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Just built up my new boat and now have a fish finder and downrigger to better target the fish. I spent Sunday, Monday and Tuesday up at Baker looking for the Sockeye. Everyone was talking about it being the worst year they've seen up there. I hoped for better things and hit the water at sunrise each morning and fished various parts of the north end of the lake with the fleet. Using my thermometer I found the water at 50 ft was 52 degrees which is suppose to be ideal for Sockeye so I started there trolling a 5 bladed flashlight, dodger with an extra bend and a pink wiggle hoochie tipped with coon shrimp and covered in bloody garlic tuna. Around 7:30 the first morning I got the first fish on and landed a nice but little Sockeye. Nothing huge but a lot of fun to get the skunk off. It was really cool as I saw the school the on fish finder and then as I move my head over to the rod saying...this is it...it was! But for the rest of the day I didn't have another bite nor did I pick up any fish on the sounder. Monday morning was also slow until about 7:30 when the rod started dancing. I reeled down and popped it from the DR clip and felt it was till there. Not fighting much though and I reel it into the boat...damn, a Kokanee. It's a nice 12 incher so I keep it. But that was it for Monday. Tuesday I slept in a bit and hit the water at 6 and headed to the middle of the lake away from most of the fleet and at 7:30 I had a NICE fish on. It was running hard and I enjoyed our battle. It wore out eventually and just as I was getting my net from the holder my line slacked....what....I pull up and my leader snapped at the top hook...argh. Of he went with my pink hoochie in the corner of his mouth. About 30 minutes later I got another nice Kok and kept it. But no other fish on. I did see the activity pick up though as a few people got some fish. Hopefully that means that things are turning around up there and the bite will come back on. No matter what, as my first time to Baker Lake I loved the place. I was sunny and warm and the views of the mountains and forest along with the emerald green of the lake were amazing.

4n6fisher

7/27/2016 4:33:00 PM

Nice job getting at least one of those to the boat. Nice looking setup there. Does the downrigger mount right on the side, built in bracket?

john maher

7/27/2016 8:06:00 PM

Congrats on the new boat! I just got a new Saturn too. Mine is the sd290. Itching to get it out and try it at Baker. Question....those dolly wheels...are they the clamp on kind or did you have to drill holes in the transom? How did the downrigger track? I heard that if it put in the middle, the boat tends to turn on itself.

franzjmartin

7/28/2016 7:14:00 AM

4n6fisher, to get the mounts for the rod holders, depth finder and downrigger I used the Scotty Glue-On Mounts which where glued on using HH-66 PVC Glue. On the Glue-On mounts you connect the Scotty Deck Mounts and then the various items snap into those. I can still fold up the boat without an issue

franzjmartin

7/28/2016 7:22:00 AM

John Maher, I am really impressed with the Saturn KaBoat and I hope you enjoy your SD290. I put on two types of Dolly wheels. On the rear I drilled holes and put on Dolly Mounts. Here is a great video of the install and the exact ones I purchased: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0lHlE3mXrU. Then towards the front of the boat I slide under it the kayak dolly which has a 12' strap to hold it in place. Then I just use the rope that goes around the boat and has a nice loop at the front to pull it from my car to the boat ramp. Once I wheel it in the water wearing my hip waders I flip up the transom wheels and pull the kayak dolly and use removable tie wraps to put them up on the bow like you see in the picture and I'm good to go. On the downrigger tracking, it did fine and there is a small advantage of it slightly pulling the boat to the right in that to go straight you have to turn the trolling motor slightly to the right to go straight but that actually makes it more comfortable when sitting in the swivel seat. the only time I notice a real tracking issue is if the DR ball is down and I shut the motor off then the boat spins to the right fairly quickly. But that's a pretty rare situation like when I'm doing the slowdown and speed-up to entice a strike. Happy to provide you any other details if you have a future questions. Enjoy your new boat and get up to Baker...it's really beautiful up there.

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