for fishing, approached the township board at a regular meeting it would be a viable place to start.

If any one would like to approach this topic from that venue, they can contact me and we can kick around some ideas about how this should be approached. I think that this is the only way to begin to see some change in how the dnr dollars that we supplied, and supported with our tax monies collected thru 1/2 cent sales tax, have been applied and in a way that does not serve us. If I am not mistaken, the whole affair with this flood controlproblem was a community effort. Basically I think that we have been hogtied by a township board and their selfish interests. I'd like to see this, and all other reservoirs in this system, get opened up for use or see the township repay the tax and dnr money that went into this. What ever happened to emininent domain? If they can strip people of their legal ownership of propery to build a hiway they sure as heck ought to be able to claim this fallow land as being necessary for the flood control and eliminate this chokehold on sportsmen.

[neusbaum]

Politics prevent me from responding factually to the Silver Creek issue, but I can tell you there is alot more to this story than is posted here.

[CrappieJohn]

Nes....I'm quite certain there is. It's a shame that politics can get in the way of the matter though.

[carlcmc]

which one is silver creek resevior? is that the large lake that is northeast of town?

[CrappieJohn]

That would be the one Cral if you are going north on Co.Rd.11 from Co.Rd.9 and looking to your right.

[carlcmc]

Do you hypothetically know anyone that has fished it? I would imagine with little activity it would not have any gunshy fish.

But the bottom line is that is illegal to fish it? Illegal as in trespass or illegal as in revocation of fishing licence and equipment? Is it possible to get permission from surrounding landowners?

It would be fun to take the kids out there in the spring and do some catch and release with active biting fish.

[CrappieJohn]

Carl.....No Trespassing leaves few hypothetical avenues to investigate. The way I interpret the signs is " keep your butt out". But then it is your buck and your name in the paper. Your fishing priviledges would not be revoked most likely since this is not a game or fish issue, but one of flatly breaking the law.

As for the catch and release....there is a very small feeder creek on the gravel road south of this reservoir. You can tell where it is by the floats adorning the powewr lines. People fish here, but I cannot imagine what they would catch with the little bit of water that runs in it.

[Down to Earth]

Not that I have interest in fishing this body of water, but I have investigated this body of water a bit, and in years past the way the writing was in the fishing regs, I believe there was true legal access to this body of water( not the land around it) from the creek Tom mentions, but the wording of the tresspass law this year has changed from years past in the fishing regs. I won't expand any more on my thoughts and interpretations unless asked as I'm not a lawyer and have not investigated my theory enough and do not want to encourage anyone to break the law. In all honesty to the best of my knowledge the body of water has never been stocked. True there may be some fish in there, but to be honest I'd rather fish other bodies of water in the area with established fisheries. There are plenty of those to keep me busy without trying stir up a hornets nest out there. Besides, hopefully if all goes well we will be having a new park with some sort of fishery(I hope) when the Highway 52 project is done as I believe there is suppose to be some type of park development for the ponds south of Hwy 14 just West of 52. I believe right now they are calling it the Cascade Lake Development. Am I right on that Tom?

Andy

[Dan Thiem]

Andy---a.k.a. Manor pits/Dewitz Lake. But growing up in the Manor in the '60's and '70's I prefer to call 'em the Manor Pits. Lots of good stories there!

[CrappieJohn]

Andy....As Dan has stated, these are commonly called the Manor pits or the country club pits and they are already fishable. Legally.

There are two pits in the cluster that will give up some dandy fishing. The largest one gets the most attention and, in my opinion, has the most consistant fishing. If you look at all of the housing developement out there with water in close proximitry, that water would likely be the larger pit. The other lies immediately behind the Mayo parking lot. This pit has some awfully nice fish in it, BUT. I do not trust ice on this one. I went there one day two years ago about 7 in the morning. I left at 11 that morning. When I went out, two guys were just heading out across that first pit to what is called the "narrows" on the east end. When I came off thie ice from the big pit and came back to the truck, these guys were just then coming off too and had nothing but a horror story of how the ice had given out from under them and they went thru....not once but twice! It seems that we had had some cold weather and the ice had set well enough that for a couple back to back days these guys were able to get to the narrows no sweat, but we had a warmup and that got some springs fired up and it eroded the ice from underneath and with snow on the ice they could not see this happen or where. That body of water can change very quickly as these two guys found out. I simply will not venture out onto it because of the spring activity.

The CC pits are probably going to see me hanging around pretty quick...as in maybe Sunday afternoon or one daynext week.

[MURPHFISHER]

Hey Crappie, I have never fished the pits. How deep do they get?

[CrappieJohn]

That I cannot honestly say. Where I fish the water is generally 11 to 15 feet in one spot and slightly deeper in another. I do not think the water gets as deep as some of the spots in Foster.

[Born2Fish]

What kind of fish are found there? I've heard of lots of people fishing that area but never of what they were catching.

[Dan Thiem]

Hey Murph,

The main pit max depth is 15'. If you are standing on the penninsula facing east(looking towards Roch)there is some good crappie fishing right off that point. Also alot of sunnies. Mostly spring bobber and a waxie on a teardrop jig works pretty good.

From my growing up spending every day, summer and winter on that lake getting chased out by the cops countless times. I have seen years when crappies would get just huge. Amd other years it seemed like they were stunted.

Also you should know about the springs on the south side. They run all along it. Be very carefull up there.

There is also alot of BIG BASS in there.

Parking now is more of an issue than it used to be. Lately we have been driving on the road that goes along the north side of the lake and that'll take ya down to a dead end. It's like the last house on the right. You can get down the bank along a trail there. If you find the spot you should be straight across(just north)of the penninsula.

My brother and I are gonna be out there sunday afternoon, I'll let everyone know how we did.

[MURPHFISHER]

Thanks Dan. How deep does Fosters get? It is so cold tonight there better be 10" of ICE for me to feel safe on Jan 2nd. Are you going to make it to CT's clean-up and fish? I do not have any ice fishing gear. Will an ultra light rig work?

Any word about Mac's?

[CrappieJohn]

Murph....There are some pockets of deeper water in Fosters, But the fish are usually not in those during the winter months. Most people get their fish in Foster at less than twenty feet.

The ice on Foster is clear and hard. With this shot of re-enforcing cold air this week, you will not have to worry about ice.

As for tackle, a short ultralight will work great. I made a four footer that is only used on Foster. The longer rod will get you away from the hole a bit and much less likely to spook the fish with the clear ice.

[CrappieJohn]

Born....Sorry I missed your post this morning. There are crappies, sunfish and some bass there. Of course you'll find a few rough fish in there too, but we don't mention those much.