Previous Next

Ok, here goes but two things first:

# 1

Since I was a child I have been to Baker Lake 100s of times. As a small child I always felt a sense of wonder, maybe not really noticing the natural beauty but the vastness of the wilderness surrounding the various campgrounds. I knew we were in the boondocks and on an adventure. As a teenager and young adult many good times were had on our church group swimming and/or camping trips. It was all about the fellowship and just plain fun without having “adult” life to clutter our thoughts and enjoyment. Now as an official card carrying adult I find myself forgetting about the adult life clutter while enjoying the various recreational offerings that Baker Lake has to offer (well mostly, more on that later…). Every trip to the lake, whether it be to fish, collect berries, hike, swim or some combination of… I am stunned by the natural beauty a day at Baker Lake has to offer. We truly have a gift in our backyards.

# 2

Although I went home with 3 fish I rated this trip a 5. With 7 or 8 take downs and a handful of drive bys I had ample opportunity to put to 5 in the box. I lost some fish to strange circumstances and others just weren’t meant to be. I think that overall the fishing was slow and I had to dig deep to figure them out. Not lights out fishing but all fish caught proved to be an exciting nemesis.

The trip was kind of a on again/off again deal. My work computer blew up this week and as a result I got really far behind on my various administrative tasks. I thought that I was going to have to work this weekend but sockeye fever got the best of me. Decision made, I headed out the door in a rainstorm. After a foggy, rainy drive I arrived at the Panorama Point launch around 2:00-2:30 Saturday morning. To my surprise my trusty head lamp was dead so in the pitch black darkness it was a slow process getting the boat ready and launching. Boat launched and underway, the boat and I were punching through true darkness in a light wind, rain and fog. Knowing that the lake level was high and that there would be floating debris I took it slow and arrived at the far end of the lake around 4:15 or so. My usual plan is to meter around and look for meter marks getting a feel for where to start. The problem was that I was not seeing any meter marks, where were the 10,000+ sockeye PSE has dumped in the lake?

As daylight broke I got to business and started fishing. Utilizing my 2 pole endorsement I deployed my standby sockeye gear tipped with cured shrimp on one side of the boat and reserved the other side as my test bed. The first trip or two of the Baker Lake season each year I test the new offerings that my sockeye crazed mind congers up during the off season. My standby setup is a Smile Blade in line with a stack of beads on a two hook leader. With a few exceptions when fishing for sockeye I run the lure 8-14 inches behind an “0” dodger. I tip the lure with purple, magenta or orange cured shrimp. Saturday I was not seeing any meter marks so I started out running at 28’ with plans to chase meter marks. ” On the other side of the boat I was cycling through different setups. I was running my current sockeye fly, an adaption to the “Coho Killer“ and a few other ideas that I had dreamt up in the off season. I had action at varying depths with no real target depth.

Right off the bat the modified “Coho Killer” got whacked but it turned out to be a respectable dolly. I re-bait the Coho Killer and send it back down. I had barely got my hands off the rigger when it gets crushed. The take-down was so hard that the whole boat shuttered and the fight was on. I was in traffic so I buttoned the drag down a bit to try to keep the fish under control. Not a good idea because after multiple aerial displays the leader snaps and I lose both the Coho Killer and the first Baker Lake sockeye of the year. While re-rigging the “test rod” my standby setup goes off. This fish had a whole different character, it would make long blistering runs right the surface. After an extended battle my first Baker Lake sockeye of 2016 was on ice. From that point it became a hunt, there are 10,000 fish in the lake but I was not seeing any meter marks. I didn’t know if my speed, bait or presentation was wrong. I was getting the occasional kokanee or dolly but no sockeye were interested in my efforts, something had to change!

Knowing that there were a mess of sockeye in the lake I went searching for them. I trolled up on to the flats at the extreme east lobe of the lake. I started seeing a few meter marks in 40-50’ of water and adjusted the riggers accordingly. First fish to come out and play put up a great fight but we were separated by a log. I tried to work it down around the end of the log and the dodger caught on a branch or split in the log and suddenly it was sockeye 2, Rseas 1. Up on the flats, while weaving through and fending off the logs and other floating debris I hook one more fish. It came unbuttoned while I was trying to net it amiss a bunch of floating debris in the eddy at the back of my boat. Sockeye 3/Rseas 1 I continued my search. Lesson learned I went looking for cleaner water. While trolling down along the south east side of the east/west lobe and just west of Noisy Creek I had another solid take down but for whatever reason lost it after a couple jumps. Now, Lake 4/Rseas 1 I’m starting to get a complex. Still not seeing any meter marks I am really scratching my head and needed to think out of the box. This year’s fish were not where they should be so I went down by the old waterfall to have a look.

Along the old riverbed and falls there were a number of fish on the meter but no biters so I moved on. I decided to try looking in shallower water along the shelves and BINGO, I found large numbers of fish stacked up in 30-50’ of water. It was noon-plus so I didn’t expect much but I got after it anyway. I ran my standard sockeye gear at 18-28’ on onside of the boat and went totally non-standard with the second rod. I took the dodger off, tied up a 6’ leader setup for a modified Coho Killer and ran the rig with a 50-60’ setback. Right off the bat I add two more sockeye to the ice chest, one on the standard sockeye gear and one on my Modified Coho killer. Shortly thereafter, I get a double but started with the wrong fish, I ended up losing # 1 to a submerged tree or something under the water. The second fish had pulled the line between the motor and back of the boat and when I went to tilt the motor to clear it, the line got pinched on something and broke. Now Lake 6/Rseas 3 but I was feeling a bit better.

I fished the area for another hour with a few more drive bys and a couple more lost fish. But as luck may have it the very area that I found fish is also had cell reception and I got a text. Thinking what the double toothpicks! I read the text and it turned out we had a bit of an issue to be dealt with at home. I had planned to spend the night on the boat and finish what I had started but it was not meant to be and I headed for the barn. Variable weather and all it was an incredible day on Baker Lake. I felt that my skills were challenged making every fish a gift from the fish gods. I do not know what size the average Baker Lake sockeye is this year but my three fish were beautiful, bright 7.5-9.8 pound fish, absolute quality and I can’t wait to get back up there.

NorseNW

7/10/2016 9:59:00 PM

Nice report. Thank you for the great information and sharing your trip. Baker is one of my "one of those days" trips - hopefully. Can those fillets get any more red. Awesome

sickbayer

7/11/2016 5:35:00 AM

great read there. thanks for posting it.

sickbayer

7/11/2016 5:35:00 AM

great read there. thanks for posting it.

Xwisconyfisherman

7/11/2016 6:52:00 AM

Great report and beautiful pictures! I may have to make the trek over there just to check out that view!

dgvinson

7/11/2016 7:22:00 AM

Enjoyed your rendition of your fishing trip! I was able to be there Thursday through Saturday morning and it was a great trip. I also had a hard time getting them interested to bite on Friday and Saturday. The average size seemed bigger and was surprised we caught more wild than hatchery. Where was the shallow area you found them?

mitch184

7/11/2016 8:13:00 AM

We marked a ton of fish in front of Noisy Creek all weekend, they just didn't bite well. The fish are there, just off the bite due to something. yo-yoyo-ing barometer, floating masses of logs, 300 boats, decent current the lake... who knows.

The more troubling thing is, with all this pressure we may have started kiling off the majority of the biters over the years now. Think back 4 years when the river and lake were on fire, with a smaller return to boot. It happens all over the state with hatchery fish. Catch all the biters year in and year out, soon the only ones that spawn are non-biters.

Steelheader_1977

7/11/2016 9:14:00 AM

Well this report makes me feel better, that the weekend was not as bad as everyone was saying. I just started fishing the lake last year and have not learned all of the areas yet, where are the shelves at that you where talking about.

Also if you don't mind, your modified coho killer, did you just modify an actual coho killer and put smaller hook on it?

UNC1985

7/11/2016 10:32:00 AM

Really appreciate your report. I've never fished on Baker or successfully in any lake. I took away a few tips. 1-be aware of all of the surroundings and dont over think the issue, 2- continue making slight adjustments, 3- remember that the most experienced anglers go home with empty coolers and 4- expect to invest 8 hours or more to limit

afk

7/11/2016 5:55:00 PM

Thanks Randy for another great read.Those fish are easily twice if not 3 times the size of the fish at Brewster. I believe we have the same filet table. (See my report from below Wells.) Sorry to hear your trip got cut short. I'm sure with any luck Tony will twist your arm to get back up there.
Thanks for the report. Andy

DjButler

7/12/2016 6:37:00 AM

Hey it was nice to finally meet you in person! thanks for the report. Hopefully ill see ya out on the water again sometime soon.

Toni

7/13/2016 4:21:00 AM

Wonderful report.

Fish Dawg

7/14/2016 4:25:00 PM

Thanks for sharing another great report, Randy. Was up there 10th -12th and had a similar experience going only 3 for 11 over the 3 days and losing fish in all manner of weird ways. Appreciate the tips on searching out the fish. We explored some but probably didn't extend our search grid far enough.

You've restored my faith and got my mind churning on things to test on my next trip to Baker and I couldn't agree more about the special and unspoiled nature of the place. While the fish are a great challenge and a treat to bring home, I can never really be disappointed about a trip to fish Baker. Even if I come home empty handed I always feel like my soul got a refill!

Sorry you didn't get the opportunity to camp. The berries at our site were off the charts abundant and perfectly ripe.

Leave a Comment:

Login

Flag

×

Why is this comment inappropriate?

Close Submit

Delete this comment? Provide reason.

No Yes

Edit

×

Cancel Save