Baker Lake Sockeye

[curado]

watch at 35 sec. the fis flossed its self. so maybe the sockeye are attacking the flashers and being flossed

[fear_no_fish]

john nice way to say exactly what matt said but in fewer words haha

[Rollin with Rolland]

Sounds fun. Think I will take a break from the salt and get the boat in some fresh water for a change. I've been to baker two times this year, had OK luck, couple rainbows couple dollies, up to 17". (all released) Sounds like the sockeye are biting OK. I'll be there tuesday more than likley. Good info on the catch code. Don't think there are any launches with docks....possibly at the resort? never been that far north. Good luck....

[racfish]

It may be flossing but I'll tell you its totally legal.There are some 10,000 fisherpeople fishing that exact method when its open.Tell you what FNF you go drag a herring and hoochie around Baker and tell me your success.Id like to know.

[Matt]

I wouldn't disagree that it is legal. For one thing the fish is actively attacking the lure which, by definition, constitutes a legal hookup in the reg book. I posted the link just to demonstrate how it works at catching salmon. I think that a lot of the fish hooked in the salt on hootchie rigs are hooked in a similar fashion.

Rollin, I will be there Tuesday as well, make sure to say hello. We will be out in the 'old starcraft'. Do you still have yours or did you upgrade?

Matt

[Rollin with Rolland]

Rollin, I will be there Tuesday as well, make sure to say hello. We will be out in the 'old starcraft'. Do you still have yours or did you upgrade?

Matt

Still got it....green and aluminum....I'll definitely try to track you down and see how the fishing is.

[Anonymous]

A big THANK YOU to rseas for posting yet another outstanding BLOG, this one of course for Baker Lake Sockeye Fishing.

[Mike Carey]

Using a bare red Gomakatsu hook behind the Dodger.The red , blue and black hooks resemble the Quill and plankton Sockeye eat.Thats the bare hook deal.

I'd hate to say it but I really do not think the fish are striking the bare hooks.... they are taking a swing at the dodger out of aggression and incidentally hooking themselves on the trailing hooks. Flossing.

Check out this video:
http://muttleycrewfishing.com/web_media ... erring.wmv

Notice the frequent strikes at the dodger, as well as the frequent erratic movements around the bait that could have easily resulted in a hookup. Right at 34 seconds is where you watch the fish floss himself. The fish takes the herring, then comes back and smacks the flasher resulting in a hookup. Neat stuff.

OK, I'm not tryingg to hijack the thread, but check out the last picture in rseas's Blog - the location of the hook. dead center bottom of the jaw. Picture perfect hook-set. I'm not saying when trolling for salmon that "flossing" (as in incidently hook penetration vrs. legit bite) doesn't happen, but that has to be a solid crunch bite, don't you think?

[Anonymous]

Excellent video and one re-enforces the idea that a dodger/flasher is used to imitate a larger fish that is competing for food or space. Salmon get very aggressive and territorial the closer they get to spawning and will chase other fish away from their immediate area. If you have watched them do this in a river you'll note that they normally go for the tail, hence bare hook(s) a short distance behind the dodger will get the job done. The whole idea that the fish think they are eating a shrimp or krill just makes folks feel better about the method.

Mike - the smile blade is there to give off similar vibrations as the tail of a fish. That fish struck at what it thought was another sockeye's tail. Looks like the secret is out.

[sickbayer]

I wanna go........

[B-Hall]

What kind of shrimp do you guys use? Sorry I am new to the sockeye stuff.

[BentRod]

Excellent video and one re-enforces the idea that a dodger/flasher is used to imitate a larger fish that is competing for food or space. Salmon get very aggressive and territorial the closer they get to spawning and will chase other fish away from their immediate area. If you have watched them do this in a river you'll note that they normally go for the tail, hence bare hook(s) a short distance behind the dodger will get the job done. The whole idea that the fish think they are eating a shrimp or krill just makes folks feel better about the method.

Mike - the smile blade is there to give off similar vibrations as the tail of a fish. That fish struck at what it thought was another sockeye's tail. Looks like the secret is out.

G, thanks for the explanation. I've often wondered what the premise of the bare hook was. When running this type of setup, what leader length is recommended behind the flasher/dodger? Should it be shorter than, say, when using a spoon or cutbait behind them?

[G-Man]

For leader don't go more than 2 times the length of the dodger, 8" to 12" is plenty with a 00 or 0 size dodger, when using bare hooks. You will also want to go slow enough so that the dodger sways gently form side to side. If it is rotating completely or thrashing around, cut back on the throttle, drop drift socks out back or whatever it takes to get the right action.

When I am using a lure or bait that can generate its own action, like a spoon, I run the leader at least 4' behind the dodger/flasher.

[Mike Carey]

Excellent video and one re-enforces the idea that a dodger/flasher is used to imitate a larger fish that is competing for food or space. Salmon get very aggressive and territorial the closer they get to spawning and will chase other fish away from their immediate area. If you have watched them do this in a river you'll note that they normally go for the tail, hence bare hook(s) a short distance behind the dodger will get the job done. The whole idea that the fish think they are eating a shrimp or krill just makes folks feel better about the method.

Mike - the smile blade is there to give off similar vibrations as the tail of a fish. That fish struck at what it thought was another sockeye's tail. Looks like the secret is out.

darn, can't get the video to play. OK, so devils advocate to your premise. If it was incident hook-ups why would there be a difference in color of bare hook effectiveness? If it was random the hook-ups should balance out, which has not been my experience.

[BentRod]

After watching the video, it looks like one could effectively skip the leader altogether, attach a trailer hook directly to the dodger and still catch fish. ??

[G-Man]

Well think about it from the sockeye's viewpoint. At the depth you are going to catch these fish, visibility is reduced a bit and the fish is going to to use the vibrations/sound generated by the dodger as a point of reference. The point is to chase the fish off, usually done from the tail end. Again, if you've watched salmon in a river, they chase each other around and in most cases no contact is made. You can forgo the leader, but I think you'll end up with more hook-ups trailing a hook behind the dodger. If you take a trip in the way back machine, check out a lure called the Seattle-Six. It is a small (0000 or 000) dodger fitted with tandem hooks tied on with dacron.

Mike - Do you feel that red hooks work better? What color disappears first as you descend into water? Yes, that would be the color red. I've caught sockeye on red, blue, black and green hooks. Some days one color works better than another, others it doesn't seem to make a difference. I start with red as it is the more stealthy color at the depths one usually catches sockeye.

[Anonymous]

I still say the sockeye are biting the hook not the dodger. The dodger acts like a fish not bait. I think dodgers are used to look like salmon chasing bait.I disagree on the flossing of sockeye. I think just once in all my years I foul hooked a sockye in the tail.Wow what a great fight.I dont try to snag them but when trolling through a large school weve had all lines go down at once.Sometimes the schools can be that thick. I use a 18" leader off my dodger I really dont think of that as flossing.As far as colors go they are imitating crill or planktons. I find that red were best but blue worked well too. I heard black was good although I did not try black . I killed them on red.

[Mike Carey]

Mike - Do you feel that red hooks work better? What color disappears first as you descend into water? Yes, that would be the color red. I've caught sockeye on red, blue, black and green hooks. Some days one color works better than another, others it doesn't seem to make a difference. I start with red as it is the more stealthy color at the depths one usually catches sockeye.

Generally red, but I've had days where switching made a difference, and different colors produced differently at similar depths. Throw in pink into the above mix. I have had days where one rod/side outfished the other significantly.

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReportCo ... id=477&t=1

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReportCo ... id=477&t=1

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReportCo ... id=477&t=1 (1 fish on red hook, 8 on black hook)

[BentRod]

Yes, Redhook is good when fishing.....

[Matt]

OK, I'm not tryingg to hijack the thread, but check out the last picture in rseas's Blog - the location of the hook. dead center bottom of the jaw. Picture perfect hook-set. I'm not saying when trolling for salmon that "flossing" (as in incidently hook penetration vrs. legit bite) doesn't happen, but that has to be a solid crunch bite, don't you think?

Well, for one that is not a BARE hook, it has a blade so I would say that would be slightly different than just the hook by itself (it is actually a spinner at that point). I also wouldn't say that flossing fish is not a "legit bite" while trolling (Flossing if rivers is different). Conventional flossing techniques in the river occur when the leader involuntarily enters the fishes mouth as the gear floats downstream, the hook is then set causing the fish to be involuntarily hooked in the mouth. When trolling, the fish ACTIVELY strikes at the flasher resulting in a hookup on the bare hooks making it a perfectly legal and legitimate form of flossing. Essentially, the dodger is being used as the lure itself. I believe in the reg book it says that hooking a fish that does not "voluntarily" strike the lure is illegal, whereas this is obviously a voluntary action that is occurring.

darn, can't get the video to play. OK, so devils advocate to your premise. If it was incident hook-ups why would there be a difference in color of bare hook effectiveness? If it was random the hook-ups should balance out, which has not been my experience.

Mike, the video is supported by Windows Media Play, dunno if that helps? I also would not call these hookups "incidental" since the fish is actually actively attacking the dodger out of aggression, just because the hooks are on a leader does not mean the fish did not attack the offering. I would assume the variation in color effectiveness has to do with the loss of certain colors in the light spectrum and colors perceivable by a fish's vision. Certain colors may be more visible and spook the fish away from the offering, wheres other may be less visible causing the dodger to appear more authentically as a larger fish actively feeding. There may be a number of other reasons why color would matter as well. I would not doubt that the fish DO bite the hooks themselves a percentage of the time as well. Monday trolling on baker we hooked a huge rainbow about 5, maybe 6 pounds, that had taken the leading 3/0 hook entirely INTO its mouth, we believe the fish hit the hooks and not the dodger.

On another note, we fished Monday and Tuesday and had absolutely the best time. The lake was beautiful and the fishing was good. I will post a report soon!!