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This report will cover a trip I took to Baker on Monday and Tuesday the 26th and 27th of August. My friends Joe, Ben and I left for the lake at 3:00am on Monday morning with high hopes, boat, and camping gear in tow. We made a couple stops for odds and ends along the way and arrived at Shannon Creek campground at around 6:15am. We loaded the boat and sorted through the gear we needed and ran across to the deep hole south of noisy creek and had our first line in the water by 7:00am. After less than 20 minutes of dragging gear the first line goes off and after a short but exciting battle a fiesty and bright 4lb sockeye is in the boat. Throughout the duration of the trip we were running 3 poles, 2 on one downrigger on a stacker with 20 feet between the lines, and 1 off of another DR. The morning continued to be great hooking fish consistantly and meandering through 30 some other boats in the hole. Early on we broke off several fish, possibly as many as 6 or 7, they were just too crazy when they got to the surface and the 15 lb P-line leaders were snapping off like nothing. During this period of breakoffs we managed to hook into a beasty of a rainbow as big as the sockeye we were catching! Estimated weight was 5lbs and a beautiful majestic coloration! The fish went nutso right at the boat and AGAIN busted the leader so we unfortunately did not get a picture :(. After break off frusterations were vented, we switched to 25lb leader (12lb mainline) and never had a problem the entire rest of the trip. By around 10am we had 4 in the box and it was getting pretty warm so we decided to head back to the ramp and grab all the camping gear. We ran across the lake and camped near noisy creek in a very secluded spot kind of back off on a little trail, it was very nice. We made lunch and B-Sed for a while and the wind whipped up white caps on the lake. We waited around until about 5pm and went back out into the wild waters to try for our last two. We motored down to where we had been fishing previously and made one long pass with the wind with not so much as a bite, turned around, motored back up and within 10 minutes of getting the lines out for pass #2 its a double hookup and the day is over with a nice limit of sockeye. After limiting out we switched gears and trolled for kokanee for a bit, landed (and released) a few and enjoyed some beers and the weather before calling it a day.

The next day we awoke at 500am and were out fishing by 600am and the bite was on better than before. I hit a fish within 5 minutes of dropping my line, but he came unbuttoned. I cannot emphasise enough how crazy these fish went when they got to the surface! Aerial dispalys and tail walking like a coho were the norm and controlling them at the boat was fairly difficult at times. We even had one burly buck jump clean out of the water and UP AND OVER the outboard motor! It nicked off the back gunnel of the boat and bounced into the water before making a few more runs and finally finding his way into the net. That fish must have jumped a good 3 feet out of the water, I believe I let out an audible "Holy S---" as the fish came flying up and over the motor and nearly into our laps. After that, we consistanly hit fish until 8:00am when we finished off our 6 fish limit for the day with another double hookup! This time both rods on the stacker rig went off at the same time, 1 at 70ft the other at 50ft. Both fish were nice bucks in the 6lb range.

For gear we ran size 0 dodgers with 2 trailering size 2/0 bare red gami hooks. We tried squids and other combinations of stuff earlier on but this rig outproduced them all so we quickly switched all setups to this Lake Washington favorite.

Both the camping and the fishing were absolutely wonderful and we all had a great time AND brought home birght and tasty fish for the BBQ and smoker. Final count: 12 sockeye over 2 days, 1 rainbow trout to 5 lbs, and more fun in the sun than I have had in years.

rjn cajun

7/29/2010 7:06:00 AM

Great report that`s a beautiful looking lake.

rseas

7/29/2010 7:34:00 AM

Congratulations on you success! This sockeye fishery is like no other. Overall the fish are much larger than the Upper Columbia and the Lake Washington fish. The Baker lake sockeye must eat Wheaties mixed in with their daily allotment of plankton because as a freshwater fishery, pound for pound they are one of the feistier salmon I have encountered. Fortunately Baker Lake is a seriously underestimated recreational resource. In addition to the varied species fishery there are a ton of hidden boat-in campsites and during the summer the water is warm enough for a family swim.

Dave

7/29/2010 8:35:00 AM

Outstanding trip, and report. Thanks Matt for the information. I hope to make that trip here soon.

fishfiend

7/29/2010 12:14:00 PM

Guessing you were actually there July 27th and 28th? The August through me a bit! :-)

Matt

7/29/2010 12:24:00 PM

Haha, yah it was July. Sometimes I feel like I am living life a month in the future :)

BentRod

7/29/2010 1:03:00 PM

Matt, Awesome report. Sounds like a perfect trip! Thanks for sharing.

weldcraft221

7/29/2010 3:10:00 PM

nice job i saw you guys up there i was there tuesday and it was hot wensday was a littled slower though nice job

Idstud

7/29/2010 11:14:00 PM

That is awesome matt great report. I was talking to the owner of hook line and sinker today about baker and maybe not next year but the from the sounds of it the tribes are running sockeye hatchers to make it a fishery like that for years to come. Also working on LK Washington. I hope it all goes as planned. Great report.

fishmanjh

7/30/2010 3:27:00 AM

Nice report Matt!!! I like the secluding camping part .... Get away for a bit, and catch fish. Interesting reports with regards to the "spunk" these fish show .... Hmm ..... Wonder why?? I've always used 20-25# leaders with Sockeye as they have got teeth, and do seem to go nuts at the boat. They do the "Sockeye Twist andRoll" and will bust you off every time, and they are NOT leader shy as far as I can tell. Next time I see ya' we need to get you in the boat and see if we can harass some Cutt's .....

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