Sockeye and kings and crab, oh my! Too many top fisheries and too little time to hit ‘em all.
Many will probably opt this weekend for the start of the very popular Baker Lake sockeye season, opening tomorrow and running through Sept. 7 with a four-fish daily limit. This small salmon with the meal appeal will draw a big crowd to the limited Forest Service boat ramps, for sure. Other than that, however, what’s not to like about the fishery? Clean water, an almost wilderness setting and, with Mount Baker looming over your shoulder, world class scenery. If you’re absolutely forced to go out and catch a fish, Baker Lake makes the job relatively painless.
Monday’s trap count at Lower Baker Dam was 1,351 sockeye; the total number trapped to that point was 8,893; and 6,881 had been transferred to the lake. Since that number is nearly three times state biologist Brett Barkdull’s rule of thumb for “decent” fishing, the opener — and the season — should be gunnysack.
If you imagine the lake as an upside-down letter “L” with the short leg pointing east, the bulk of the fishing pressure will be along the south shoreline of the short leg, from the bend uplake to Noisy Creek, over the inundated Baker River channel. But that’s a hangover from the first season, when that area produced almost all the sockeye. Anglers have since found good populations of fish a lot of places, from the bend uplake.
Daily use and trailer parking is available only at Forest Service campgrounds: Swift Creek, Panorama Point, Horseshoe Cove (for a $5 daily use fee) and the Puget Sound Energy facility, Kulshan Campground, just above Upper Baker Dam. The launch farthest uplake is at Shannon Creek campground, but boat trailer parking there is available only to registered campers. That makes Swift Creek and Panorama Point the closest to the fishing, but also the most crowded. If your boat will handle the job, you might want to launch down at Horseshoe Cove or Kulshan, and run uplake. Remember, however, that running back down at the end of the fishing day, into the teeth of a brisk southwesterly, might get a little gnarly.
Snohomish resident and kokanee guide John Thomas (he guides on Lake Stevens among other places, but commercial activity is forbidden on Baker Lake) likes to fish the area off Noisy Creek and the whole north end of the lake. He recommends an 8-inch dodger in chrome, pink or white, and 10 to 12 inches of 30- or 40-pound leader — heavy enough to prevent fish from rolling up and cutting themselves off on the dodger. His lure would be a 3- or 4-inch pink mini-squid rigged with two 1/0 or 2/0 pink Gamakatsu hooks. Tipping the top hook with a chunk of prawn will increase your chances, he says.
The fish can be anywhere between 12 feet and 60 feet, Thomas says, making a fish finder helpful but not critical. The same applies to downriggers — if you have ‘em, use ‘em, but you can usually get down deep enough with a diver, 6-ounce crescent sinker, or drop weights. Keep moving on a slow troll and trying different depths until you locate the schools.
Call the Mount Baker Ranger District at 360-856-5700; or PSE Kulshan campground at 360-853-8341; or go online to Baker Lake Boater Information — Washington; Baker Lake Salmon Fishing; or Baker Lake Boater Rules and Access Sites Information
Summer kings
Opening July 16 is another huge fishery — for adult fin-clipped hatchery kings in Marine Area 9 (Area 10 isn’t included this year), Admiralty Inlet and central Sound from the Possession Point/shipwreck line south to Edmonds. This one, the experts say, will probably reach quota in three to five days and be shut down, so get on it fast.
All Star Charters owner Gary Krein says he will start the season either on outer Possession Bar, at 120 to 150 feet, or on the shoreline between Point No Point and Pilot Point, at 90 to 120 feet. On Possession Bar He’ll go with a green or white Gibbs flasher, 36 to 40 inches of leader, and a Gold Star spoon, 31/2 or 4 inches, in green/white or black/white. On the Kitsap Peninsula side, he would change the spoon to a white Coho Killer — the smaller spoon because of a preponderance of smaller candlefish in the area.
Nick Kester, also of All Star Charters, will run out to the Port Townsend area and fish the outer edge of Midchannel Bank, on a line from Marrowstone Point to Point Wilson, starting at 90 feet and working out to 140 or 150 feet, always trolling with the tide. He’ll go with a red or white/glow Gibbs Flasher, 40 to 46 inches of leader, and a Coho Killer in white lightning, Cookies ‘N Cream, or Irish Cream.
“If you can’t get ‘em on one of those three, they ain’t there,” Kester said.
He said reports of chinook action farther out the strait have been good, and so were the number of kings hooked incidentally to the coho fishery earlier, in Marine Area 10. Krein said the hatchery kings in past seasons have averaged 11 to 15 pounds, with a scattering of fish to the mid-20s.
Ducks and dogs
Don’t forget the July 18 State Duck Calling Championship and Duck Dog Challenge coming up at Monroe and sponsored by the Washington Waterfowl Association. More information and online registration at 2015 Washington State Duck Calling Championship.
Humpy info
Cabela’s Tulalip will host a day of free pink salmon seminars, designed to help anglers get ready for the big humpy run expected this summer, on July 11, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The seminars include: Successful River Techniques for Pinks, Jennifer Stahl of NW Fishing Guides; Puget Sound Pink Fishing, Nick Kester of All Star Charters; Catching Pinks with Spoons, Doug Saint-Denis; and Fly Fishing for Pinks, Mike Benbow.
For more information and seminar times, go to www.cabelas.com/tulalip, or call 360-474-4590.
Fish and Wildlife budget
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife apparently weathered the recent legislative budget negotiations in pretty decent shape. Department spokesman Bruce Botka, in Olympia, said in a release, “We feel good overall about the outcome. Most importantly, lawmakers provided sufficient funding to ensure that WDFW will not need to lay off staff or close facilities to make ends meet over the next two years.”
Botka said the capital budget outcome was also quite positive, with funding for several major projects included.
For more outdoor news, read Wayne Kruse’s blog at www.heraldnet.com/huntingandfishing.
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