WSFR Rivers Reports (Green) - http://www.nwfishing.com





	Needs overview, submit your overview here. Current Conditions - Graph format of flow rates of the Green near Palmer from the USGS Current Conditions - Graph format of the Green River Basin from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Current Conditions - Graph format of flow rates of the Green at Tukwila from the USGS

	Mar. 14, 2001 Thanks to: Kevin Mann Decided to hit the Green one last time after work Wednesday before it closed on March 15th. When me & my buddy Fred got there it was packed with afternoon fisherman & nobody had touched a thing all day. Fred & I started fishing at about 4:30 PM & we hit a total of five native steelhead in an hour of fishing. All of the fish over fifteen pounds & releasing them all. So on Thursday I decided to go again since it closed on Friday & I hit eight fish in a matter of a three hour period ranging from fifteen to twenty pounds & getting my but whipped by one that was twenty five if it weighed an ounce. Fishing with an 1141 Loomis with eight & six you don't have much on a brute like that. So all in all it was a decent day of fishing since the water has been so low & clear. March 14, 2001 Thanks to: David Majerus For as long as I can remember, all I have ever heard about the Green was how bad the fishing was year after year with an occasional story of a nice rainbow or steelhead caught on some unheard of lure or technique. I've fished it since the age of 14 and have yet to have a bad year fishing strictly for rainbows. I had occasionally fished for steelhead but didn't really know what I was doing. But after a little research and tips and tricks I picked up talking with the BSers on the river through the years, and sorting out what was worth trying, I felt I should take a real shot at strickly Steelhead fishing while I had time off from work. So never having caught a steelhead before I switched to fishing mode for the next three weeks. Day one, fishing high up the river in very low water, (cause everyone thinks low water is bad for steelhead, which meant I would be fishing alone)(LOW WATER SYNDROME) I rigged eggs (frozen then cured in fact) on a float on 8-lb. [test], right off the bottom for my first choice. Feeling special in my new waders I casted up from a boulder and drifted into the tailout, my bobber shot under to my amazement, so I paused a sec and set the hook. A couple nice pumps and I new I had my first chromie. A nice fight and a minute later I snapped a picture of a nice 5-lb. summer hen. Stoked, but unwitnessed by my fishing buddy who was running late I took a seat for 5 minutes and let the hole cool down. Rebaited, adjusted my slip bobber and tossed it out. Same spot again the bobber left my sight. At that moment my buddy walked up, who is also a steelhead virgin, and I set the hook, only this time it was a true fighter. 5-10 minutes later I finally got him to shore, grabbed the camera. A chrome bright 9-lb. winter buck filled the lens this time as I snapped the shutter. I couldn't believe it and my buddy couldn't believe it was my second fish in 2 casts, and that I caught a steelhead at all. That was just loading the ammo for the battles I was going to encounter these next three weeks. Being on the river almost everyday let me perfect my technique, depth speed of drift, that crap. But by the end of the 3 weeks and 15 fish, with pictures under my belt, it was obvious that they liked the eggs less and less and liked jigs more and more. Finally, after 2 consecutive days with 3 fish a day, they convinced me that jigs are the only way to go. Well, at least for the winter run fish. Most of the fish I hooked were natives with an occassional hatchery fish. And most of the fish averaged 7-9 lbs. with my bonus fattie that tipped the scale at over 11. And on the 14th of March I hooked an 18+ pounder that jumped twice and then came off just below the hatchery. That would have been nice. But my damn girlfriend on her first try hooked a chrome bright 13+ pounder on her first cast with an orange rooster. It was so fresh it still had lice on it. Figures huh? So all I can say is that the Green River is no good, don't waste your time fishing it. please. Check out the pics if you would like too. http://hometown.aol.com/flyfishnfreak Feb. 11, 2001 Thanks to: jason miller Me and my cousin were on the water at 5:30am, had to beat the crowd. Drifted from Whitney bridge down to takeout at the meat market. It was a very cold clear morning with the temp. into the mid 20's. The water was gin clear and running at about 717 fps. Fished the first 3 hours without a bite, then suddenly like a train wreck she hit me hard, she burst from the frigid water like a dolphin jumping for joy. My first real experience from a big nate. After the 15-20 minute battle, I finally got a good luck at her beside the boat. This is when my throat sank into my gut's, I knew she was very high teens, maybe 20+. She had enough fight left in her for another 10 minutes or so but time was of the importance to me, had to get her unhooked and back home. There was still sea lice on her, what a fresh BIG native. I had just enough time for a picture or two and spent the next 8 minutes with my hand's in that iceberg water and off she went. After doing the math for circumference x length, she hit the 20 lb. mark. I will never forget this day, I am in the 20 lb. class, YES! Jan. 26, 2001 Thanks to: Robert Billedo Well, this was the last shot for me on the green and if I didn't hook onto any this time, I figured better wait for the saltwater opener for blackmouth. With the water level low and gin clear, fished it from Flaming Geiser all the way down to Auburn Golf course and only had one hit that day. I'm thinking it might have been a white fish. Met a lot of other people and were asking if I had done any good, but couldn't give them a good report. Did see a lot of white fish caught. Still using small and light summer gear. At least I did get my share of fish this season but is slow. Jan. 12, 2001 Thanks to: Rick Davidson Fished at hatchery from Kanasket State Park side. Water temp was 42, flow was dropping from 700 to 600cfs. Floated eggs, with piece each of orange and pink yarn, about 5' under dink float behind large rock in middle of river. Got 1 hen and 1 buck by 8:15 AM. Jan. 7, 2000 Thanks to: Aaron Ellifritt Well I was fishing above highway 18 across the strawberry fields. I fished for about two hours. There were about 6 guys spread out among differnt holes a long the stretch. No one caught a thing. I did see about three fish roll though. I ended up moving up to Metzer Park. I fished the rest of the day with no luck at all. I did manage to see a nice hen about 9 lbs. caught. It was taken on a hot orange spin and glow #12 with hot orange yarn. Jan. 2,2001 Thanks to: Jason Miller It all started on the 2nd of January. I had just got a new Loomis for Christmas and just had to try it out. I planned on going just below Soos Creek because of earlier reports of fish being caught in and around the Main st. hole in Auburn. A new pole, new reel and fresh-tied Gamakatsu hooks tipped with pink and white yarn and shrimp oil. It didn't take long for the first one to strike, I believe it was only about the 9th or 10th cast into this sweet bank cut slot when she hit, wammo! After making three incredible leaps of glory and about 10 barrel rolls she finally gave in. What a nice healthy hatchery fish, all of 12 lbs. I fished the remaining slot to find myself hooking into another brute that definitely didn't wan't to be caught, obviously that one got away. What a way to bring in the new year! Dec. 17, 2000 Thanks to: Luke Miller Got out to the Green for the first time this year. I kept hoping that the river would get higher but it didn't. Usually I like to fish it in the winter around 700-1100 cf. Sunday it was running at around 350 cf. I decided I couldn't wait any longer, I had to get out on the river. The water was low of course and clear. I was fishing below Kanasket Palmer in some holes I like fish. With no luck at the first hole, I went to the next. On my third cast using only eggs with 8lb line and #4 hook, I hooked into a nice chrome bright buck. It put up a nice fight for around 10 minutes before I drug him on the bank. I fished for a couple of hours with no more luck. I have been hearing some reports of some fish caught down lower but we need some rain to push them up faster. Dec. 10, 2000 Thanks to: pat smith Well I went fishing after work up by flaming park with about 45 min. of light left to the day and on my 4th cast into the clear river a 5-lb. buck steelhead hit. Nice fish, it was bright, with a little rose to the cheek only. He hit a small peach spin & glow, by the time I was done with him it was time to walk out. Nov. 11, 2000 Thanks to: Steve Pryor We started on the Green River right at dawn fishing 100 yds below the Flaming Geyser park bridge. We caught several 10-12 inch trout in the next two hours. The action stopped about the time the sunshine hit the water. We moved down to the Green River at Hwy. 18 and tried our luck on some of the Chum Salmon which are still in the river. We fished for about an hour and saw several fish large fish landed and we caught about an 8-lb. Chum. The fish are very red so the run is about over and the fishing pressure on the banks was heavy. The river is low so wading is the way to go right now. Nov. 10, 2000 Thanks to: Matt Sturza Went and fished out in Metzler park. My dad got a pick up. The fish jumped once and was off. I'm not sure what it was but it looked like a steelhead. Saw a couple spawning salmon but that was it. Chums should start here in about a week. Oct. 1-4, 200 Thanks to: Mark Parsons Fishing for silvers on the Green is hot right now! The limit is two and they're fresh! I've seen the most caught on spinners but eggs and Buzz bombs have produced some results as well... Just find a slow resting area below or above faster sections and give it a go! I'm going to try using a float with a spinner tonight in some of the deeper holes and see what happens... Tight lines and see ya on the river! Sept. 11, 2000 Thanks to: Steelie Dan Well, it finally happened! While fishing out at Kanasket-Palmer St. Park, I hit a nice 8-10 lb. steelhead using a float and black and red marabou jig that leaped out of the pool tailout about 200 yards down from the Hatchery Hole. I battled the fish for about 20 minutes until I lost it behind a boulder in the stream, but, that's steelheading. This fish put up a tremendous fight and deserved to be released anyway. Also saw lots and lots of little trout jumping and I tried my fly rod out earlier to no avail. Sure glad I swiched to the spinning rod. My line was certainly tight this day and I hope yours are, too. June 16, 2000 Thanks to: Steelie Dan Tossed jigs with shrimp from the highway 18 bridge into the Gorge all day. No steelhead caught. Did catch one rainbow trout in the Gorge of Flaming Geyser with the jig and NO shrimp. Tried burning a chartreuse spinner in the runs and pockets but no takes. All in all, a beautiful day of shirtsleeve fishing. Like they say, the Green is a tough nut to catch the steelies. June 4, 2000 Thanks to: Scott Keith My first shot at fly-fishing and no luck. I recently restored my Grandfathers old rod and wanted to take it out. HELP! Saw one fish surface but nothing. Must be my technique. If anyone experienced wants to go with a newbie to show him the ropes send me an e-mail! scott_keith@indymac.com Feb. 27, 2000 Thanks to: Paul Thackeray My steelhead partner and I hit the green Sunday morning, fished the dikes along the berry fields above the Nealy bridge with eggs & shrimp no takers not even a bump! Talked to several boaters heard of one fish caught and released. Feb. 24, 2000 Thanks to: Rick Weis Things are picking up on the Green at last!! Last 3 days of fishing has got me 5 more fish (all wild), but still fun. Took my kids with me today, school is out for this week. First pich into my sweet spot, it was fish on. Not too big, maybe 6 pounds (wild hen) but my children had fun bring it in. We took a fast picture and let her go. My boy is 8 and my girl is 4. Feb. 21, 1999 Thanks to: Joel Stidham Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Hit the river in the afternoon after I was able to find it (first time on this river). Went across the street from the golf course and could see that nobody had anything to show for their efforts. Hit the river with a sinktip line no luck. Tried the surface with a gold beadhead black leach with a little corky at the top for color, flotation, and to just look weird. I rose the probably one of the few willing steelies in the river and like a beginner, I jerked it away out of excitement. Nuff said. I almost wanted to go home crying. So awhile later I went home with my dad. Feb. 13, 2000 Thanks to: Ralph Ok, the story starts out like this. A bunch of us guys were practicing for the upcoming softball season at Brannon Park (turn off of Auburn Way at the Sports Page). All of a sudden we spot a guy walking down the paved walkway thru the park with a fish and his gear! A nice bright steelhead he guessed about 15lbs. This was on Sunday the 6th. So hey, if its that easy, I am there! So Sunday the 13th before our practice, I have a couple of hours, lets FISH!! Besides Auburn Parks had closed the baseball fields for practice. I headed to the Green River just about center field of field 2, about 1 hour there drifting eggs, I thought I had a smolt hit. Turned out to be 21 inches long, not the biggest fish in the world. The real problem is that the fish are in...... but the latest revision to the regs according to the WDFW is that the Green River will be release only for wild steelhead after the 16th. Hmmmm they couldn't have planned that any better huh!! Oh well, for some great fun close to civilization, the Green is starting to produce. You just have to let them go, so don't forget your cameras! Feb. 6, 2000 Thanks to: Rick Weis Well things are starting to happen on the green. Fished Sunday with an buddy of mine. First fish was on the bank at 7:45a.m. 6-lb (wild) hen bleeding real bad could not revive her. 25 min. later #2 on the bank, WHAT and great looking fish: 32 inches solid 10+ pounds (wild hen) got her back into the water in good shape. Had 2 more hits but no hook up. Fished two more holes without a hit, got to the 3rd and it was fish on again, and again. My buddy was starting get just a little mad at me, when he hooked into the hog of all hogs. Big, I mean a BIG Buck. Never got it in but saw it a couple of times. I would guess 20+. It will be a trip that will go down in my history book for a long time to come. Jan. 21, 2000 Thanks to: Skip Lammon Hit the river below Hwy 18 at daybreak, covered about a mile of water for about 4 hours, "NOT ONE BUMP." Threw everything but my boots and didn't touch a fish!!! Couldn't ask for better conditions, it's PERFECT! Sure would like to know why they're not here. Didn't run into either of the checkers, but crossed paths with 7 or 8 other anglers and nobody had anything good to say. Just a quick word to those of you who are as fed up with all the "TRASH" as I am. Take a couple of bags with you like I do and pick a little up on your way out. If you think the idiots who are doing it are going to quit, then you're as dumb as they are. The only thing that is going to change it is those of us who care!!! Of course I have found that it does help if you thump a head or two when you catch them in the act!!! See ya on the water. Jan. 4-8, 2000 Thanks to: Rick Weis Boy been fishing the Green for the last few days and No fish anywhere to be found. Been fishing high and low on the river and still NO fish. in the last week I have only got the chance to see one small steelhead on the bank about 5 pounds. Hopefully things will start to happen soon the river will be closing in the middle of March Dec 31, 1999 Thanks to: Luke Miller I arrived at the upper Green below the park around daylight. The water was running around 750 cf with around 6 feet of visibility. I was using eggs and after about 45 minutes, I hooked a nice 9-lb. winter run hen. She was chrome bright and full of eggs. I fished for a couple of hours with no more luck. I came back two days later and landed another hen in the exact same spot around the same time of the morning. It was another chrome bright hen but the eggs were loose and were coming out as I landed her. I saw a couple more roll but didn't hook any. All in all not a bad weekend. I saw a few other fishermen but no other fish landed and no reports of any hooked. Dec. 27, 1999 Thanks to: Bill McKee Went up to Flaming Gyser Park to begin fishin. The river was a little on the high side but fishable. Water was clear and green lots of visability. But no fish. Fished from park down to Whitney Bridge. Tossed every thing but the kitchen sink in to attact them. But they were no where to be found. Not many fishermen on the river today and did not see any fish caught. At 1 pm gave up and went home to warm up. Dec. 24, 1999 Thanks to: Chris Keffeler Went out this morning a few miles above Flaming Guiser. The three of us caught nothing. We also talked to several other anglers, and no one had anything. The conditions seemed perfect. We also found out the hatchery had only collected five fish this winter. Dec. 5, 1999 Thanks to: Tyler Wilkins We got out there at 9:30 fished with vibrax spoons corkies and roe got one hit. Game warden said there will be no steelhead coming up the river. A lot of trash around PICK IT UP! Good fishing everyone! Dec. 4, 1999 Thanks to: Matt Sturza Went to the green. Saw about 20 other anglers. Got skunked. Didn't see anyone with a fish. Oh well. Nov. 20-21, 1999 Thanks to: jeff Fished the green river up in Flaming Geyser Park. Water look great many people at the hole by the bridge. Saw 10 chums hooked, none in the mouth. These fish are very dark and are not bitting. Snagging is not fishing! Why do some people have to be bozo's I will never know. However, I can tell you this: I have seen more trash and unsportsman-like conduct on the Green River than on any other river I have fished. Clean it up or go home! Word to the wise. If [improvements] do not come from within, you will go without! Thanks to all the true sportsmen keep it up! Nov. 20, 1999 Thanks to: Matt Sturza I went out to Flaming Geyser park. Hiked on this trail that started by a gravel bar. I fished some various pools and runs for chums and maybe a steelhead. I used a chartruese spin n glo and green and chartruese yarn with shrimp smelly jelly. I hooked 3 chums but only got one in. The two I lost were about 10 pounds. The one I beached weighed 7 pounds. It wasn't that dark but had the purple stripes. Anybody got any steelhead on the Green? Nov. 3, 1999 Thanks to: Matt Sturza Went out to the highway 18 bridge for silvers. Nothing but a bunch of black silvers. Caught 2 really ugly ones on vibrax spinners. Oct. 27, 1999 Thanks to: DIngham605@aol.com Just like to let the driftboaters know that King Co. has blocked off the upriver side of Whitney bridge. I guess there were to many 4X4's driving up and down the river this summer. So I guess were back to launching from the park parking lot and dragging the boats to the river. I floated this stretch sunday Oct. 24 . River was very low had to drag the boat quite a bit . Saw some really nice sea run cutthroat but they weren't interrested in my steelhead flies. Didn't find any steelhead. Oct. 23, 1999 Thanks to: Brad Truesdell Kind of a gloomy day out, cold but not raining outside.I got here about 7:15 in the morning, I started using pink corkies w/roe no luck.after about an hour or so of using several varieties of corky's I went to a silver buzzbomb w/red hook & chartruse yarn gave it a few casts nothing. So I put a good size piece of roe on. I casted a few into the edge of the rapids reeled it in to the body of the stream and WHAM! I hooked a monster hen steelhead. What a fight I was using only 7# line she fought for 15 mins., jumped at least 4 times and came belly up twice and finally got her in, this was my first big steelhead 21 pounds 4 oz.! Oct. 17, 1999 Thanks to: Jen McDonalds Saw a fair amount of silvers, still pretty bright, about 3 miles south of SR 18 on the green. It was a sunny clear day so they were easily spooked. The water there was fairly shallow and slow moving. Most were using Vibro-lox (dark green) and spoons. Fished 2 hours in the afternoon- not even a bite. Oct. 15, 1999 Thanks to: Bill Tapia I had a better chance of catching something at the Pt. Defiance aquarium. That's what it loked like. Fish everywhere from the Duwamish to the 8th street bridge but nothing biting. What the heck is going on out there? Don't forget to vote to BAN ALL NETS! Oct. 14, 1999 Thanks to: Ron E./tazzzz Went to the green for some stress relief. I fished the area across from the golf course. There were lots of holes that had fish but none would bite. There were about 10 to 15 guys there fishing and none on the bank. They are there but they are closed mouth. The water was low and clear river looks real nice even if you do not catch anything. It is a pretty river. I did have a chance to discuss the I-696 issue and the consencese is that it will get all of our votes and it should pass. Duwamish River - Oct. 4, 1999 Thanks to Roy Miser: I came up the Duwamish River and counted a total of 25 gill nets posted from the mouth of the river up to Delta Marine. It would be nice if The Seattle Times would do an article about this. Most people don't realize just how heavy the gill net fishing is in the rivers. With our dwindling resourses I can't see that the Indians are making much of a contribution to help our fisheries come back. I doubt that no more than 10 to 20% of the fish make it beyond these nets. Soos Creek - Oct. 3, 1999 Thanks to: Ralph Soos Creek is a very small creek (especially with the lack of rainfall). I am an avid fisherman and found myself taking my girlfriends kids down there to teach them more about fishing. Last year it was open for everyone and it was a free for all, lots of snagging poaching, catching for the eggs and leaving carcases and litter everywhere. This year I thought it would be different. I was wrong. Since I read in the regs that it was juvinile fishing only I thought "Hey what better way to let the kids ages 7 and 10 have some fun?" I am trying to teach them to respect our environment and the responsibilities that go along with living in one of the greatest fishing states in the country. After seeing all that was going on, we left. I rather take them out in the Sound until they are bigger and can fish the more technical and challenging areas that adults fish. I would not be at all surprised if the state closes the Soos Creek again to everyone. It is always these few bad apples that... well we all know the rest. Duwamish - Oct. 1, 1999 Thanks to: Michael Covey We arrived at 5:30 am to find fish jumping everywhere, just reach out and grab one! The tide changed and the sun rose. The fish slacked off until 7:30 am or so. Then they hit like a stack of dominoes. Down the line one angler after another got a fish on. It was wonderful Oct. 1, 1999 Thanks to: David Greenwood My roommate started fishing at first light on Friday Oct. 1 and landed his first silver within 45 minutes. He was plunking with salmon eggs near the Foster Golf Course. The most productive person in the party, he hooked two more but couldn't land them before heading out to work. Everyone else got strikes, but no fish. From that point on it was skunkville. I hit the river late Friday morning until dusk and didn't get a bite. Same story all day Saturday and early Sunday. After skipping Monday altogether I plunked in Tuesday morning and got a strike within about 45 minutes. After rebaiting I hooked what I think was a steelhead... Brought him al the way onto the shore before he started flipping around, snapped the line and tumbled back into the river. Good thing there weren't any kids around, because I'm sure my screaming could be heard all around Tukwila. Here is a lesson that I'm taking to heart: If you're fishing alone you'd better have a net handy. I'm hoping the change in weather will help some fish move up, and you can bet I'll be back out there this afternoon. Aug. 31, 1999 Thanks to: Greg Tims Hit the river just before first light and fished up until noon. Had the river all to myself, literally. Fished the SR-18 Bridge, Metzler and Flaming Geyser Par. Managed to get in a full morning of fly casting practice without a hit. Doesn't seem to be a fish anywhere in that stretch; doesn't seem to be much water, either - Stage: 53 feet Flow about 300 cfs. Highlight of the day was the doe and two fawns checking me out as they waded across at Metzler. Aug. 29, 1999 Thanks to: jeff Fished at car body hole below hwy 18, water very low no fish but got to meet the game wardens all 3 of them! Nice to see that in times of low budgets that they can still waste my money. 3 for the price of 1, I think not. I can tell them where to go and find the scums that cheat. But they would have to split up! So any scum out there all 3 of the game wardens are together! more room for you! Thank you Washington state and Mr. Gary Locke! It is good to see that there will be no fish left for my kids! Aug. 14, 1999 Thanks to: Randy Mccrory Drifted the Green at 5:30am Saturday. Lots of steelhead smolts and trout caught and released. Did see a school of about 20 to 30 large (5 to 7 lbs) fish heading up just past the bridge above highway 18. They looked grey but I could not tell what they were. Tight lines. Aug. 9, 1999 Thanks to: Michael D. McClain With my wife and dog traveling along for the fun, I tried several fly patterns in the Gorge area of Flaming Geyser St. Park. Most of the anglers were concentrated around the State Park entrance under or up from the bridge. The water is low, very clear and seveal fly patterns yielded no bites or catches. I suspect that the water temperature is too high and the fish have gone to the deeper pool areas. It would appear as though the best areas would be below the Highway 18 bridge at this time because Atlantic salmon are still being caught in this stretch. Good luck and tight lines to you all! July 28, 1999 Thanks to: Ron My neighbor and I went to fish holes down across from the golf course in Auburn. We arrived at 5:30 and began hitting the holes. The only fish I saw was a rare mouthless plankton eating steelhead. He was in a pool just resting. I tried my vibramax right in front of him and he just ignored it. I tried spoons, some eggs, corkies, just about anything you could think of. He just ignored them. After about 30 minutes of trying to stir him into biting I called for my neighbor to come and try. He too tried just about everything you could imagine. The fish finally swam away. After about 3 hours and no fish on shore we left and went fishing holes by the highway 18 bridge. The water was clear. After about an hour we headed home. It is better to have fished and gotten nothing than to have not fished at all. I am going to try the Puyallup when it opens. At least they have fish with mouths. July 18, 1999 Thanks to: Scott Orlinski I hit the river at around 7:30 a.m. across from the Auburn Golf Course. After fishing for about two hours I saw tons of fish roll, but I had no luck in the hole I was fishing so I decided to move upstream a bit. During my first cast I saw a flash in the water. As I looked in the water I saw a chrome bright fish about 5 feet off shore. I tied on a pink corkie with pink and orange yarn. I drifted my corkie by the fish a couple of times with no luck. Then on my third drift BAM! The fish slammed the corkie. After a 5 minute fight I got the fish in but not before a couple of long runs and leaps from the water. The fish was a huge Atlantic about 12 pounds! A state record which I did not know at the time. After eating the fish that night I looked at the regs and saw that the state record was only 9-1/2 pounds I was stunned. Oh well, 5 days later a guy caught a 14 pounder and turned it in for the record. July 12, 1999 Thanks to: Ron A new fishing buddy that I found right in my neighborhood and I went to go fish the Green River. We arrived around 6:00am and fished holes just downstream from the entrance to Flaming Geyser state park. The water was fast and clear. We could see all the way to the bottom in most places. We used eggs, prawns, spoons, and lures no bites. We fished several hours and went home. On a side note we saw alot of trash and garbage left on the shoreline. The ranger and a crew were picking it up. They hauled several wheelbarrows out of just one area. The ranger said to us that people have parties and leave the trash there. We need to stop this kind of behavior. If you see people littering report them asap. July 11, 1999 Thanks to: Michael D. McClain Started out early Sunday morning and fished the holes around Flaming Geyser State Park and the Whitney Bridge hole, which is running very low at this time. There were no reported catches this morning despite several anglers present. The water is running quite low and very clear now, so it's probably not the opportune time for steelhead. It seems that we are experiencing a Catch-22 situation on the Green. Either the water is too low or too high. I have heard that trout fishing appears to be good right now and the reports of Atlantic salmon being caught on the middle or lower river are still being discussed among the anglers. After about two and one-half hours of no luck using a stonefly, caddis and a steelhead streamer, I decided to call it a day when the sun started beating on the waters and the weather warmed up. I plan on trying the holes up near Palmer on my next trip. Good luck to you all and tight lines! July 10, 1999 Thanks to: Dave Johnson Hello everybody. I was fishing the Green River today and I hooked four steelhead up by Flaming Geyser park using a clown corky and sand shrimp. I caught all four fish in the hole where the old bridge used to be. Very early this morning. Good luck to you all. July 10, 1999 Thanks to: Maurice Paquette I fished the Green River at Flaming Geyser State Park in hopes of hooking up with some summer steelhead, but no luck. Saw some rolling fish in the pools, but could not get any to hookup. They obviously didn't like what I was throwing. I took a break for lunch and returned with lighter tackle for trout. I managed to catch and release 6 trout on streamers and elk hair cadis. I'm sure all the tubers and swimmers didnt make the fishing any easier. Maybe the Green is better left for winter fishing?! July 3, 1999 Thanks to: Ron Went to the Green River across from the golf course. Wetted lines and salmon eggs. Through a vibra max also. It was rainy but the water was clear and low. Did not see any fish rolling or anything. July 1, 1999 Thanks to: Mark Daigneault Arrived in the early evening, caught my first atlantic salmon, about 5 lbs. on a silver and gold blue fox. Rolled a second fish a few cast later. Also caught a half dozen trout. Was there for about 2 hours and headed home. June 19, 1999 Thanks to: Jeff Davis Sorry to get the report out there this late but it was a busy week. Went to flaming geiser state park and saw no fish being caught. Surprising seeing how there were a lot of anglers that day. I know a lot of the people have to read these reports so let me know how and where you caught them. June 8, 1999 Thanks to: James Adams Well...hit the river at 5:15 at the Metzler hole. Tried to get to the O'Grady hole but the water is still to high. Conditions were really good. Saw several fish role and tail. Tried three different color combinations but no hits. Wish I had some fresh eggs but catch 22. Need eggs to catch fish...need fish to get eggs. Hope there's a stupid hen out there to help me out. Will try again soon and report back. June 5, 1999 Thanks to: Jeff Davis Decided to go to the green on Sat. morning despite what the paper said. The river was in good shape maybe a little high but clear. Fished up near the hatchery and saw a guy down from me. As he passed me to go into the park he said he caught a 8 pounder on shrimp and a corkie. Never the less it gave me hope. Worked my way down to a known holding area and threw a pink worm with no luck. Switched to a spinner and as the current worked it through the hole BAM. A big old boot hit. Did not get him in, he threw the hook after a good 5 min fight. He did jump in front of me about 12 ft out and if I had to guess the weight I would say min. 12lbs. Big but dark and definitely a throw-back. Next cast a little smolt hit it and I released him to fight a nother day. All in all a pretty good morning home by 1100. P.S. don't always belive the papers' fishing report. June 2, 1999 Thanks to: James Adams report = Hit the lower hatchery hole at Palmer. Fished from day break to 7:30. Used every type of lure and worked the entire hole. No Hook-ups. Had 1 strong hit on orange oakie with yarn. Many soft hits on eggs. Saw no other fishermen, soo guess its not the place to catch. Haven't heard of any good action from any sections yet. Will be tyring a different section on June 9th. Best sunrise I've seen in a while. June 1, 1999 Thanks to: Randy Mcrory Well, I could have only expected to see people already fishing in some of the nice holes on the Green. But opening day brings out everyone and I will have many days with only my thoughts enjoying the river. The river was very high and quick, somewhat clear, but green. I was at both of the two good parks. I was fishing a stonefly and a sinktip. Just walk along the rock beds and look down, you will see the fly to use. I was near the hatchery and figured that fish may be in the slower water running along the river. Had a little shaker too small to keep. I had several hits out in the larger part of the steady water. One came undone, (barbless) but had a great time.....THE MELT IS ON!..I think I am getting the hang of it... Mar. 15, 1999 Thanks to: kerry Abercrombie Just had my best day catching Steelhead ever, and as you know it, it was the last day of the season on the Green. I was fishing in an "overlooked hole" and hooked 7 steelhead, landing 5 of them in just under 4 hours (10:00 - 2:00). All these fish came out of a two hundred yard stretch using a small cluster of eggs and a pink corky on a number 2 hook. The fish ranged from 20 to 35 inches in length and were all natives except one. The fish must have been stacked in this area of river, because I had many other bites besides the 7 that honored me with their fight. Mar. 15, 1999 Thanks to: Fly Dan Last day before closure. Hit the area around the golf course in Auburn. Several last day fishermen out there but no one apparently had any luck. Tried a nymph imitation but after 45 minutes, no luck. Can't wait for the river to reopen June 1 and will keep trying then. It's been slow on this river lately. Can't wait for it to reopen June 1. Good fishing to you all. Mar. 15, 1999 Thanks to: Mark Cole Last day to fish for steelhead. Only a few boats. One guy lost 15-17 lb. fish, and another guy hooked a 18-20 lb. one that was real dark. We didn't catch any, but plenty of trout/smolts jumping. Some whitefish, too. Mar. 14, 1999 Thanks to: Lance Henie Fished the upper Green for the first time on Sunday. The water was gin clear and plenty cold (took a nice swim around 10am), and a light rain was falling for much of the morning. I threw spinners and spoons for about 2 hours without any luck, then opted for a stealthier rig: a black Aerofly, 1/0 barbless hook, slinky, and 30-inch leader. I walked downstream a ways and found a textbook drift in which to work the fly. Sure enough, on my fourth or fifth cast, my line stopped in mid-drift and I saw a slight ripple in the general area where it stopped. I reared back and the fight was on. After a ten minute tug of war, I landed and then released my first ever native steelhead, estimated at 10 or 11 pounds. Mar. 6, 1999 Thanks to: Matt Sturza Went down to the highway 18 bridge. River was a brownish color and the visibility was at about 1 foot. Started off with about a quarter sized piece of roe and a pink corkie. No hits so I switched to a green spinning glow in the dark cheater. At about one o clock I decided to call it quits. No fish but a beautiful sunny day on the river. Feb. 27, 1999 Thanks to: Luke Miller Fished the upper Green near the park. The water was running around 1150 with about 4 feet of visibility. A little high but still better than low and clear like it has been. It was windy and raining hard. I fished for around a half of an hour before moving to another part of the hole I was fishing. I could see some shadows near the shore in about 3-4 feet of water. My second cast at the shadows I hooked into a hatchery buck around 8 pounds. It fought pretty good but was a little dark so I let him go.I was using a orange corky with a quarter size piece of eggs. I cast a few more times and hooked into another. This was a little bigger but still a dark hatchery. It threw the hook after about a minute. I could see a couple of nice bright natives surfacing halfway across the river so I decided to leave the hatchery fish alone and try for the natives. I fished for around 1 1/2 hours with no luck. It was starting to rain harder and I was getting soaked so I decided to pack it up and leave. All in all, not a bad day on the river. Feb. 19, 1999 Thanks to: Spoony Fished the headworks and caught one 8 lb native. Got my picture and let her go. I also continue to catch a few 15" to 20" rainbows each time out. I did not see any other metal heads caught up river or hear of any others that day. I did hear of a big fish (20 lbs) caught by the Tavern. Feb. 15-17, 1999 Thanks to: Bill Bailey Went out to Palmer on monday at about ten water was low and clear. Decided to walk downstream from the hatchery side there is a nice pool below a big bluff with a rock shelf that extends about 2/3 of the way across the river. Since the water was low I waded out to the edge and worked the water right where it dropped off. Probably made a dozen casts when I thought I was hung on the edge of the shelf. But to my suprise it was a fish. I never got a good hookset though and it came off. So I went downstream a little further and fished another slot where I hooked and landed a small native hen about 6#, took a quick photo and off she went. Not too bad for a couple hours of fishing. Went out again Wednesday the 17th. I took my 6 year old daughter with me fished the big hole in the bend before the bluff, no luck. Went down to where I got the little hen two days before, put on a small pink corkie with a 4 inch pink worm, cast out and hooked one right away. I let my daughter have the rod and she landed a hatchery buck about 8#. It had been in the river a while and was turning dark but there was no way she was going to let her first steelhead go! Another great day! Feb. 14, 1999 Thanks to: Mark Cole Great Steelhead and trout fishing. Hooked one, broke line. Landed nice 15 incher. Dad hooked one and landed a 11-lb native. A fellow angler on the river hooked 6 trout between 12-14 inches on Mike's eggs. DON'T use night crawlers or worms, they don't work. For steelhead use a small piece of yarn and prawns. For cutthroats, use a piece of prawn and a small red bead. Rainbows go ga-ga over prawns or eggs presented on light leader and a small hook. Sizes 6-14, I use #10 egg hooks, but #6 baitholders work well, too. Spinners and spoons would probaly work well behind rocks or in slow water. A good fly angler would also enjoy this place. By the way, I fished at Flaming Geyser, where the muddy and clear water combine. Above the park it's crystal clear right now, below it, it's like the Puyallup! Feb. 14, 1999 Thanks to: Spoony Fished the head works drifting shrimp and corky combo. Tried a variety of color combos with no luck (one shaker - 15" bow). Water very clear and dropping. Feb. 12, 1999 Thanks to: Kerry Abercrombie On Thursday (2/12/99) I went to the Green River after hooking a large fish on the previous Saturday. The river actually had about 5 foot of visibility and the water looked as if it had dropped a foot from the weekend. After an hour of fishing I landed and released the largest steelhead I�ve caught to date. The length of the buck was 38 inches and it had the girth of my thigh! WHAT A FISH. I think by those measurements, I finally broke into the 20 pound club. I was so excited with the size and quality of the fish, I assumed it was a native and release it immediately. I still wonder if there was an adipose fin on it or not. Jan. 31, 1999 Thanks to: Jon Duke I decided to go hit the Green on Superbowl Sunday, figuring nobody would be on the river then. It was hard not to watch the 'bowl, but with the sunny weather I couldn't resist the temptation. I was hoping to catch some whitefish, I'd heard the Green was good for it. I started out with a fly and egg, and got some nice bites. But I couldn't hook a darn thing. I guess I wasn't having a good day, but at least I got in some fishing in between this horrible weather. Jan. 28, 1999 Thanks to: ken kazmirski I'd like to start with saying the reports you get for this river seem to come from novices. This is a great steelhead river! At least for those of us who have spent the time to learn it. Last year (97?) I released 27 native steelies in Jan and Febuary. As for the date of this report, this morning I spent one hour fishing and went home with a nice 12-lb. native buck which is the first one I've been able to keep in 5 years. I'm not going to say where but I will give this advice to unsuccessful fisherman: go upstream each trip you make and when you've gone as far as you can go, you'll be in the best holes the river has to offer. Good luck! Jan. 24, 1999 Thanks to: Michael Saltvick I went out today to celebrate my 32nd birthday with my fishing buddy Greg. Finally a day we didn't get rained on! The water conditions were excellent. We were up by the Tacoma Water Headworks Station above Kanastat State Park. Even though the river was a bit high, the visibility was 3-4 feet. I nailed a 15 pound hen on a #10 pink/pearl corky with pink Steelhead Candy on a size 1 barbless hook. We had a couple of other opportunities but banked only the one. My thanks to Bill Herzog and "The Color Guide to Steelhead Drift Fishing" for leading me to my FIRST STEELHEAD!!! If you are a beginner, young or old, it's a must read! Jan. 24, 1999 Thanks to: Spoony Arrived at Geyser at 10:00 am to find a lot of guys in the river. Talked with a guy coming down from the corner with a bright 12+ lb fish. I talked with the fish checker and he said the 5 fish he saw were all caught in the corner within 1 hour. I fished 4 hours in three different holes with no luck. Great weather though and the river was a good color. Jan. 22, 1999 Thanks to: R. Elliot I went to the Green at Flaming Geyser near the bridge. I fished there for about an hour. I got no bites. I moved upstream by the restrooms and more of the same. I talked to several friendly fishin people and one said that he had one on that morning and lost it when his knot slipped as he was landing it. Another said that he had seen a 12 pounder landed that morning. I guess the fish are there but few and far between. The river was about 38 degrees, running nice and clear about 2 feet visibality or more. The river looked in good shape considering the rain we have had. Good luck and keep your hooks sharp. Jan. 20, 1999 Thanks to: paul grange Well not very good news. Hit the upper green at palmer today not much going on. Started at 7am the water was in pretty good shape but that changed fast. The boys at the dam opened it up at about 8:30 and it was all mud from then till I left at 12:00. Saw 2 fish caught very dark and tired. Well let's all pray for cold and dry weather and it should get better good luck out there. Jan. 11, 1999 Thanks to: Spoony Thought I would try the Green today to beat the weather and get in a good days fishing before the forcasted rains arrived. Too late! It must have rained significantly overnight raising the river about 4 ft and lowering visibility to about 6 to 8 inches. I fished below Geyser State Park; threw on some lead and went for it. After about 4 hours of some dangerous wading and trying everything in the vest I went home without. I talked to three other guys and all were surprised at the conditions. The conclusion is that everything is so saturated that when we get any rain it all is getting into the river in a hurry. Thanks to all the guys who have e-mailed me with assistance on the Sonqualmie. Anything on the Green would be great too. Basically any info on any river around here that has catchable numbers of metal heads would be greatly appreciated. Local knowledge is the only way to go.....time to stop fishing and start catching... Jan. 11, 1999 Thanks to: Ron-Fishless on the green I am Irish and you would think that Green would be good luck. I went down to the Green River across from the Golf course in Auburn. I fished there for about 3 hours using a pink corky and a pink worm that a guy suggested at GI JOES. I even used some red smelly jelly eggs. Not a bite. I talked to some other fishermen who were there and they said had not any bites either. I think I will try up by the Flaming Gyser State Park next time. If anyone has any suggestions as to what I could use or if you know of any local rivers close to the Puyallup, Kent, Tacoma area please e-mail me at Tazztoo@aol.com Green/Puyallup - Jan. 5, 1999 Thanks to: R. Elliot I went to the Green River to fish for steelhead. I arrived around 10:00am. The river was running high and visibility was less than a few inches. After an hour of fishing and not bites I went to the Puyallup River under the Alderton Bridge. I arrived at 11:30am the water was low and about 2 to 3 feet visibility. I fished for about three hours and again no bites. I saw and talked to about 10 fishermen and most had tried the Green and came here. The fish if they were here were just not biting. Well maybe next time. Dec. 20, 1998 Thanks to: Brian Mahoney I fished the upper portion of the Green this morning. Not much happening in the way of winter runs yet. I caught and released a small summer run while drifting eggs. There are a few winter runs at the Palmer hatchery so the fish are there, just not in huge numbers YET! Dec. 12, 1998 Thanks to: scott hedge We fished flamming Geyser park Fri and Sat. There was three of us. We were fishing the upper part of the park, using jigs and bobbers. On Fri. in the course of 4 hours we landed one summer [run] 6-lbs, and one winter 12-lbs. We also lost 2 summers that were 6lbs. On Sat we hooked and released 2 more summers, one was 6-lbs and one was 12 or so. These fish were "presmoked." Nothing happened after that. Not a bad two trips for the Green. Dec. 12, 1998 Thanks to: Mark Went fishing on the Green this morning near Flaming Geyser area. Saw a lot of people snagging chums this morning and a few were kept. If I'm not mistaken I don't think you can keep chums above highway 18. Anyway, started my drift in the flats with yarn and sandshrimp, about a half an hour later I had a beautiful winter-run steely on probably about 8-lbs. Unfortunately it shook the hook right before banking it. It will definitely be a better winter run than last year's which was horrible for hachery run. Good luck... Dec. 10, 1998 Thanks to: Brian Mahoney I fished the river near Flamming Gyser this morning. I was there at first light but not much was happening. I was drifting the usual corky and yarn with a small piece of sand shimp. I caught three nice 14" wild trout, but no steelies. WANTED: good fishing buddy. I usually fish the Green & Snoqualmie rivers but am game for all others! I fish every weekend (Sat.-Mon.) and usually a weekday morning. Interested? e-mail: hooksetter1@yahoo.com Dec. 5, 1998 Thanks to: ratzamaconi Hit the green river this morning at first light and it was gin clear. I love to work the drift with corkies and yarn, rags, and jig and bobber all in shrimp patterns. There were a few anglers out there scurrying to establish that 'special' spot so when I hit my favorite spot I didn't want to waste any time. I threw a rag first and lost it on the second cast! Nervously trying to tie up another set up, so I could get back to work before my drift got bombarded, I decided to hurredly just tie up a #4 gold blue fox vibrax. Panning the tailout of the hole to no avail I decided, why not cast to the head of the hole and let it sink deep. I did and it sunk, all the way to the bottom due to the fact that I was watching another angler across river fight a fish. When I realized that I was fishing also and should get back to work, I picked my spinner up off the bottom and started a slow retrieve when WHAMMO, the fight was on. I was beside myself, this being my first steelhead since last spring. After all the line stripping and one or two tail splashes, I finally landed my prize. It was a six pound buck, but after marking my card it started snowing pretty well. I headed out to work the lower river and noted quite a few other fish being caught on the walk out. Damn! I had better get some better traction tires if I want to stay in a good hole when it starts snowing. Nothing going on downriver that I saw, but for my first steelie of this winters' season I was very pleased. Nov. 27, 1998 Thanks to: R. Elliot I went to down to the Green River to do some steelheading. I took the wife and kids to the spot across from the golf course. There is a little park that has a playground for the kids when they get bored. We arrived around 1:00 PM the river was running high, fast, and muddy. I casted a corky and yarn and had several bites. One of my kids said a steelly just swam past him. I looked at him and then I saw it to. It looked to be about 2 and a half feet long. A nice prize. My line was still drifting down in the fast water. Thats all I have for now. I may try the spot near alderton in the morning with my stepson. Oct. 25, 1998 Thanks to: R. Elliot I went to the Green River over by the golf course below the 8th street bridge. I have never saw so many fish jump and roll. I must have seen around a hundred just hanging out in the river. I thru everything I had at them from vibramax to corky/yarn, with eggs or worms. No bites just jumping fish. I think that they jump just so they can see who they are making fun of. It was a humbling experience. If anyone has any suggestions as to what elese can be tried please email me at Tazztoo@aol.com. I heard that no one was having any luck from a guy walking thru talking to fishermen. Oct. 23, 1998 Thanks to: William Tapia This has got to be the most aggravating fishing day of my life. I was up at the car body hole today and saw what may have been at least 1000 fish. Apparently, the hatchery program has managed to somehow breed a silver that does not have a mouth. Nothing. Zip. Shut out. Skunked. The fish just moved out of the way of my stuff as it drifted by. I tried everything and so did everyone else. But that's fishing. Oct. 18, 1998 Thanks to: Jon duke I went out to the green after hearing about good fishing in it. I arrived to see a calm river with no fish. I tried everything, but not a bite. Oh, well. Maybe next time. Oct. 18, 1998 Thanks to: tyler celli Finally I had a good weekend fishing. Saturday I went to Decorsey Pond in Puyallup. They recently stocked it with 4-5 pound coho and BIG trout. It's a fourteen and under pond, I'm fourteen. Anyway I caught four coho and two trout one trout was 22.5" long and the other was 21.5". I went back on Sunday but didn't catch any then I went to the Green River. There were tons of people and everybody was drifting roe. I tried that but no luck. My dad and I walked to some different spots further down the river but ended up where we were the first time. I tied on a swivel and put a lure that my mom got me from Ireland but by three casts I was fed up with the swivel messing up the lure so I just tied the lure on and on my first cast I thought I was snagged but I set the hook anyway and felt something coming up slowly I thought for sure I had a log until it shot up to the surface and danced for a minute or two before my dad netted it. I had heard rumours that all the kings were black. Not this one she had just turned colors and her eggs weren't even devloped yet. It was a bright ten pounder. This may not seem like much to you but me catching only three keeper kings in my life (all this year one 20-lbs one 35-lbs and this one 10), it meant alot to me. Oct. 17, 1998 Thanks to: Mike Murphy I normally fish local lakes for trout out of my float tube & with ultra light tackle, but hearing reports of salmon in the rivers got me excited to give it a try. After three days of fishing the wrong places with the wrong tackle, I finally lost my salmon virginity today. Caught two nice Coho near the old Duwamish Drive-In area. Lots of fish jumping & rolling, maybe a couple dozen other bank fisherman. Man, did I have fun! Only hard part was wading this portion of river. About 6 - 8 inches of soft, gooey muck on the shore & river bottom. Really a work out trying to fish in here with waders, but worth the effort. Only 4 -5 other anglers working this part of the river, so there was plenty of elbow room, unlike up on the rocks. Absolutely a gas, & I'll do it again. Oct. 17, 1998 Thanks to: Scott M. Arrived shortly after sun up at the river. Immediately noticed that there were fish rolling all up and down the river. Between four of us we didn't hook a fish in the five hours we were on the river. We were throwing egg clusters, spin and glows, vibrax spinners, little cleo spoons, and even streamers. In that five hours we saw only four fish taken (2 were steelhead) and there was no consistency in what they were caught on. Despite our poor luck the river IS PACKED with silvers and apparently a few steelhead. Oct. 3, 1998 Thanks to: Jim Christiansen We put the boat in under the First South bridge at 6:30 Saturday morning and ran up the river past the oxbow bridge. [We] started fishing trolling plugs and had 4 nice silvers in the boat by about 9, the biggest was around 6 pounds. The river was loaded with fish even though the Indians have been netting 5 days a week for 2 weeks. There was about 5 other boats fishing and everyone was getting fish. Sunday, 3 of us hit it early and got 6 more silvers finally after losing a bunch. [The] latest rumor I heard was that they netted nine thousand fish in 2 weeks out of the river. Soos Creek - Sept. 30, 1998 Thanks to: Dennis Harman Walked down from the Green River trail intil I was across from the mouth of Soos Creek. There I saw about 15 "sportsmen"??? fishing??? for kings. I saw that one person had one on and was playing it from the closed water side of the river. He was a novice, but still managed to get the fish in. It was about a 15-pound buck, black as a shoe and it was coming in tail first! He promptly stompted on its head and had someone take a picture of him holding up his trophy??? I walked over to him and mentioned that fish had to be hooked in the mouth and that he beached it in closed waters and that it was so dark that it was unedible anyway. He replied, "this is the biggest fish I ever caught and I'm keeping it." He walked off with the fish. The fish at Soos Creek are almost always snagged. The creek is so small you have to use 30-50 LB test line and drag the fish out of hte water or you will end up in the log jams that are every 15 feet. I would be embarassed tp be seen snagging fish there but it does serve a purpose by keeping the greedy idiots off the better salmon waters. Opening up this stream to fishing is outrageous and only a trade-off with the Muckelshoot Indians so they can slaughter bright fresh fish in Elliot Bay or the mouth of the Duwamish (Green) and we are supposed to be content with the leftovers. Thank you Fish & Wildlife Dept. for once again selling out to the commercial gillnetting minority at the expense of the Washington state [sport] angling majority. BAN ALL GILLNETS...THE END Soos Creek - Sept. 21, 1998 Thanks to: Jon Duke I got up at the crack of dawn to try for Kings in Soos Creek. When I arrived there were a hundred anglers near the Green River confluence, so I went upstream to find more solitude. I stopped at a tailout of a deep bend pool, and tried some fancy spinners there. Soon a group of 20-pound kings raced through the area. And I concluded, after having this happen to me a few more times, that these fish are going upstream like there was no tommorow. Just when I was about to leave, a nice chinook grabbed my lure. He fought bravely, but eventually he was mine. I estimated him about 10 pounds, and promptly released her. As much as I would like a salmon dinner, all fish were dark and not worth killing. After that, I went downstream and found out that people were doing good with eggs. If you don't mind releasing 'em, go fish Soos Creek! (but remember to buy roe). July 15, 1998 Thanks to: keith Raymon I caught 3 nice sized rainbow trout one was 12 inches I caught it on a bitch creek fly. March 8, 1998 Thanks to Jason Witte for the following report: Fished under the highway 18 bridge again. Was fishing by 6:15 am and in the first hour I landed a 15lb. native. I was drifting eggs and on the last bit of drift I thought I felt a tug. As I proceeded to reel up my line was swimming right at me. I set the hook and this big boy took out 40 yards of line right now! The fight was on since my new pole and reel was out of commission since I had a birds nest in my bait caster I just swithched to my back up pole. This pole is just my trout rig with only 6lb. test. You can see the problem I have. No horseing this fish around. After 20 minutes I landed the fish with help from a stanger who came on the scene at mid fight. (Thanks for taking my photo and helping with my fish, who ever you are). Took the picture and released this slab to make more fish. Fished for three more hours after that without a bite. Started to rain real heavy so I had enough and went home. Feb 20, 1998 Thanks to Jeff Johnson for the following report: I took off early from work and had to head to the Airport to drop my roommate off so I decided to hit the Green. I decided to hit the Lower Metzler run. Water was a little on the low side but still looked nice. I took out my spey rod and went for it. I managed one take on about half way down. Then about 3/4 the way around the corner I hooked into a great fish. Bright 12-13lb native hen. Three great jumps and a knuckle busting run. I got it right to the bank then the hook pulled out but I didn't care. She fought hard and I watched her swim away to create more magnificent fish like herself. Feb 22, 1998 Thanks to Jason Witte for the following report: Fished the Green River at the highway 18 bridge on Sun. Feb. 22. Arrived at about noon and fished for about three hours. In the first hour I had two fish break me off and caught and released one smaller native, (4-6) lbs. I did not have any more strikes after that. I was drifting eggs and the water looked very fishable. Talk to a few people who had drifted down and they had a few but said the river was very crowded. Anyone who fishes the Seattle area rivers and would like to hook up on a trip please e-mail me at rippinlips@hotmail.com. I am very interested in meeting new fishing partners, catching some fish, learning new methods, and in general haveing a good time. If anyone's interested drop me a line. (no pun intended)!!! February 14, 1998 Thanks to Clint Crookshanks for the following report: I fished the Green River on Saturday just below the entrance to Flaming Geyser State Park. I was using an 8-weight fly rod with a popsicle fly. Managed to hook 2 fish. Fought both for a while before they threw the hook. These were the first steelhead I have ever caught and oh what an experience! I felt like I was playing tug-o-war. Definitely worth all the time I've spent fishing for them this year. February 14, 1998 Thanks to Bill Wells for the following report: I drove by Tokul Creek Friday afternoon just to get an idea if there were any fish moving through. During the 20 minutes I was there I saw an angler catch a six pound buck just upstream from the bridge. It was pretty dark, and I saw it squirt out milt as the guy bonked it on the head. [Oh that's nice] Since I had also heard a few reports of fish being caught on the Snoqualmie earlier in the week, we planned a float for Saturday morning. My friend Charlie likes to sleep in, so we didn't make it down to the Raging River boat launch until about 10:00. There were two boats pulling out, so I quizzed them on the fishing. Both had floated down from Plum access, and had not caught, seen, heard or smelled a fish. They also informed me that the wind had pretty much blown them of the river. With that, we climbed back in my truck and tried out plan B. Plan B was to fish the Green, so we drove up to the Gorge and hiked down to the Icy Creek stretch. We fish for two hours, pitching eggs, sandshrimp and plugs without even a strike. We then picked up and headed for Flaming Geyser. We drove up to the very top end of the park and hiked up to the first hole. The hole has a steep sandstone bank with hard pan that extends about thirty feet out into the water. We waded along the edge of the rock cliff and walked upstream about 50 yards. The river was flowing at about 1400 cfs with about 6 feet of visibility. I tied on a rainbow corky with a tuft of hot pink yarn. I decided to go without bait since the upper end of the riffle I was fishing was fairly shallow and swift. I made about twenty casts or so, and then moved up to the edge of a log pile at the top end of the hole. I made a cast to about center stream and about half way through my drift my lines stopped and I set the hook not knowing if it was fish or rock. My rod arched over and I felt a slow heavy pulling on the line. The fish moved slowly upstream as if it really didn't notice it was hooked. This lasted about 1 minute, when suddenly it took off burning line off my reel and ending its run by hurling its large chrome body into a cart-wheeling leap. After about 15 minutes, and several runs and leaps later I slid the fish up on the sand. It was a beautiful native buck as bright as a silver dollar. It measure out at 39 inches and my best guess is it was a minimum of 18 lbs. We took a quick photo and sent him on his way. The only blemish on this otherwise perfect battle, was that somehow in the course of landing the fish, my Loomis Gl3 snapped about two feet down from the rod tip. Now I get to see how fast Loomis is on warrantee replacement. February 8, 1998 Thanks to Denman for the following report: My brother and I put in at Whitney Bridge on the Green River Sunday (8th) around 7 a.m. There were only 3 or 4 other boats at the launch so there wasn't much of a wait. Within 1 hr. and only the second drift we stopped at, my brother yells "fish on!" I turned and looked up river to see a beautiful 14lb. native hen go skyrocketing out of the water. It was his first cast (isn't that normal?). I ran back to the boat to get the net and camera, and in my hasty return to the action (my mobility was somewhat limited due to chestwaders) I stumbled and went sprawling onto the beach, fishing pole flies to the left, the net to the right. Thank goodness no one was around to witness such a scene. Anyway, the fish wasn't cooperating and got down into a log jam and some other debris. I made 2 feeble attempts to net it but there was too much debris. I jumped around in back of the fish and tried to scare it out and it worked! It swam directly back up to where my brother was standing, he was reeling like crazy! I jumped back into the water and netted the fish. After 2 pictures taken, the fish revived and returned to the river, both of us sat down and laughed about the entire situation. This was my brother's first native steelhead and we both will remember the experience for a long time. We had no more hook-ups that day but we did hear of 4 other natives caught and some hatchery fish also up high. A flyfisherman hooked a bright 5lb. female Atlantic salmon! It took an orange fly and put on quite a show. I'm going back Monday to try again! February 8, 1998 Thanks to Joe Taller for the following report: Fished the Green river Sunday Feb 8. Floated down to the hwy 18 take out. I put in around 10 am to test the boat and do some fishing. My first stop was about 1/2 mile after the put in on about my fifth cast I hit a nice native hen about 8lbs,casting a plug! Nothing for the next few hours so I decided to cast some flies. No luck in the first spot I tried. The next spot, on my second cast the line stopped and the fight was on! What a nice feel on a fly rod! after about 12 minutes I had a nice bright native hen about 10lbs! Sorry no pictures as I was by myself. Not a bad day on the River. On another note, I did catch up to another boat and the had one small hatchery fish. I moved farther down and ran into three other boats around a bend and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. All three where anchored and pitching bait from there boats!!! I also fished the Green last saturday and ran across the same thing! fishing from a boat is PROHIBITED ON THE GREEN RIVER!!! Where is the DFW when you need 'em? These people have no respect for the rules!!! There are plenty of rivers you can Fish from a boat!!! This makes me sick, If they will fish from thier boats, will they also keep native fish? This gives sportfishers a bad name. I would have liked to see a game warden, I mean two straight weekends with people fishing Illegally! January 31 - Feb 1, 1998 Thanks to Jeff Bartholomew for the following report: In case you have been wondering why I haven't given any reports lately, here's why: THERE HAS BEEN NOTHING GOING ON!!! Until the week before last when the first signs of Steelhead appeared in the Green. And last week when I heard the reports of 3 salt fish in the Puyallup. Line hit the water about 7:30am (A little late by my standards) . Fished for approx. 45min-hr....NOTHING! Once again the reports were bunk (so I thought). I got bored and switched from sand shrimp to super goober. I didn't really think much would come of it but on my second cast the tip of my rod took a dive!!! I thought to myself, this is what I have been waiting for! after a couple of nice tail dances and many runs to the tail out I was fishing above. I landed a nice 8-9 lb hatchery fish. About a half an hour later, I landed another slightly larger fish. It did not put nearly the fight of the first. when I got in I found out why. It was one of the fish those game checkers have been waiting for. the dorsal adipose and ventral fins were cut. On sunday.... I really had no intention of fishing this day. About 1:00 the itch got so bad I hopped in the truck and hit the river . Line hit the water about 2:00pm. fished for an hour and landed a 20Lb cromer!!!! this fish was the most beautiful native I have seen. It was a joy watching her swim back into the river. As for the puyallup I haven't fished in about a month. I hear there are still some limits coming out down by anton's. More later, I got a new noodle today. I will let you know how it goes this weekend. January 22, 1998 Thanks to Patrick Reilly for the following reports: Today I made a late afternoon trip to the Green to check it out. I arrived at the Highway 18 Bridge at about 2:45pm, fishing gear and bait in hand. I saw one other fisherman fishing the area that I had planned to work, he said that he had seen no fish, and had no bites. He then told me that he would leave the fish in the river for me and call it a day, then left. Well, the old-timer missed out bigtime! Not 5 minutes after he left, I nailed a nice Hatchery fish; 28 inches,7 pounds. I had 3 other hits; one was a good hook-up and gave about a 2-second fight before shaking the hook. Not bad for an hour and a half of fishing. January 17, 1998 Thanks to FFSTLHDR for the following report: I was up on the Green yesterday in the Metzlar park area. Met a fisheries guy in the parking lot and he said things are starting to look up for the Green as he had been talking to people up and down the river and there have some fish being caught. Both hatchery and wild. He didn't give any specifics on location though. However, I met a guy on the trail to the river (he was coming out) and he had just finished releasing a 12 pound native. He was all smiles. I didn't have the same luck though. Didn't even get a bump. Good luck fishing. September 20, 1997 Thanks to Ernie Hernandez for the following report: If you never caught a king in your life,this the chance to do it as this creek is still open. I've been trying river fishing for about 3 1/2 yrs. now & never had the feel of the big fight as all my friends have told me. A close friend of mine, name of Richie, always calls it a mad truck. Its the ride of your life. Well Sept. 20 that ride came & I felt like a little kid just learning to catch trout. This may just be a creek with a lot of pissed off kings, but for someone who never caught a hog it was well worth it. 28lbs,36in.& one hell of a tasty fish after I smoked it. Well I hope they close this creek soon being that there are silvers beginning to be caught. But there's plenty of silvers coming up the Green as of know 10/06 so don't miss out. June 22, 1997 Thanks to Ted Bidman for the following report: Sunday, June 22nd from 6:00am through 10:00am, my brother Tom & I fished above Flaming Geyser. In a previous report, I referred to this spot as "The Hole". From now on, this spot will be referred to as "Heather Hole", named after my brother's friend Roger. Roger was the person who taught Tom, now an expert fisherman in his own right, much of what he knows about steelheading. He was also the most accomplished steelhead fisherman my brother has ever fished with. Roger died from cancer several years ago, not even 40 years old. Tom mentions Roger without fail & always with a smile on each of our steelheading adventures. This report is for you Roger, you're missed. The Green was flowing @ 750cfs, a little high but close to ideal. The color on the other hand was perfect - "Steelhead Green"! The weather was ideal for fishing - 55 degrees with broken clouds. After seeing the water, Tom said he had that "excited" feeling, which usually indicates good fishing ahead, he was right. On my 1st cast, I caught & released a small trout using a silver/blue #3 Blue Fox. On about my 10th cast, I had a solid bite. The rod jerked solidly toward the water not once, but twice! I set the hook, and the fight was on! Inexplicably, the spinner popped out after several seconds. Tom also got a solid bite in the same spot with his drift gear with the same results. The balance of the morning I caught & released 3 more trout & Tom caught & released a beautiful 14" rainbow. No steelhead once again, but they're in the river & the trout are awake! We'll try again next week. June 8, 1997 Thanks to Ted Bidman for the following report: My two brothers & I fished the Green above Flaming Geyser from 6:00am thru 10:00 Sunday June 8th. This was a special day for us because it was Tim's 1st steelheading trip and our 1st fishing trip together ever! The river was high @ 1250 cfs. But the color was beautiful - "steelhead green"! My brother, Tom, who is the expert fisherman of the group, drift fished "The Hole" with small corky & yarn and later added a piece of nightcrawler with no takers. Me & Tim spinner fished the tail-out with Blue Fox #3's. On about My 3rd cast I had a solid bite! The fish ran & then jumped - it was a beautiful chrome fish of about 5 lbs - in mid-air it spit the spinner. No takers the rest of the morning. Still, it was a special day. March 8-9, 1997 Thanks to eb01 for the following reports: Saturday I fished below highway 18 bridge for about three hours. The water is a little high but is falling. There were several people fishing this stretch. I got no bites and saw no fish. No one I spoke with had taken fish. I did see a fellow there with two friends. The one guy made a point of showing me he was eating raw sand shrimp! :-( Sunday I fished Flaming Geyser park. Got started about 7:30AM and fished most of the good places within the park. The river is clearing and falling but may come back up with the rain. Intermittent rain, sometimes hard with a little hail. Several people fishing. No bites and no fish to other fishers. I moved below highway 18 bridge about 10:30AM. There was a fellow there with a hatchery fish he had killed of about 6 or 7 pounds. I caught and released a mint bright wild fish of about 12 pounds on a hot orange #12 corkie with hot orange and chartreuse yarn. I beached the fish after a fight of about 30 minutes. A couple of good runs and a big boil in the surface but no jumps. :-) February 26, 1997 Thanks to eb for the following report: I fished the Green River at Flaming Geyser Park on Wednesday 2-26-97. The water levels were ideal and the water was a good color of green. There were no bites. Drift gear with shrimp jelly for added attraction found no takers. Several people fished the area above the bridge at the entrance to the park. No fish. I fished several spots above the bridge but still in the park. No fish. It rained, but was otherwise a good day to be on the river.