It has been my experience in the past that silvers are a fish that definetley go on "the bite". There may be hords of them in a particular place in the river or out in the sound. They may be jumping all around doing cartwheels on the surface of the water getting rid of sea lice, or ripping wakes on the surface chasing their fellow fish around. Times like that I like to sit back and just appreciate and take in all the wonders of salmon. Because surely there will be a bite at some point in the day. Maybe only for a few minutes or maybe an hour, or maybe spurratic throughout the day. But one thing I always remember, stick to the one thing that always guarentees a catch when the bite does happen. I see many fishermen make the mistake of changing lures when the fish aren't biting. Then when the bite happens, they are left without a fish.
We know from peoples posts in this forum what people use to catch silvers. I think the most popular is the dick-nite spoon. VERY small dick-nites I might add. I've caught them mainly from a boat using dick-nites. Just free drifted in the current with a split-shot about 6 ft. up the line. Just let out alot of line and use your fish-finder to find an area where they are stacked up. Give yourself alot of room upriver from them to let your dick-nite get down. OR if your in a tidal area of the river during slack, troll them slowly back and forth where the fish are gathered. Its amazing how hard they will hit a little spoon! Its been my experience that casting dick-nites from the bank doesn't work simply because its very difficult to get the spoon down to the fish and present it the right way.
My next favorite method is trolling steelie wiggle-warts. Just tie one of these suckers on your line, cast it behind your boat and troll it through an area of the river where fish are stacked against the bottom. This is a big producer when the bites on. Troll the plugs about 5 ft above the fish and make sure your drag is loose because the bite is going to be viscous.
And for those folks casting from the shore. My favorite lure of choice is the super-vibrax spinner in chartruese or blue. The key here is getting the spinner down. I usually cast is out, let is settle to the bottom and then retrieve fast. As the lure approaches, slow down and let it flutter, maybe let it flutter almost to the bottom, its been my experience when the lure flutters they will SLAM it.
Anyway, goodluck and tight lines.
