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Let friend Pete choose which area we would fish today... he chose the 65th St. dock. Arrived at 6:45, Pete and another fisherman (Eric) already on the dock... joined them and had lines in the water by 7:00... still a bit dark, but lightening up slowly. Air temp a chilly 45 degrees, water temp off the dock at 8' was 50 degrees. Started out with nightcrawlers on one rig (hoping to entice a Brown), Power Eggs and shrimp on the other rig. Fishing was slow all morning. Eric caught one early, then a fellow named Aaron showed up and caught a couple... by 9:00 the dock had no less than thirteen rods fishing off it... elbow to elbow fishing for sure! Pete and I both had bites on the nightcrawlers, but the fish were just nibbling, not taking the bait aggressively. A little after nine I had a hook-up, but the fish let go a ways out, then about 9:30 I had a solid hit and what felt like a big fish... took line off my reel, then I could feel some sort of snag rubbing on my line, perhaps some kind of cable or something similar in the lake and my leader was cut off... fish 1, me 0 (both hook-up were on PE and shrimp). About 10:00, my first fish came in, a beautiful 15" Rainbow (PE & shrimp). I know I use the word "beautiful" a lot to describe these fish, but how can you not! They really are magnificent creatures, and their winter coloration is gorgeous. A period of two hours more with no bites, and Pete left at noon. In the next hour, Aaron limited out, fellow WA Laker jonb came by and we chatted, several more fishermen visited the dock... at 1:30 I still had only the one fish. I was experimenting all day with varying lengths of leader... various bait combinations... finally I hit on the winning ticket... the fish wanted shrimp, fished on the bottom, with no flotation... just flat on the bottom. Once I figured that out, it was "game over". From 2:00 to 3:30, I must have had a dozen hits, and landed four more Rainbows, one 12", one 13" and two more at 15". The fish were biting extremely lightly, many coming off the hook while reeling them in, two fell off the hook in the net.

I counted a total of sixteen fishermen who used the dock during the course of the day, some only staying for a brief time before moving on. Beside Aaron's limit and mine, saw only three other fish caught. Lots of fishermen out today, on what was a really gorgeous Northwest Fall day... a bit chilly, especially in the afternoon when the wind picked up out of the southeast, but none of the forecast showers. Can't think of a better way to spend a Fall Saturday then to enjoy fellow fishermen and all of Creation. Oh, by the way, "Go SEAHAWKS!!!" PTL! (Last pic, great fillets ready for the brine and then the smoker).

jonb

12/1/2013 7:16:00 PM

It was nice chatting with you! Nice job on the limit.

Diamonddave

12/2/2013 12:26:00 AM

Nice day at the dock! I didn't know trout would hit shrimp thanks for the report!

drsafl17

12/2/2013 12:54:00 PM

Stansjoy, your account of the day really sums up what it means to have a great day of fishing! By the way, your rainbows have really deep colored meat. I caught one out of there that was like that too. Also, it did taste like salmon too. Is it due to their diet in Green Lake?

N E 1 FISSION

12/2/2013 3:19:00 PM

As usual, nice going, great read always as well as pics!! Will try one of these days to head down there

KarlosDanger

12/4/2013 2:16:00 PM

Do you often find freshwater shrimp (scuds) in the fish's guts?

Stansjoy

12/4/2013 8:42:00 PM

drsafl17... What I have been told, is that when the trout have been in a lake for a while their diet of insects, forage fish, etc. means that they are ingesting a lot of protein and that makes their flesh redden up. At the hatchery they are getting a processed diet that contains a lot of bone meal, I believe!? Karlos... I don't believe that there are fresh water shrimp in Green Lake... have never seen them. Mostly what I observe in the Rainbow's stomachs is vegetation of some sort... they eat a lot of plankton like material. All trout will hit on shrimpmeat... seems they like it more when the water cools off.

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