# Fishing the Green, with some surprise visitors



## sharpshooter25 (Oct 2, 2007)

Well, my friend Kevin and I have been trying to go down and fish the Green at night. We were told that the best time to fish it is when you have a full moon. We were going after the elusive big brown trout. I haven't caught a brown all year so I was really looking forward to it. Neither of us had fished it at night before, and so I made a call to Orvis since he is practically part fish, to ask him what to use. The only thing I had been told to use was the 6 inch rapalas with a broken body. Well, he tells me what to use, and to fish the deep holes below the dam. So Kevin and I leave at 7:00 from Roosevelt, and to Vernal we go. Well, Basin Sports was closed, so we had to go back to Wallyworld and they did not have anything that Orvis told me to get. I did have the 6 inch rapalas with the broken body so I figured that I would use them. We get to the river about 9:00, full moon is out, it was just so nice and peaceful. Well, we walk down the trail a ways, looking for these deep holes, and I don't know if my eyesight is just bad, and we of course had flashlights, but I could not see any deep holes. So, we finally stop at an area that looks pretty good, and we start fishing. With only a few casts, Kevin hooks his first fish. A 14 inch Rainbow, not what we are looking for. Well, I get out on this big rock and start to cast, and I am throwing my Rapala into this area that the moonlight is casting on, and I get a hit. A good one, but the bugger came off. So, I throw my lure out to the same spot, and this time I hook up. He fights good, but I know this is no monster. A nice 15 inch brown, first one of the year. I get back up on my rock, and after a few more casts, I hook up again, but again, no big brown. A 14 inch rainbow. Nice and fat, but not what I am looking for. After that I don't know what happened, but I wasn't getting any more hits. So, I moved down the river further, looking for these deep holes. I would stop and cast into the calmer waters, and I would get some hits, but nothing big. I landed a few more 13-14 inch rainbows, Orvis had warned me about that. Kevin hooked into a brown, but nothing of size. Well, before we knew it, it was 11:00, so we decided to try going up near the dam. So we hike up there, and climb down, and start throwing our lines. And it got really interesting. Not because the fishing was so much better there, but we had some friends decide to join us. Both Kevin and I had on head lamps, which in turn would attract bugs. Well, all of the sudden, a bat comes flying right by my face going after the bugs. And after it flew by me, it went after Kevin, and flew by his face, and he about fell off his rock. We start laughing and realize we had better turn our lights off. But that really didn't help too much because the bats kept flying right by our lines, and poles. I hooked into a few fish, but again no size to them, but we were really being entertained by these bats that kept flying right by us and around us. Well, as I was fishing, a bat came swooping in, and it hit me in the chest, and it got stuck on my sweat shirt. I was freaking out but luckily it got off quickly. By now it was midnight and I said I think we should call it, I was tired of being attacked by bats. Kevin agreed, so we called it a night. I think that the next time we go, Orvis needs to come with us to show us where these deep holes are because we never found them. But we still had fun, it is so realxing down there, and just beautiful. Here are a few pics that I was able to snap, sorry that they are not the big browns, hopefully next time.









Kevins first fish, a rainbow









My first brown









Another rainbow









Kevins first brown of the night


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

That looks like a fun trip sorry you couldn't find what I recommended to you. Lots of smaller fish to wade through but there are some toads in there but they take a lot of work! Thanks for posting,


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## sharpshooter25 (Oct 2, 2007)

Yeah, you need to come with us next time.


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

Bats??

Wonder how the browns would have liked them? Other than that, sound like a good time sharpshooter25. I've been thinking of fishing a certain lake at night during a full *Moon*...I'd like to try it sometime....


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## sharpshooter25 (Oct 2, 2007)

.45 said:


> Bats??
> 
> Wonder how the browns would have liked them? Other than that, sound like a good time sharpshooter25. I've been thinking of fishing a certain lake at night during a full *Moon*...I'd like to try it sometime....


Just tell me when.


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## Size Matters (Dec 22, 2007)

It sounds like you had a good time except for the Bats thanks for the report and photos. 8)


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Thats pretty sweet... I talked to a guy who went by Curtisfish a couple years ago and he was all about topwater night fishing on the green. Sent me some pretty knarly pics too. Looks like you guys had a good time anyway, although that bat would have freaked me the hell out. :lol:


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

sharpshooter25 said:


> .45 said:
> 
> 
> > Bats??
> ...


Just tell us where it is.


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

Grandpa D said:


> sharpshooter25 said:
> 
> 
> > [quote=".45":2gt60rov]Bats??
> ...


Just tell us where it is. [/quote:2gt60rov]

Good point GrandpaD, good point !!


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## tuffluckdriller (May 27, 2009)

I'll tell you exactly where! Go down to the first mile marker from the dam (a mile from the ramp). Fish the eddies for the next quarter mile or so. 

Also, your rapala is too big. You need the 4" broken body, floating rapala. I don't know if color matters, but it seems we do better on the rainbow pattern. 

Cast out in the eddy and reel in SLOWLY! Just let that thing wiggle slowly on the top. 

BAM! Fish On! without warning! It's so FUN! It seems the bite gets best from 9:00 pm -10:30 pm, then slows down until about 12:30 am. The longest I've stayed there is til about 4:00 am. We were camping, and the fishing was GREAT!

One other tactic that I love to get those big browns, is to use a fly rod with a mouse fly. At first I thought it would only work if I casted close to shore. But they'll attack it anywhere in the slower spots. 

The boat ramp right below the dam is pretty fun, too. If you sit on the point, just cast to the seam with your rapala, bring it in SLOWLY, and you'll catch quite a few. We've caught the biggest browns right there. 

Nothin beats catchin big browns as far as trout goes, for me. I'll take a big brown over a big rainbow, stupid cutt, or even awesome brookie--though I love catching big brooks, too. 

Night time is definitely the only time I like to fish the green anymore. There's NO competition, the big browns finally let their guard down a little, I don't have to use 10x tippet to try and fake out those over-fished fish, and they actually will fight at night, instead of the daytime limp fish routine.


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## sharpshooter25 (Oct 2, 2007)

It's funny that you say to use the 4" because Kevin had the 4" using the same pattern I was, and I had way more hits and catches than he did. But we never did make it to the Eddies, but you were right about the best time between 9 and 10:30 because that was when I had the most hits and catches. After 10:30 it just died.


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## tuffluckdriller (May 27, 2009)

Maybe it's just different on different nights. But hands down, the 4" has caught far more than the 6" for us. 

We've had the best luck getting there about 1/2 hour or more before dark. Just as all the others are finishing and hiking back to their vehicles. Usually, you'll catch bigger and more if you'll just ignore the river until you get down to those eddies. Then you're there just at the perfect time. But it's always hard to pass up some of the good looking spots.


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## dartangion (Jul 2, 2008)

Mousing works great at Strawberry right as the sun is setting as well....nothing better! Thanks for the report!


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