Met friend Pete at lake and went to 65th St. pier, arrived at 5:45 AM. Temperature was 64 degrees and steadily rose as the sun came up... water temp. was 72 degrees at 10'. I went with Power Eggs, Pete put same on one line, worms on another. Right away, Pete was into fish!... Sculpins... I think he caught a bazillion of the things! As for trout, nada! Saw one fisherman land a nice trout from shore, about 50 yards north of pier, about 6:30 AM. Lake was very placid for first two hours, saw lots of very large trout rise and splash all over the lake. About 8:00 a stout breeze began to blow from the north and stayed with us until we left. About 8:30, Pete, still playing with worms, caught a nice Rock Bass. Had a couple of subtle bites on the Power Eggs, but nothing until about 11:00, my line went taunt and caught the only trout of the day, a very bright, chunky Rainbow of 12". We left at 1:00 PM.
Was great to watch the hundreds and hundreds of people who come out to enjoy this unique lake in the middle of Seattle. Joggers, walkers, runners, skaters, swimmers, boaters and fishermen/women, families with lots of children playing in the sun.. Great to see several dads doing their best to introduce their kids to the wonderful world of fishing.
This was my first trip To Green Lake in about 50 years. I grew up only a mile from the lake and this is where I learned to love fishing. My earliest memory of being at Green Lake was when my older cousin, Stephen, would come to the house to get me and we would walk to the lake and fish near what was then, the Aqua Theater. I was perhaps 9 or 10 at the time. I remember that we were fishing from the bank just west of the theater, Stephen, being older and trusted with a knife, had cut willow forked sticks with which to prop up our rods... being a bit bored, we had gone off to play on the grass, only to return and find that his rod and reel were gone. The forked stick was laying on the ground, with only a tell-tale track in the mud leading off into the lake... we waded in the shallows as far as we could, and never did find his rod. From that time forward, I've never left my fishing rod unsecured. When I turned twelve, I was old enough to bike or walk to the lake myself and I spent day after day during the summer honing my skills. For my 13th birthday I received the Holy Grail of fishing reels, the Mitchell 300! Those were the days of 49 cent Golden Nuggets or Mike's Cheese eggs, or, if you went all out, 69 cent Pautzke's Balls 'O Fire. My Dad was into salmon fishing, didn't care much for trout, "not enough meat on 'em", and was frugal besides... so a 5000 yard spool of 20# test from Chubby & Tubby for $1.99 was the line of choice for any fishing reel in the house. I had a J.C. Higgins spin-cast reel that someone had given to Dad. It had an oscillating "finger" that was supposed to put the line neatly on the spool, but if I took my eye off it for a second, it would pile the line in front of the spool, or behind it. I would start the day with 100 yards of line, and end it with 20... try cutting 20# mono with your teeth! Once when I was fishing off the old "T" dock, a duck grabbed my worm which was under a bobber and took off flying. For 20 minutes or more I was flying a duck like a gas-powered model airplane on a cable... remember, 20# mono! Some courageous adult finally corralled the duck and set it free. There were many days I fished from sun-up to sun-set, without so much as a bite... but I kept coming back. After awhile I began to bring a stringer of fish home... the limit when I started was 20 fish, then 16... but most were 6" to 7", a monster was 12" long.
I have fished in hundreds of lakes and streams, but this lake has a special place in my heart. Now that I've moved back in the area, I'll be back many, many more times. PTL!

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