Marka Stewart

DAY THREE – SILVER LAKE… AND THE STUMP

We decided to head over to Silver Lake the next morning. Parking lot was pretty empty so parking the boat trailer was a breeze. The wind started out ok, but wound up being a bit brutal, and then there were the stumps. Oh, the stumps. Submerged just enough – maybe 6 inches of water over top of them – that you couldn’t see them with the water stirred up the way it was. We found a big one the hard way. Enough said. BTW – The boat or motor didn’t get damaged, darn lucky.

Despite the chaos, we worked our way around the lake and actually picked up a couple of fish – nothing to write home about in terms of size, but decent enough to keep spirits up. We spent the rest of the time mostly exploring the lake. There were a LOT of carp so we will head back with our bows and have some fun.

DAY FOUR – RIFFE LAKE AND THE PARAGLIDERS

Next up was RIFFE, and yes – more wind. RIFFE was windy. But that’s where we witnessed something genuinely cool that we didn’t expect: paragliders. They were launching right from the shore, getting pulled by a boat up to what had to be at least five or six hundred feet in the air, and then gliding all the way back down to land right on the beach. Honestly, one of the unexpected highlights of the whole trip so far.

After the paragliders, we checked out some coves, threw some lines in, and came up empty. We looked at each other and that was all it took – we were done with RIFFE and the other two lakes. The decision was made: we were going to Potholes.

The logistics had to line up perfectly, and somehow they did. We cancelled our remaining nights at Ike Kinswa State Park and scored 5 consecutive days at Potholes – there were only three spots to choose from and landed on Spot Two, which turned out to be a solid pick. Got there, set up camp, and got ready to get after it.