Sockeye salmon finally showed up in force on the Baker River early this week, and state Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel decided Tuesday enough fish were on hand to open a recreational season on Baker Lake. The season opens Saturday.
State biologist Brett Barkdull, in the agency’s La
Conner office, said the run is on target to meet the preseason forecast of 23,000-plus fish, which would be a little larger than the 2010 run. Last year’s fishery — the first in many years on the big impoundment — opened July 22.
Only the lake will open to fishing. The Baker and Skagit rivers will remain closed.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 8,285 sockeye had returned to hatchery facilities, and 3,600 had been released into Baker Lake, Barkdull said, adding “We expect that number to continue to increase as we approach Saturday’s opener.”
Regulations are similar to last year, except the daily limit of adult sockeye has been increased from two fish to three.
More anglers are expected this time around, as word of last year’s very successful initial run has spread, and parking could become a problem. There are five launch facilities on the lake, all on the west side off the Baker Lake Road, but the uppermost, Shannon Creek, will be reserved for cartop boats only and for registered campers. The two ramps in the middle of the lake probably will be the most popular with fishermen — Swift Creek and Panorama Point. Down at the bottom of the lake, and a considerable run from the uplake fishing area, are the Horseshoe Creek and Kulshan campgrounds. Barkdull said Kulshan campground, a Puget Sound Energy facility, probably has the best ramp for larger boats.
Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest public services manager Carol Gladsjo said “all the Forest Service boat ramps are adjacent to campgrounds, so anglers may arrive as early as 4:30 a.m., but day-use hours don’t start until 8 a.m. We ask anglers to be considerate of other forest users.”
Parking is limited. Day parking is available at Kulshan, Horseshoe Cove, Panorama Point and Swift Creek. Fishermen can purchase parking permits at the boat ramps for $5 per day. Overnight parking permits are $8 at Horseshoe Cove and Panorama Point, and $9 at Swift Creek. No other parking passes are honored, and Gladsjo urges anglers to consider visiting during the week when use is not as high.
Staff from several agencies will be in the area to assist. A map showing parking and guidelines is available at www.fs.usda.gov/goto/mbs/fishing, or for more information contact the Mount Baker Ranger District at 360-856-5700.
Baker Lake looks like a bent finger, pointing toward the east, and the best fishing last year was on the upper “joint,” between the bend and Noisy Creek, over the old river channel. Kevin John at Holiday Sports in Burlington said a rule of thumb is to start at a depth of 15 or 20 feet and to drop deeper at 10 feet per hour. He said that for the first couple of weeks, most of the fish will be caught between 20 and 60 feet, on a very slow troll.
Rig with a size “0” big-ring dodger in chrome, 50-50, or UV glow or pearl, 12 to 18 inches of 30-pound leader, and tandem 2/0 hooks in red or any combination of red, orange, pink, or glow. Dress the hooks with krill or shrimp scent, and perhaps a piece of prawn on the top hook. Mini-hoochies in pink or UV pink also will catch fish, John said.
LOCAL CHINOOK
The popular Marine Areas 9-10 selective (fin-clipped) chinook season opened over the weekend to excellent size and quality, but perhaps only fair numbers. The Port Townsend area was the hot spot Saturday, said All Star Charters skipper Nick Kester of Snohomish, but fishing had slowed by early this week. The most consistent action, Kester said, has been on Possession Bar since then, with most charters and knowledgeable anglers finding three to five chances per day per boat, bringing two or three to the side, and keeping perhaps one fin-clipped hatchery fish.
Kester said he expected numbers to increase shortly, considering good catch rates recently at Neah Bay and Sekiu.
Nice fish, though, Kester said — maybe larger than usual in this fishery. Even clipped fish are showing in the high teens and 20s, he said, although a smaller percentage of clipped fish are coming through this year, perhaps 50 percent instead of the usual 75 to 80 percent.
Kester is pulling a breakaway flasher in UV yellow or green with glow stripes, close to 48 inches of leader, and a 4-inch spoon in cookies ‘n cream or Irish Cream, with or without a wiggletail. Five-inch Tomic plugs, numbers 602 or 603, also will work, he said. He’s been working deep, on the bottom in 120 to 280 feet of water.
State checks Saturday at the Port of Everett ramp showed 497 anglers in 214 boats with 53 chinook, 22 coho and one pink. On Sunday, it was 404 anglers in 189 boats, with 16 chinook, 57 coho and three pinks. Other pinks have been taken on the bar, Kester said, and he guaranteed they’d be here in numbers by Aug. 9.
A couple of interesting state checks from the Strait: On Saturday at the Ediz Hook public ramp in Port Angeles, 52 fishermen had 35 chinook. And on Sunday, at Olson’s Resort in Sekiu, 169 had 12 chinook and eight coho, but 165 pinks.
HOT SEMINAR
Humpies are on the horizon, and the ubiquitous Dick Nite spoon is on the market. Putting the two together is the problem, and Holiday Sports in Burlington has the solution with a very timely seminar starting at 10 a.m. Saturday on how best to fish the spoons for pink salmon in our local rivers. Guide Doug St.Denis will share inside info on fishing spoons for coho and humpies, including the latest techniques and the best spots. Call 360-757-4361 to preregister. Space is limited.
For more outdoor news, read Wayne Kruse’s blog at www.heraldnet.com/huntingandfishing.
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