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This report is going to be for both sat and sun the 10th and 11th.

Before I go on with the entire report I just need to get this out in the open for everyone to hear.

Winter fishing for Brown Trout at Green Lake is NOT for the faint at heart. It's definitely not easy and it's definitely not a pleasant experience. It's really cold and when the winds pick up it's freezing cold even when you have 5 + layers on. Add rain to the mix and it's just flat out miserable.

You can't just go out with the expectations of throwing a lure around for a little bit and getting into some fish. Sure it's possible that you might be in the right place at the right time but it's definitely not something you can count on. You really do need to put in a lot of time and effort into it. It really is a whole ton of hard work. You have to make more casts than you probably ever thought you would make in a given time period.

SATURDAY THE 10TH

I got to Green Lake around 11 am and met up with dresscode5 shortly after. By the time I met up with him, I had already made well over 100 - 150 casts.

In that short period of time, I had a good size brown trout follow my lure in all the way to shore and then turn away at the last minute and sort of stick around in a hunting mode. I made shore casts out past it and worked my lure in slowly. 4 casts and the same fish followed 4 times. On the 5th cast it hammered my lure out about 10 feet off of shore. I set the hook and I'm fighting it in. This fish is easily 1.5+ lbs. As it's nose is touching the shoreline grass it starts to barrel role and spits my hook. Another major disappointment. For size reference, this fish was a little bit smaller than dresscode5s big fish in his report.

After the fish got off, I switched up lures and had another brown follow my lure in to shore and turn away at the shoreline. I repeated the same method of short casts and it followed my lure in 4 different times and then just swam away uninterested. Several people have told me that they swear by kastmasters. I'm beginning to hate them and almost want to just give them away. In my personal experience, they just don't produce for me. I've spent hours and hundreds and hundreds of casts with them and have only had one follow. I guess it's just not my cup of tea or lure of choice.

On that note, I've had lures produce for me one day and then not produce for me the next. So you really do have to throw everything at them and throw it long enough to cover enough water before switching to another lure. When my go to lures were not producing I started throwing a little bit of everything.

So after meeting up with dresscode5, a couple hours have passed for meand by then I've already made well over 500 casts. We switched spots and ran into a few people that were bottom fishing that had caught a couple of rainbows. We move spots again and just start hammering the shoreline making cast after cast.

We moved back to where I originally started and about 30 minutes in or so when we're about to move, I get a hit and fish on! This time the fish was hooked good with 2 of the trebles in the lower jaw. I get it up on shore, take a couple pictures and then let her go. She came in at 16" and 1 lb 4 oz. The cool thing was that the trout was apparently tired out enough that it didn't want to swim away. It literally just stayed right in the exact same spot where I released it and hung out there for almost 10 minutes. I started to snap some pictures of it as it was resting.

The funny thing is that a man saw me holding the fish when dresscode5 was snapping a pic and told his kids he saw a guy with a fish. They didn't believe him so he pulled over and came up to me to have a chat. When he asked if I caught a fish, I pointed to it and said yeah it's still here. Told him I released it and that it hadn't swam off yet. So the man and his 2 kids got to see a beautiful brown trout up close and personal. A few seconds into it it began to slowly swim off back into the lake.

So we pick back up and just start moving spots and checking out areas that look fishy. Ryan ended up catching 2 beautiful browns that night. A nice golden brown and chunky 1 lb 15 oz and a 1 lb 5 oz. FINALLY THE CURSE HAS BEEN LIFTED! I've fished with friends at Green Lake 8 times since I started catching browns and each time I've caught and they've gotten skunked. I was ecstatic when dresscode5 finally caught one and then got a second!

But going back to the beginning of the report where I mentioned that it was a lot of hardwork. To give you an idea of how physically exhausting it is. I fished from 11 - 5 on saturday and I made well over 1000 casts to be conservative. If you're lure fishing and not just casting out with bait on the bottom, you pretty much don't have a choice. I was making cast after cast after cast without any pauses or breaks. Moved to a lot of different spots and just hammered the shoreline in every direction I could cast to.

SUNDAY THE 11TH

I got to Green Lake a bit later today as I went to bed late and woke up late. I arrived at about 1 pm and fished until about 5 pm. It's already a lot colder than saturday and to add to that, it was raining a little bit but it was windy. The wind is what was killer and made it absolutely miserable. My hands and face were painfully cold. But being as stubborn as I am, I braved through it.

I started off at some of my usual spots and was going at it cast after cast after cast. And I'm making very hard casts to get my lure out there as far as possible using both a spinning and casting set up. I moved spots and fished another spot for about an hour. During that hour I had 4 short strikes but no full takes.

Around 4:00 I am beaten, exhausted, and freezing cold. My left and right wrists are cramping up from non stop casting and reeling. I'm about to throw in the towel but am still too stubborn to willingly accept a skunk. So I start hitting spots that I don't normally fish hoping that I can locate some fish and get hooked up with one. About 30 minutes later, I finally get a hit and I set the hook. Fish on! Immediately after setting the hook, I am reeling in and I am gaining 0 line. My drag is fairly tight and I am still gaining zero line and my drag is just going off. I thought I was snagged for a second but the violent headshakes told me otherwise. So I tighten up my drag and start fighting the fish in and it is fighting extremely hard and my rod is doubled over. I thought that I had hooked into an absolute monster. However, once I get the fish close to shore, I realize that it's not a monster and it is hooked semi funny. One of the trebles was in it's right inner jaw and the other trebled is on it's gill plate. So the fish was coming in at a slight angle and I'm guessing that extra resistance is what made for a deceiving strong fight. She came in at 17" and 1 lb 6 oz.

In this short 4 hour day, I also made about another 1000 casts or so. My wrists and arms are still cramped up and sore. If you want to fish Green Lake this winter for browns, my advice to you is to dig down deep and man up. You'll have to layer up to stay as warm as possible and be able to brave some nasty weather and keep casting until your arms fall off. Good luck everyone!

First Picture is the 1-4 and 1-6. Second picture is the trout hanging out close to shore.

*Editor's Note - no pics attached. Send them to mike@washingtonlakes.com and I'll add them. Mike

gort

12/12/2011 9:47:00 AM

Glad you had some luck. I went out early Sunday morning, but got skunked. Doesn't sound like it was much warmer in the afternoon than it was in the morning. I have got to find some gloves that will keep my hands warm, but aren't too cumbersome to fish in.

Great report, Elijah!

Elijah.Loves.Fishin

12/12/2011 9:56:00 AM

thanks gort! yeah, it didn't warm up in the afternoon at all. on a side note, i find it strange that my pictures didn't attach because i saw the previews for them after uploading them, just before i submitted the report.. i'll have to send the pics when i get home from work.. :P

N E 1 FISSION

12/12/2011 11:47:00 AM

I will give it shot again, where abouts do you start at? I usually try to hit the docks, depending on winds, that always dictates where I fish, will try later, Crocs, Kastmaster, Mepps, & Blue Fox, is primarily what I use, what size do you use? as usual, always good to see you out there,..

Elijah.Loves.Fishin

12/12/2011 12:14:00 PM

@ ne1fission - i pretty much avoid the docks because they don't produce for me at all. if anything the docks are going to scare away the trout imo because it's easier to transfer over vibrations and noise from walking on the docks. plus people are usually crowding around the dock area causing commotion. i pretty much work the entire bank. if there is a windy bank i will start there and work my way around the lake. this time of the year, everything in the water looks "dead" as in brown. lots of dying vegetation with the occasional yellow and red leaves that fall in. throw lures that contrast with the environment in the water. try to stand out as much as possible. as aggressive as the browns are, i honestly believe a lot of the strikes are reaction strikes from their predatory nature rather than a need to feed.

procaster

12/12/2011 7:30:00 PM

I love fishin the lakes too, but you should hit the river. The salmon and steelhead are hard to beat, sound like you are getting used to the cold weather.

Elijah.Loves.Fishin

12/12/2011 9:27:00 PM

@ procaster - i really want to get into the salmon fishing, the steelhead especially. i just don't know any of the popular holes for steelhead and need to buy some goo jigs :P

returnofthefish

12/12/2011 9:30:00 PM

I like that you added the 1000 casts warning. With your reports, I not sure people thought it was easy and try themselves. So do you like chasing bass or browns better?

MotoBoat

12/12/2011 9:59:00 PM

That was enlightening to add into your report hours spent in the brutally cold weather, making cast after bleeping cast until your wrists cramp up. Then the constant moving. It is not easy to change lures when your fingers are numb. Not to mention bathroom difficulties with the numb fingers. I haven't had much luck with kastmasters either. There heavy weight makes for long cast. But I find them to also be snaggy in shallow shorelines. Are you seeing much in the way of increased fishing pressure around Green lake since your reports began for that lake?

MotoBoat

12/12/2011 10:08:00 PM

This sight sure has some quirkiness........still. Wrote up a semi lengthy comment. Selected submit. Comment gone!!! Like several times in the past. Back button to my comment, can't find it. Forward button, looking for the comment. Nothing, remembering it is possible to double send a comment by selecting the refresh tab. I did that several times, watching for my comment. Wouldn't you know it appeared after the 4th, 5th, or 6th press of refresh. What is going on? Pictures don't post..........I am still not used to the "new" WaLakes format/home page. Awesome post......E.L.F !!!!

Elijah.Loves.Fishin

12/12/2011 10:31:00 PM

@ returnofthefish - i definitely prefer to chase after bass for sure! but since i can't catch bass right now, i am chasing trout / anything else that i can catch until spring comes around! then it's bass on!

Elijah.Loves.Fishin

12/12/2011 10:33:00 PM

@ motoboat - thanks man! i definitely noticed that more people are attempting to fish there. i've run into several people that i'm unfamiliar with that said they recognized me from the site and thought they would try their luck as well. i have a swivel tied on the end of my line for easy and quick lure changes :)

MotoBoat

12/12/2011 10:49:00 PM

I was wondering about the use of a snap swivel You know. I have avoided the use of snap swivels, due to there making the lure longer and my thinking that could adversely affect the overall presentation of the lure. Not something your concerned about?

Elijah.Loves.Fishin

12/12/2011 10:59:00 PM

nope, as far as i'm concerned, the fish doesn't even really see the snap swivel as it's in front of the lure and they're usually chasing it from behind. plus the flash and vibration of the lure is enough to get their attention so they don't even seem to notice it in my experience.

N E 1 FISSION

12/13/2011 3:05:00 PM

I also use snap swivels, just seems to be so much easier to present a variety of looks in a short span, especially in the cold. I have been so far trout friendly at Green Lake, ;-) have not caught one, but always good to be out,..

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