I fished Baker with my 2 youngest 7-24 & 25. It was a wild trip to say the least. Jeremy and I picked Jeff up after work at 22:10 on Tues. night. We drove straight to Swift Creek campground. The moon was so bright we almost could had gone fishin' right then at 3AM. I didn't want to venture out into unkown waters as well as I'd been told to be aware of drift wood. instead we napped for hour and a half in the parking lot. Oops! We jumped in line to launch and were on the water fishing on the outskirts of everybody else by 05:00. We worked pour way into the flotilla & never saw a net fly for an hour. That particular boat caught a second fish around 6:30! At 7:20 I was shrugging my shoulders & gesturing to another boat that it was dead slow. As he gestured back the same thing, my rod popped of the downrigger! Game on! First ever Baker Lake Sockeye in the boat! 4 LBS 9 OZ male! He came from 50 Ft. on the downrigger. We continued to fish untill around 11:00 before giving into the heat. Although it was only one fish in the boat, We felt extremely fortunate. Many boats were fishless. We estimated 1 fish for every 20 boats.
2 gals from WDFW were working & pulled along side to check us out after boating the one that we did. They asked who punched their card. They had me hold it up so they could see They asked all the usual safety questions and moved on. They were exemplary of what enforcement can and should be. Until, 2 hours later, as I'm trolling around with 4 poles sticking out of the boat, they insist to see that I'm not by myself. I chided them for poor memory as having checked us earlier. I woke the boys and they showed themselves. She explained that if she can't see'em she has to check. Hind sight is I should have had them move closer and look.
After naps I took the boys Knee boarding!
Day 2. We didn't get on the water untill 0500 again! (Teenagers are very hard to move at this time of morning.) Again very slow fishing. Around 06:30 I'm gesturing to another boat about it being slow and I see Jeremys rod start bouncing! We were in heavy traffic and the fish wanted to go behind the boat and around. I sped up and other allowed me to turn and get the fish to the side of the boat. It ran a ways and Jeremy pumped him back. Jeff missed him with the net and then that was it. Fish gone. It was a biggin' too. 6-7LBS. Next Jeffs poles starts bouncing. This one makes it in the boat! 4 LBS. 1 OZ. AS lady luck was shining on us Jeremys rod starts doing the dance again! This time Jeremy gave no slack & Jeff netted on the fiirst go! 3 LBS 6OZ.
We came away with one fish each after 2 days. We felt blessed as many could not say the same.
A big thanks to Bassplayer17! Toni was kind enough to give the information I needed to try a new fishery with confidence ! We had a great trip. Good camping, Huckle & Thimble berry pickin' & fish!
2 fish hit the simple pink 12'' behind a Macks Double D 76 Dodger, 6OZ banana weight at 60 pulls
1 fish hit simple pink behind 00 dodger @ 50' of wire
1 fish hit gaudy pink behind size 1 dodger@ 60' of wire
Fire cured pink prawn or salad shrimp tipped all presentations

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