JoAnn and I decided after the long drive last week to Montana to skip our overnight Baker Lake weekend. But the fishing bug was still biting me so on Sunday we took the dogs and drove up lake Samish for some kokanee action.

The launch was pretty empty for a nice Sunday. I’m guessing the onerous Whatcom County AIS taxation has reduced the angling numbers on this lake. That’s a shame, because the kokanee fishing continues to be really good.

We started trolling the main lake around 7:30am, running four rods, two deep downrigger lines and two mid-depth stackers using Mack’s DD dodgers. Deep rods with hoochie rigs, midline rods with thin blade spoon type set-ups. Bites started around 8am, not super-fast, but we ended up with three koks of 13” and a couple lost. Whining dogs indicated time for a bathroom break so we headed back to the launch and got that out of the way.

Dogs pottied, we went to the small lake and began our troll, same gear and plan. Within minutes we had a couple more fish, a bit smaller, 11-12” fish. Now with five in the boat we continued to work the area, and things again slowed down. Until around 10:45, when a good bite developed in the middle of the lake. Just like that, we had our ten fish limit, off the lake by 11:20. All fish averaged 11-13”, healthy and headed for the smoker.

Next year I think I’ll bite the bullet and cough up the annual pass for the AIS. Wait until they bring it to Baker Lake, ugh.

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