Combined report for Saturday, 7/27 – Tuesday, 7/30

Pulled the boat and our tent trailer into camp at the Grandy Creek KOA in Concrete on Saturday afternoon. This is a nice facility with hook-up sites, showers, pool, laundry facilities, Wi-Fi, and playground if you need a few more amenities of home than what is offered at the HooDoo camps at the lake. I had my wife and daughter with so the facilities were just right for us. Set up camp and enjoyed a burger with the gals at Cascade Burgers then had a short campfire and turned-in early.

As for the fishing…it was pedestrian at best! It appears that the relatively low count of fish in the lake combined with the high fishing pressure has put the bite off.

Up and around at 0245 on Sunday we arrived at the Swift Creek launch at about 0330. Got the boat staged up and launched and headed for the deep water along the north side of the lake. We were about the third boat out on the lake and had lines in the water around 0420. I trolled my usual sockeye stuff consisting of Abe & Al 001 dodgers customized with gold scale tape, about 14” – 16” of 30lb to 40lb leader with a 1.1” pink smile blade and two 2/0 or 3/0 Gamakatsu hooks. We’ve also used the Mack’s Lure sockeye leaders with the same dodger with good success at Baker and Brewster. For the fourth pole (both Fish Princess and I have two-pole endorsements) we fished a flat line with 4-6 ounces of lead and a 0 pink splatter dodger followed by a pink hoochie. None of this proved effective in inducing a bite. After a few hours with no bites and minimal action in the boats around us I started using different gear on the flat line rod to see if we could find something that would get them interested. I had on an 8” Short Bus rotating flasher in 50/50 red/green (think Columbia River style) with about 70’ of line out working the flats at the east end of the lake in about 55’ of water and finally got a takedown. Set the hooks and could tell the fish was not too large, but handed off to the Fish Princess so she could have some fun. She got it to the boat and we netted a 2.5 pound Dolly Varden. We kept her in the net in the water while we unhooked her and set her free. That was all the excitement for the day except for watching a white Alumaweld sled with green trim with 4 anglers aboard catch fish like Baker has produced over the last few years. Saw them boat a double header and get two of three on a triple header not long after. Couldn’t figure out what they were doing different than the rest of the crowd, but they definitely had something figured out. There were at least 100 boats on the lake Sunday.

Monday we were the first boat on the lake at about 0345. I headed up to the ledge near Noisy Creek where the deep section goes up onto the shallows. The few boats that seemed to be catching fish Sunday had most of their success working this area. Ran out the usual assortment of gear and even included an 0 chrome dodger with hoochie and prawns. Trolled around at various depths from 18’ to 80’ for about 4 hours without a bump and action was negligible in the boats around us as well. Around 0830 I noticed a raft of flotsam had consolidated around the north side of the lake and thought about previous years where we had hooked fish in the middle of log jams (landing them in that mess is another story, but we had to hook one before worrying about how to land it). I decided to go for it and see what we could do and the gambit paid off. Lines were getting covered with grass and twigs but we managed to get a biter at 40’ on one of my Abe & Al rigs. The Fish Princess managed to steer him clear of the big chunks in the mess and guide him to net. This proved to be the only keeper sockeye for 3 days of fishing. We talked to the fish checker when we came ashore at around 10:30 and he said we had the only fish in 6 boats he had checked thus far. We enjoyed a visit to the Baker River fish trap in Concrete and a trip into Burlington on Monday afternoon. I also found some purple cured coon stripe shrimp at Holiday Sports to add to my bait selection.

Tuesday the Fish Princess was pooped out and ran out of boat clothes so she decided to sleep in. I headed out around 0300 as usual and managed to get the boat in the water unassisted with no issues. Was fishing two rods by 0415. Only counted about 60 boats on the water Tuesday and out of those I saw two fish caught and another couple lost. Around 0730 I was trolling east bound between two froth trails that I believe marked the seams of the river current coming down from the head of the lake. I had one rod running in each down rigger on either side of the boat (meaning one was more or less behind my back while a drove the boat). Naturally, the only takedown of the day came on the rod I didn’t have my eye on. I had reached for a jar of prawns to re-bait one of the poles and when I turned back around I saw that the rod behind me had released. As I grabbed for the rod I could see the fish swirl at the surface behind the boat. However, by the time I had rod in hand he had spit the hooks and was gone. I had to pack-up camp so only fished until about 0845. I did get to witness one of the most spectacular sunrises of my life on this day as there was broken cloud cover atop the east end of the lake and the upcoming sun sent vibrant sunrays streaming through the clouds adding to the mystical aura of this incredible place. Even though fishing was very slow this beat the heck out of being at work!

Totals for the trip 1 dolly C&R, 1 keeper sockeye, 1 sockeye hooked and long released for four rods fished Sunday, four rods fished Monday, and two rods fished Tuesday.

Lots of fun camping with my favorite camping chicks and the lake was beautiful as ever!!

Tight lines and good luck, everyone!

Fish Dawg

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