This report covers Thursday thru Sunday, July 23, 24, 25 and 26.

Thursday was my first time fishing Baker Lake, and it made me want to go back for more! Thanks to all the reports on here - I studied them before rigging up and heading out. I launched in my 8-foot pontoon boat with electric trolling motor from the best launch I could find that was closest to my chosen fishing grounds way up the lake, but it was still almost 30-minutes to motor across to where I wanted to fish because my top speed is 3 mph if I have a good breeze at my back. Needless to say, the breeze was not at my back. Anyway, I was running a small Luhr Jensen herring dodger with prism tape on one side, 10 inch leader to 2 tandem red size 1 hooks with an 8mm red bead and a chrome smile blade, and a larger Mack's Double-D dodger with Pink on the other side with a pink hoochie and a smile blade. I rigged smallish cured coonstripe shrimp on both sides. I put them both down around 30 feet on my downriggers to start, and within 30 minutes I had a fish on the herring dodger - which I promptly lost. I then missed 2 more strikes before I hooked a monster of a sockeye that was at least 8 lbs, but after a few great runs, he came unhooked just before I could get the net out. At this point, the pink Mack's dodger had gotten no love, so I changed out that side to a UV sling blade with a bead and orange smile blade on the leader. I had told myself I needed to wrap it up soon because after all it was Thursday and I needed to get to work at some point, so I started trolling slowly back in the direction of my launch. I missed another strike at about 7:30, this time on the sling blade side, so I said ok, I'll give it another 30 minutes. At 8:00, I finally put my first fish in the net, on the sling blade. Then at 8:25, I missed a strike on the sling blade, turned around and my other rod was bouncing - had my second fish by 8:30 and was ready to go home.

Friday I had high hopes, fishing the same spot with the same gear. I landed one by 6:00, missed 2 more strikes, and lost one around 7:00, but that was it for Friday.

Saturday I had a bit more time to fish, but I didn't need it. First fish in the boat by 5:15, 2 missed strikes, then 2nd fish landed at 7:00, and I was done for the day. The second fish took a looong run, jumped 5 times, then jumped a few more times at the boat when I was trying to put the net under him. I love these fish! Then I went home, cleaned my fish, and went to Master Marine in Mt. Vernon to get a part for a 6hp trolling motor so I could take my Dad out on Sunday morning.

After much trial and error Saturday, we had the trolling motor fixed, so we were ready to go EEEEEEARLY on Sunday. We left his driveway at 2:37 and were on the lake by 4:30. This was our first time trolling in a lake from our sled, and it was a learning experience. Once we finally figured out the routine, it went well. It was a beautiful morning to watch the sun rise on the lake, but the fish were not cooperating. We saw only 1 fish landed all morning, then at 7:45, when I was re-starting the trolling motor, the starter rope broke off in my hand. Oh well, at least we weren't missing out on hot fishing. We called it a day and headed home to fix the motor.

---