Northwest Fishing Reports

We'll be camping on Baker Lake next week (before it's open for Sockeye). I'm thinking of fishing the upper Baker river, above the lake. Do some of the Sockeye migrate up the river and tribs? I would think they would..

Has anyone fished this before? I'm also unsure if retention of Sockeye is even legal, the regs just read as "all gamefish", I emailed WDFW for clarification on that. I might just end up fishing for trout.

Feel free to send a PM, thanks!

They all head for Noisy Creek or what ever it's called. Baker river, I couldn't tell you except it's right there.

Salmon are a "food fish", not "game fish".

I read both classification is the regs, but was unclear is "food fish" was it's own category, or a subset of "gamefish". You need a law degree to figure out where you can fish these days...

Salmon are a subcategory of food fish. Trout and landlocked salmon are a subcategory of game fish.

No fishing for salmon unless they're specifically listed as open.

ok, looks like I'm fishing for trout in the Baker river then. Thanks for clearing it up!

The Skagit is open for sockeye, if that's any consolation

hasn't been a banner run as far as recreational catch so far.... one or two landed by the talk on the river edge......

How'd it go jjonesls11? Headed there tomorrow and hoping to fish the upper river instead of the lake. Not much info available on that area.

It went pretty well. I hiked all the way to the end of the trail and fished my way back. The wading gets a little hairy in some spots, and I had to climb back to the trail in a few spots to get around impassable areas. I took my bug rod and caught quite a few bows from 4-12 inches.