OK, it took longer than expected to get this out. You would think that being newly retired I would have some spare time available. I think that when I was working I was forced to organize or schedule my time and say no when there wasn’t time to do something. Now, I just keep plowing ahead and try to do too much… Enough about my faults and poor time management skills; on to my recent Baker lake fishing adventure.

I took the boat up to Baker Lake Wednesday July 26th with plans to sleep in and kick back on Thursday and then fish the CCA derby Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Oddly 2:30 Thursday morning rolls around and I’m wide awake. Heck, I was up so I splashed the boat and was headed up the lake by 3:30. My newly formulated plan was to scout in advance of the derby, while focusing on shallower water. Arriving at my chosen starting point in the dark I just metered around while I waited for the first glimmers of dawn’s light before going gear down.

As dawn approached, bringing enough light to actually see what I was doing the meter was showing a ton of fish in about 25’ of water by Miller Creek so I went gear down. Well sort of anyway; utilizing my two pole endorsement I fished one rig on the surface and one at about 8’ on the downrigger. The downrigger side was set first and before I had the surface line out more than 20’ or so my downrigger boom shutters and the next thing I knew there was a fish jumping somewhere out in the predawn light. I point the boat away from the shore, grab the rod and prepare for battle. As the boat turned away from the shore the surface line goes off and now I had two fish on.

It was probably quite the show because I had an audience closing in on my boat (more on that later). Not really planning to fish Thursday I had decided to release anything that I caught and save my 2-day possession limit for the 3 day run of the CCA Derby. First fish at the boat with the net still stowed I grabbed the dodger and release hook then quickly released a very nice hen. The second fish turned out to be a dolly so it was also released. It was now more or less light out and my exploits had attracted quite a crowd. It was time to move on and find a new batch of fish. That said…

There seems to be a new fish finding method up at Baker Lake. Numerous times over the 4 days that I or we fished over the weekend, when I/we had a hook up someone would tuck in right behind my boat. I know that the Baker Lake sockeye fishery can be a bit crowded and that sometimes lines cross or trolling lanes converge but people would maneuver their boats to within a few feet of the back of my boat and try to take advantage of a snappy school of sockeye. At one point; just after we hooked a fish, a boat trolling 25’ away but on a parallel course with our boat did a 90 degree turn and tucked in right behind our boat. During his turn, our rod tips were almost touching. I know that this year the fishing has been tough but it is not about bringing fish home. It is the experience and natural beauty that makes the Baker Lake sockeye fishery special. Although during a given season we end up with plenty of Baker Lake sockeye in the freezer I love the challenge of figuring them out on a given day. I enjoy a tremendous sense of satisfaction in finding a school of fish and then figuring them out. The “Tuck and Troll” method of finding fish is new this year and although effective but please try to give the other boats some space.

Thursday, I ended up hooking and releasing 4 fish by about 9 or 10 and then just went exploring. I went looking for fish metering around all over the lake. Most of the schools of fish that I saw were in shallower water, water less than 50’ deep. By the time I was back on the trailer Thursday I figured that Friday, the first day of CCA derby would a slam-fest. Apparently, I was wrong…

Fishing the derby solo on Friday I launched at 3:15 and headed up the lake in the dark. I had planned to start fishing on a shallow flat where I had metered large numbers of fish while scouting on Thursday. Arriving in the dark, the water below was an aquatic desert. On to “Plan B”, problem was that after the day before ½ the other boats in the lake were working on my plan B. Ok then, Plan C. I found some fish on another shallow flat and started trolling. In short order, I hooked a fish but lost it before I even got the net out. A short while later I got into a double but to prevent crossed lines I switched rods in mid fight losing both fish. From that point my Friday was a bust. I had a few additional drive-bys but put nothing in the box. Oh well, I still had 2 more days.

Karen joined me to fish the derby Saturday and Sunday. After some dam campfire intel or maybe that should be “some campfire intel about the dam area” we decided to start fishing at the dam Saturday morning. Shortly after going gear down we were able to put a fish on ice. Then we have a double and put one more fish in the box. From that point, the bite slowed so we headed for the other end of the lake. We worked a trolling lane that I had worked on Thursday and started a slow pick on sockeye. By 1:00 we had 7 fish in the box, a couple of lost fish and several drive-buys but we had to head for the weigh-in. Sunday was more of the same; a few fish in the box, a few lost fish and drive-bys.

By intent I haven’t yet mentioned any gear or fishing methods. Every day the fishery was different; Thursday for my boat it was an all spinner show. Friday, I never really figured them out. Saturday the fish had a preference for mini hoochies and Sunday was Smile Blades and beads. There was no real set depth we fished. Generally, we chased meter marks and most of our fish were meter mark fish. Some would follow for ages before committing. We would watch them on the meter moving from one rig to the next and back before grabbing the lure/bait combo. The only trend we saw was that the fish wanted the offering slow, 0.8 mph or slower. On any given day, it seemed that the fish wanted orange, pink or a combination of the two. Thursday and Friday, I used garlic tuna shrimp and then Saturday and Sunday we used orange or pink shrimp and no scent.

We had a great derby weekend and although the raffle, dinner and awards ceremony were a wiggle disorganized and off schedule; everybody had a great time. During 4 days of fishing we put 12 fish in the net. Our friend Kenny and his team got the biggest fish and 500.00 gift card for their efforts. I think that there were 68 CCA Derby participants and 69 fish weighed in. I know that are some concerns about the 2017 Baker lake fishery but 1 fish per person is not a bad average.

---