Baker River sockeye??

[Matt]

Hey all, I am a whatcom county resident and was interested in checking out the Baker River Sockeye season. I have a couple of questions, first, has anyone fished it? I have heard that it gets/is pretty combat core fishing status, can anyone elaborate on this? Also, I am planning to hit it up sometime in the coming weeks and would be planning to do some camping and fishing as it is pretty far out in the cut and gas prices are pretty miserable in Bellingham..... anyone know of anywhere nearby to camp, state run or otherwise doesn't matter.

thanks

Matt

[Rollin with Rolland]

yeah right....4.40 i saw yesterday...i've heard we have the highest in the state....that's because we are the closest to the oil... makes sense to me...the "$4.00 a gallon" thread will be changed to $5 in about two weeks up here...

anyway, i have no info for you on the baker river, but i am intrigued by it as well....i didn't even know about the sockeye....camping is definitely the way to go....wish i could help., but i'll do some asking around....i'm interested in the responses

camping at baker lake dam campground....i stayed there once last year...are you talking north of baker lake???

[Matt]

No this fishery is actually just South of Shannon Lake at the convergence of the Skagit River and the Baker River. The Baker opens from the mouth to the Hwy 20 bridge on the 14th and the open waters continue up to about 300 ft beyond the Hwy 20 bridge. The season is listed in the regs from June 14th - July 31st.

I know there is camping all around the Concrete area, it is in the middle of nowhere! The hard part is finding the proper location close enough to the fishing hole.

If you are interested, I am planning to make a trip of it next weekend. My buddy and I are both looking for a place to camp now. We are planning to get out of Bham on Friday early in the morning to go scout for a camp site and then spend the rest of the afternoon kicking back beers and surveying the fishing hole. PM me if interested.

Matt

[SDAngler]

I was actually going to make a similar post because I am going to be hitting up the Baker on opening day too. I fished this season for the first time last year and didn't catch anything but this year is supposed to be a record run. I think it is pretty much a plunking thing with small sand shrimp. The stretch that you can fish is pretty short so I could see a combat fishing enviornment being the case. I have also heard that the best time is first thing in the morning and early in the season. Good luck and hope to see you out there.

[Matt]

Yeah, I posted this thread over at SH.net too and so far people have been telling me plunking or slow drifting sand shrimp is the best way, a lot of the guys are throwing lures and snagging....

Allegedly the fishery is highly dependent upon the releasing of water from the Dam at Shannon Lake. The fish wait out at the mouth of the Baker and fool around in the Skagit until they release water then they start busting tail upstream. As far as the fishable waters go the baker is open from the mouth @ the Skagit river, to the bridge at HWY 20, to appx. 250 ft above the bridge.

The reg book also states that for the Skagit from the HWY 530 Bridge in Rockport to the Dalles bridge at Concrete, "Daily limit 2
SOCKEYE only. Open only downstream from a point 200' above the east bank of the Baker River." Allthough I am unsure how to interpret this reg......

Any advice on the interpretation? Seems like if you could fish just below the mouth in the faster water of the Skag you might have a better chance.

Matt