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A verrry interesting day at Green Lake. My friend Pete and I had decided to target Green Lake in the hopes that the Rainbows will have started to bite. A phone call at 5:00 AM from Pete informed me that he would be unable to fish because his little dog, Oreo, needed emergency surgery. Been a difficult month for Pete and his wife, Cherie, as she had surgery last month and the doctors seem unable to control a post-operation infection. Thoughts and prayers go out to them.
I decided to go to the lake anyway, and headed for the 65th St. pier. Arrived about 7:00 AM, temp at 53 degrees, cloudy with virtually no breeze. Water temp off the pier at 10' was 64 degrees. Lines in the water by 7:15, had fl. orange Power Eggs on one rig, chartreuse PE on the other, both with 4' leaders. About ten minutes in, tap, tap, tap on the fl. orange but no hook-up. About 8:30, my rod tip began doing the Rainbow boogie woogie and I reeled in a beautiful, feisty 12" Rainbow. Three more were to follow, spaced throughout the day, the last at about 4:00 PM. These were all silver bright, feisty fish, leaping out of the water 4 or 5 times before coming to the net. Four beautiful Rainbows from 12" to nearly 13". Early on I had tried fishing worms and reeled in a half dozen small LMB, so I stayed with the PE.
I hadn't seen any other fishermen at the lake, until 11:00 when a "strange" fellow showed up. During the morning hours I had noticed hundreds upon hundreds of small, 6" to 8", LMB stacked beneath the pier and in the shallows, near the shoreline. This fellow asked me if I had noticed any LMB , and when I replied in the affirmative, he became very excited. He dumped his white bucket on the pier, put a piece of worm on his hook, sat on the bucket and proceeded, over the next four hours to catch upwards of 80 small LMB and several perch. He made it known to anyone who came onto the pier, that he was selling his catch for $1.00 per lb. In fact, later in the afternoon he actually left the pier to bring potential "customers" to see his catch! He finally left at 3:00, saying he was going to walk around the lake to sell his fish!!!
About noon, two more fishermen showed up on the pier. They were fishing with worms and one of them landed a beautifully colored 16 1/2" triploid. Perhaps the trout want worms now, said I, so I changed up one of my rigs to fish worms. About fifteen minutes later, had a hard hit, and was shocked to find I had hooked a 14" Channel Catfish! Threw another worm out, and brought in a 12" Channel Cat... first time ever landing that species of fish!
Not "red-hot" fishing, but left the lake about 4:00, with four nice Rainbows and two Channel Catfish. As an old fisherman friend from Alaska used to say, "Better than a kick in the rear with a frozen Mukluk"... PTL!

bdrlgion

10/15/2014 6:26:00 PM

Dude, call WDFW next time.

goodtimesfishing

10/15/2014 7:56:00 PM

Always enjoy reading your reports! Sorry to here about the "strange" fellow.....disappointing, but sounds like you had a great day fishing!

Stansjoy

10/15/2014 9:01:00 PM

bdrlgion... I know, I thought about it! Problem is, he hadn't done anything illegal... no size or possession limits on perch or LMB at Green Lake, and no law broken in talking about selling the fish... got the poaching hotline # in my cell, so I am ready to act, just have to see the law being broken! PTL!

hewesfisher

10/16/2014 7:21:00 AM

Stan you need to re-read the regs. Since Green Lake is NOT listed in the Westside Special Rules section, statewide rules apply. ;-)

From pg 17:
"LARGEMOUTH BASS (See DOH advisory, page 20)
No min. size. Only LARGEMOUTH BASS less than 12" may be retained, except 1 over 17" may be retained. Daily limit 5. Bass may be caught, retained, and released alive from a livewell until a daily limit is in possession.

SMALLMOUTH BASS (See DOH advisory, page 20)
No min. size. Only 1 SMALLMOUTH BASS over 14" may be retained. Daily limit 10. Bass may be caught, retained, and released alive from a livewell until a daily limit is in possession."

The "strange fellow" was most definitely violating the rules AND it is illegal to sell your catch, from pg 12:
"You may not offer any recreationally-caught fish or shellfish for sale or barter. In order to buy, sell, or possess steelhead, sea-run cutthroat, or Dolly Varden/bull trout lawfully taken by a treaty Indian member: the fish must be accompanied by a written statement showing taker’s name,
address, tribal affiliation, and treaty fish identification card number, number of fish, date, and location where taken. This rule does not apply to treaty members nor to Game Fish purchased from a fish buyer licensed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife."

Glad you had a good day catching, but if you see the "strange" fellow again, and he repeats his behavior, do us all a favor and make that call! :-)

Stansjoy

10/16/2014 9:26:00 AM

hewesfisher... I stand corrected! Thank you. I pride myself in knowing the regs... totally missed on that one! I knew "no min size", totally missed on the daily limit issue! Again, thanks... will use the hotline # next time! PTL!

mickeybland

10/17/2014 7:57:00 PM

Nice lookin trout but its also good to seesome catfish, I bet there are some monsters in there. good catch man

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