A three day report! A rare occasion at my end and this report covers the Baker Lake CCA Sockeye Derby held 7/29-7/31/2016. First, have I ever mentioned how absolutely beautiful Baker Lake is? I have fished in numerous places all around the world and although each location/fishing opportunity has been memorable I absolutely love the Baker Lake Sockeye fishery and eagerly look forward to it each year.

Anticipating a 3 day fishing trip Thursday rolls around and I had figured that my workday would be trouble free. After starting at 3:00 am in anticipation of an early afternoon trip to Baker Lake it turned out that I was still working at 5:00 in the afternoon. Final issue resolved I hastily pack, hitch up the boat and head out of dodge. Arriving at the lake early evening the mosquitoes and I checked Swift Creek, Panorama Point and Horseshoe campgrounds for a first come first serve or a cancelation campsite with no luck. I considered sleeping in the back of the truck at one of the boat ramps but I was already being eaten alive so I thought that I would try Kulshan down by the dam. Apparently they were saving the last site for a mosquitogeddon survivor so I backed the rig in, set up camp (less a sleeping pad) and prepped for my upcoming Baker Lake adventure.

3:00 rolls around and 15 minutes later I was in line to launch, yes, in line… There were only a couple boats ahead of me so the launch was a quick one and in short order I was able to slide the boat up on the beach without any problems. A couple buddies were just arriving so we swapped game plans and fish stories while we prepped our gear for an hour or so before we headed out in the dark. The hub-bub at the beach was that there were fish to be had but the fishing was tough. I decided to meter around and see if I could find any schools before I got to business. Finding a few groups of fish at the south end of the lake I marked them and worked out a game plan.

As it was just starting to get light I went gear down, well almost anyway. Before I got the second set of gear to depth the first rod goes off and I was into a fish. I knew that it was not a sockeye and figured with the weight that I had hooked a large dolly. In the glow of my head lamp my suspicion was confirmed. The fish was probably in the 8-9 pound range and had hawked up a partially digested kokanee. As I was preparing to net the fish to remove the hook it opens its mouth and spits out another kokanee. Thinking what the heck I realize that the second kokanee was on my hook and the dolly’s breakfast. As the dolly lazily returned to the depths I was thinking that it was an interesting start and a first for my boat.

Now actually daylight and my two rods were doing their thing but I couldn’t find the schools I had marked on the GPS earlier. I decided work the east shoreline as I headed north. As I got in the vicinity of Anderson Point one of the riggers shutters and the clip releases. After an intense fight I was able to slide the net under an absolute chromer and my first sockeye of the weekend. The fish gobbled up one of my modified Coho Killers running behind a white “O” dodger tipped with a piece of uncured shrimp. I was running the rig at 43’ at about 1.0 mph. From that point it was a long slug as I worked up towards Maple Grove. A buddy had sent a couple texts but with the spotty reception they were not timely, basically hot bite out in front of sandy Creek and then bite has died. 10:30 or so I decided to pull the gear and head for the far end of the lake.

As I motored around the bend and headed east towards Silver Creek I’m thinking what the heck there’s no one here. At about Silver creek and trolling the 40-60’ line I send the gear down. Not seeing any meter marks I continue around towards the Shannon Creek side. As I made the loop past Chadwick Creek one of the rods starts the sockeye two step and I am fish on. The fish was hot and put up a classic Baker Lake sockeye fight. After a number of long runs and aerial displays I was able to slide the net under a very nice fish. The fish hit a spinner setup running behind a chrome “0” dodger. The hook was tipped with orange cured shrimp and hit at 38’. I hooked a few more fish and lost them before I decided that I was tired of the wind and headed towards Swift Creek for day one of the CCA the weigh in. the derby is a cleaned fish weigh in so I shut down out of the wind, broke out the Coho Cleaner and flopped a fish in to clean it. Whoops one of the hooks was not secure and the fish slid out and headed for the bottom. Being more careful with the next, I clean the bigger one and head for weigh in. My fish was in first place but with two more days to go I had work to do, more fish to catch. End of day one I was 2 for 5 and lesson learned; focus on the spinner setups.

Day two and a 2:00 get up has me floating by 2:30. After the usual beach party I head out towards Maple Grove in the dark and was gear down well before the daybreak. Knowing that my plan was to run spinner setups; I was stubborn and ran one of my modified Coho Killer rigs on one side of the boat and a beaded spinner on the other side. Again, right off the bat I am fish on but apparently the dollies like Coho Killers. After a brief fight I safely release a 20+ inch very flat headed member of the char family and put the Coho Killers away. I know that sockeye will eat them but my target was sockeye so out goes another spinner setup.

With the exception of an, I’m an idiot moment day two was kind of routine and uneventful. I fished the Maple Grove – Sandy Creek area and settled in to a slow pick on the sockeye going 3 for 8 with many kokanee thrown in to keep me alert. “I’m an idiot”, yup and admit it often. Saturday’s lapse of judgment dealt with my bladder. In the initial phases of the Pee-Pee dance on arrival in the Swift Creek I clean the fish and head in to the dock to weigh in. Having progressed from the initial phase of the dance to full on dance-o-rama I headed for the bathroom before I weighed in. I set the fish down in the shade and headed in to, well you know. When I came out my fish were gone. The weigh in staff was flabbergasted but there was nothing that could be done. I headed back down the lake to camp feeling a bit stupid but eagerly anticipating the CCA derby BBQ scheduled for later Saturday evening. Day 2, 3 (or 0) for 8 and lesson learned; spinners, orange cured shrimp and to better manage natures call… The CCA BBQ was excellent and the resident CCA chef Tony did an awesome job with the site smoked pulled pork. In talking with the gang during the event I offered to take a shore bound CCA board member out for the final day of fishing.

Sunday morning, day 3 I had a guest fisherman and a plan. Knowing that weigh in closed at 11:00 we were going to stick close to the Kulshan launch and fish out in front of the Sandy Creek area. At 10:00 I was pulling the plug and heading towards the weigh in. My guest arrived at 5:00 and by 5:30 we were fishing. After a kickoff kokanee we settled in to a consistent pick on the sockeye.

Our spread of spinner rigs had a number of light biters but many fish committed and came out to play. Orange was the color of the day. I was running spinner blades on a stack of beads 9” behind a chrome “0” dodger at 1.0 mph. All of our action was at 48-58’ on the wire and in 100-120 feet of water in the area of Sandy Creek. Watching the time at 10:00 I made the call and said we were pulling the gear to head in, or so I thought.

As I made the call one of the rods goes off and it was my turn up to bat. As I grabbed the rod is was clear that this was not your average BL sockeye. The fish was on the bullet train out of town. The fish made the longest run of any Baker Lake sockeye that I have hooked. Then all of a sudden the line goes slack. Broken main line? No, the crazed fish had done a 180 and was headed straight back at the boat, at one point jumping numerous times while facing directly at me. Dragging a dodger this leviathan of the lake and I locked eyes; it was determined to get away and me telling it I think not as we engaged in battle. The fish tried every trick in the book to regain its freedom; including a trip around the downrigger cables and one of the other lines. In a final reach for freedom the fish shook the hook as we slipped the net under it. The fish was in the net and I had won but the fish felt otherwise. When I looked at the time it was well after 10:00 and I was pushing my weigh in window.

We hastily secured the gear, headed in and loaded the boat on the trailer. I made a mad dash for Swift creek but missed the weigh in by about 12 minutes and although I didn’t know it at the time the fish had won. I stayed for the awards ceremony but my Friday entry did not hold up for one of the top three cash prizes. I heard that I was 4th but I did not confirm and they only announced the child derby merchandise, average weight and top three cash prizes. I did win a raffle prize of a tackle box with a gift certificate for Cascade Burger inside, the perfect raffle prize for our family!

The CCA Baker lake derby was well run and the friendly competition made for a great weekend. I look forward to next year’s event. After I got home and starting to put things away but before I filleted the weekend’s catch I decided to weigh the fish that made me late for weigh in. I dug out my tournament scale and weighted my crazed opponent, I reset the scale and weighed it again. I even weighed it on a different scale and the fish weighed 7.12 pounds cleaned. The fish was bigger than the first place fish by 0.2 pounds, the fish had truly won!

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