Baker Lake Sockeye

[h2ofowlr]

Skunked today, on the water at 5 came back in at 10 only saw a few nets all morning, the fish truck is still hauling them in, note on door said 18,000 plus so far!

You fishing the dam or N. end ?

North end, camped at Swift Creek hit the water early and used couple different color dodgers. Dropped down about 40-50 feet slowest I could get was 1 to 1.2 with my kicker. Used small pink Hootchie with a smile blade about 8 inches behind the dodger with shrimp, and oil. One thing I heard at the boat ramp as we were leaving is guys were clipping their gear right to the down rigger ball, not sure if it makes a difference, but I was running standard salmon length from down rigger ball, 10-15 feet. Hope you get some!

I attach my release to the ball, so the scotty release to my line is about 3' behind it.  This allows a finned ball to track correctly.  When I saltwater fish, I run a double release and clip one about 2'-3' above the ball to my gear as the ball can get drug across the bottom at times.  No reason to do it fishing suspended unless you don't like to lean over the rail to clip gear.  We usually run our gear 15'-20' behind the releases.
If your kicker is running to quick, get some socks aka drag bags.  That will slow you down so you can run .08, .09.

[RB]

Skunked today, on the water at 5 came back in at 10 only saw a few nets all morning, the fish truck is still hauling them in, note on door said 18,000 plus so far!

You fishing the dam or N. end ?

North end, camped at Swift Creek hit the water early and used couple different color dodgers. Dropped down about 40-50 feet slowest I could get was 1 to 1.2 with my kicker. Used small pink Hootchie with a smile blade about 8 inches behind the dodger with shrimp, and oil. One thing I heard at the boat ramp as we were leaving is guys were clipping their gear right to the down rigger ball, not sure if it makes a difference, but I was running standard salmon length from down rigger ball, 10-15 feet. Hope you get some!

I attach my release to the ball, so the scotty release to my line is about 3' behind it.  This allows a finned ball to track correctly.  When I saltwater fish, I run a double release and clip one about 2'-3' above the ball to my gear as the ball can get drug across the bottom at times.  No reason to do it fishing suspended unless you don't like to lean over the rail to clip gear.  We usually run our gear 15'-20' behind the releases.
If your kicker is running to quick, get some socks aka drag bags.  That will slow you down so you can run .08, .09.

Cool thanks, did not think about bags to slow down. Have caught hundreds of Salmon over the years, but have never caught a Sockeye. Each time I go for the dang things just never seems to be the right technique, will try this next time. 

[WAcoueshunter]

Are you marking the fish at 40-50’?  Obviously that’s super important, to be at the level of the fish. A little slower is better, I too have problems getting my boat to troll slow enough for sockeye. Drag socks or buckets. I suspect they are attaching short direct to the ball because a metal dodger at slow speeds will sink, so shorter allows you to better have your gear at the depth you are seeing fish on the screen.

[RB]

Are you marking the fish at 40-50’?  Obviously that’s super important, to be at the level of the fish. A little slower is better, I too have problems getting my boat to troll slow enough for sockeye. Drag socks or buckets. I suspect they are attaching short direct to the ball because a metal dodger at slow speeds will sink, so shorter allows you to better have your gear at the depth you are seeing fish on the screen.

Couple boats that we passed that had fish said that is where they were hitting that day was marking fish literally everywhere!

[h2ofowlr]

Are you marking the fish at 40-50’?  Obviously that’s super important, to be at the level of the fish. A little slower is better, I too have problems getting my boat to troll slow enough for sockeye. Drag socks or buckets. I suspect they are attaching short direct to the ball because a metal dodger at slow speeds will sink, so shorter allows you to better have your gear at the depth you are seeing fish on the screen.

The single 0 dodger will stay fairly parallel or rise at .7 - 1.2mph as it kicks from side to side.  If you go below .5 it will sink down from my experience and using release cams.  I can also pick up my gear on my Garmin fish finder.
 You get much above 1.4 and they can start to spin.  Never tried to catch them above 1.2 mph, but I have seen boats crusing past us running bigger motors, but I don't know what kind of luck they have or what their gear is doing down below.  I try to keep the gear a bit farther back, so the fish don't see the cables along with keeping the harmonics from any vibration from the trolling motor away from my terminal tackle.
Another thought about running your gear further back will also keep the sockeye from wrapping around your downrigger cable.  When the sockeye hit they shoot up to the surface in many cases.  To short may cause you issues with downriggers.  Some boats just run banana weights or cannonballs to avoid the tangle ups.  Used to run 10oz at 25' up front, 8oz at 35' mid boat and 6oz off the back at 45' & 50' and dialed my speed to steadily .08 mph.  That had the rods in the zones and they fished well.  Slower speeds placing a bend in the lower 1/4 of the dodger helped make it whip better and increased the strikes.

[pickardjw]

Just saw they upped it to 5 fish last friday. Didn't come close to that but would've been nice to know, we thought it was still 3 all weekend. Is there a way to get like, text alerts or emails for emergency fishing rule changes?

[chukar58]

Just saw they upped it to 5 fish last friday. Didn't come close to that but would've been nice to know, we thought it was still 3 all weekend. Is there a way to get like, text alerts or emails for emergency fishing rule changes?

WDFW has an emergency rule change email notification you can sign up for on the web page and keeps you up to date.

[pickardjw]

Just saw they upped it to 5 fish last friday. Didn't come close to that but would've been nice to know, we thought it was still 3 all weekend. Is there a way to get like, text alerts or emails for emergency fishing rule changes?

WDFW has an emergency rule change email notification you can sign up for on the web page and keeps you up to date.

Is that the general email list linked below or is there a specific sign up for emergency rule changes? Don't really want to get spammed with a ton of crap from them but maybe it's not so bad / good to be informed anyway.

https://wdfw.wa.gov/about/lists

[3nails]

 Spent the week at Baker and camped at Swift Creek. Had to leave to get new punch cards. With over 50 sockeye in the freezers I better not go back. 

[TSLPE]

Going up to swift creek campground tomorrow. How is the boat trailer parking? Can you launch by yourself? Wife is going but not sure how much she will be able to help.

[RB]

Going up to swift creek campground tomorrow. How is the boat trailer parking? Can you launch by yourself? Wife is going but not sure how much she will be able to help.

Boat ramp is good as long as there is not a boat moored right by the launch. Had no troubles launching and retrieving by myself.

[h2ofowlr]

29,406 have been placed in the lake.  I heard it was slow last week for many.  This change up in weather might help the bite.  Some folks have it dialed in and do decent while others may catch 1, 2 or skunked.  Interesting how it works.  Lots of variables.  Scents, bait, leader lenght, setups, speed, etc.

[pickardjw]

First batch from Baker on 7/16/23 just got a taste test. My best result to date from a half dozen attempts. I was going to share a lot of it but may horde it for myself now...

Need to fill the freezer more so I can have this stuff year round!

[h2ofowlr]

Sockeye and Kokanee smoke up excellent.  Great flavor.