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“Baker Lake Two”, JoAnn and my second trip to Baker, along with our dogs Diesel and Rudy (I gotta get a bigger boat!).

We arrived Sunday evening for two nights of R and R and two mornings of fishing. The weather front was receding Sunday evening so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The temps were very comfortable in the upper 60s to low 70s, the clouds partly covered Baker for most of our stay, and the bugs were tolerable. I was surprised to see how quickly the lake temp dropped (from 72 to 68 degrees) and also that it was up about a foot from earlier in the week. It doesn’t take much rain and cool weather to change conditions.

We fished in the morning of Monday and Tuesday, running four rods. The usual pink type gear with varying leader lengths on different rods, and for a bit of a change of pace, one rod I rotated through my collection of plugs. Hey, I’ve caught sockeye in Baker on plugs before, and figured no one else would be trying them, maybe the fish would respond… they didn’t, LOL.

Monday was kind of slow, but we did learn from our mistakes from our previous trip, and went three for three, all coming at 50-55 feet on the rigger. We loosened the drags and let the fish have a good initial run, then slowly reeled in and kept the rod tip down, which seemed to help reduce the acrobatics, at least a bit. It helped, as last visit we lost five fish out of seven, totally unacceptable. The other thing I experimented with this year and plan to stay with are circle hooks. After two trips I can say they really do work as advertised. The fish I brought in that were securely hooked were just that – securely hooked. They were not coming loose.

Tuesday morning we arrived on station and all lines down again by 5:30am. At 5:40 I saw a single guy in a Lund that had two fish hanging off the side. I was impressed. Now that’s how you start a day of fishing!
We saw a pretty good morning bite this morning, but by 7:30am it was over and we were not in the lucky minority of netting anglers.

We continued to pound the water and at 10am our efforts paid off with the biggest sockeye of the season, a beautiful male specimen. We had one more drive by nibble and that was it, lines out at 11am.

So for our two trips and five days of fishing we have eight fish caught. Not exactly gang busters BUT I will take it. I saw and talked to a lot of guys that had it much tougher. I also talked to a few that did better, meaning we were somewhere in the middle, which is AOK by me. I will say, it seems like Baker is getting tougher to fish the past couple of years. I just seem to remember three and four years ago having much better success, with doubles and even triples not unusual. I wonder if others have the same impression.

In any case, Baker is always a special destination. I have at least one more trip planned so maybe it will be “lights out” on my next trip.

laketroll

7/28/2015 11:55:00 PM

nice photos mike

Hunter757

7/29/2015 6:34:00 AM

Nice job Mike, sounds like a bigger boat in your future. Way to try new things you just never know what going to work and when.

mav186

7/29/2015 4:36:00 PM

Those are some nice chunky fish Mike. There has been a big change in the behavior of the fish and the tactics used to induce strikes. It's always about the little things, but putting the right combination together can definitely be more elusive than the past. The last 3 years, have been very different than the first few seasons. For me, the first couple years were quite easy...then things began to change...and now every fish is earned. Keeps things exciting (and a bit frustrating at times too!)

Mike Carey

7/29/2015 8:16:00 PM

Isn't that the truth? Gone are the doubles and triples from 3-4 years ago, at least for us.

MotoBoat

7/29/2015 10:38:00 PM

Mike, did you see guide boats again, during this "second" Baker trip?

Bob R

7/30/2015 6:18:00 AM

Glad you had a good trip, Mike. Bob R

hookset'n

7/30/2015 12:02:00 PM

Mike you really should check out the swift creek launch, it's only a few minutes further and there is no comparison. There is a nice dock and the entire launch is paved. I finally launched at Panorama once this past weekend and won't be back unless Swift Creek is closed. I also launched down at the dam, that is a really nice launch with two lanes and a very large parking area. it's a bit of a run up to the fishing grounds but something to consider.

Mike Carey

7/30/2015 12:05:00 PM

Thanks, I'll have to check it out next year.

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