Non-Fly Baker lake sockeye 2026

M_D said:
I saw the WDFW Fish Taxi making a run as we were driving home this past Thursday.
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The Baker fish "taxi" is owned and operated by Puget Sound Energy, as are all the Baker fish passage and production facilities. WDFW operates the Baker spawning channel and fish hatchery under contract with PSE. I mention this because sometimes agencies will take credit that belongs to others.
 
Salmo_g said:
The Baker fish "taxi" is owned and operated by Puget Sound Energy, as are all the Baker fish passage and production facilities. WDFW operates the Baker spawning channel and fish hatchery under contract with PSE. I mention this because sometimes agencies will take credit that belongs to others.
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Whaddaya know?….i had no idea….
 
Mostly interested on how much of a gong show the boat ramps were. I braved it last year and ended up parking a mile down the road the afternoon before the opener. Crazy crowded then and with no columbia fishery this year, thought it would be worse this year.
 
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My nice seafood shop had Baker River Sockeye yesterday for 20 bucks a pound. It looked pretty good tho I opted for the Silver from the coast. First time I have seen it for sale around S Sound. Is Baker River a commercial fishery for one of the tribes?
 
The Upper Skagit Tribe conducts both subsistence and commercial fisheries. A portion of the catch is distributed directly to tribal elders, while the rest enters commercial and retail markets
 
Buzzy said:
Fred @Wanative - I bet you've got your boat loaded and ready for headin' out. Good luck up there at Baker, hope you process some beautiful filets.
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It was a bust for me Pat. My friend got one nice sockeye and I landed a good sized bull trout. The only 2 bites we had Saturday and we didn’t fish Sunday.
It was slow for the majority in my opinion but there's always those that catch a few and say the fishing is great which it was for them! I've been there and done that too.
There were 6500 sockeye in the lake for fishing Saturday. Which is a low number for an opener. Typically the run peaks around the middle of July.
This summary is from the wdfw website is not looking too great IMHO.
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It must have been WW's banana hat that he's determined to make into a "lucky fishing hat." Obviously it needs some work yet. Saturday we hooked 6, which wasn't bad. What was bad is that we didn't boat a single one of them. Sunday started out slower and remained that way - all the biters were caught on Saturday; yeah, that's it. Hooked and landed 2 and had one steal the secret bait off WW's hook. It's been better, and it's been worse. At least I have some fresh sockeye fillets for the trouble of getting up at 3:30 in the morning.

Boat ramps were busy, trailers with tow rigs parked out on the BL road. About what I'd expect at Baker on the opener. Sunday was definitely a lot fewer boats, but still plenty of anglers out there.
 
Salmo_g said:
It must have been WW's banana hat that he's determined to make into a "lucky fishing hat." Obviously it needs some work yet. Saturday we hooked 6, which wasn't bad. What was bad is that we didn't boat a single one of them. Sunday started out slower and remained that way - all the biters were caught on Saturday; yeah, that's it. Hooked and landed 2 and had one steal the secret bait off WW's hook. It's been better, and it's been worse. At least I have some fresh sockeye fillets for the trouble of getting up at 3:30 in the morning.

Boat ramps were busy, trailers with tow rigs parked out on the BL road. About what I'd expect at Baker on the opener. Sunday was definitely a lot fewer boats, but still plenty of anglers out there.
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We had 2 bites Saturday. 1 sockeye and 1 nice bull trout both landed. Didn't fish Sunday.
 
Wanative said:
It was a bust for me Pat. My friend got one nice sockeye and I landed a good sized bull trout. The only 2 bites we had Saturday and we didn’t fish Sunday.
It was slow for the majority in my opinion but there's always those that catch a few and say the fishing is great which it was for them! I've been there and done that too.
There were 6500 sockeye in the lake for fishing Saturday. Which is a low number for an opener. Typically the run peaks around the middle of July.
This summary is from the wdfw website is not looking too great IMHO.
View attachment 188145
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Fred - You got out, got a nibble. Good on you for the effort!! What's next?
 
Salmo_g said:
It must have been WW's banana hat that he's determined to make into a "lucky fishing hat." Obviously it needs some work yet. Saturday we hooked 6, which wasn't bad. What was bad is that we didn't boat a single one of them. Sunday started out slower and remained that way - all the biters were caught on Saturday; yeah, that's it. Hooked and landed 2 and had one steal the secret bait off WW's hook. It's been better, and it's been worse. At least I have some fresh sockeye fillets for the trouble of getting up at 3:30 in the morning.

Boat ramps were busy, trailers with tow rigs parked out on the BL road. About what I'd expect at Baker on the opener. Sunday was definitely a lot fewer boats, but still plenty of anglers out there.
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The hat is still in training. Lost two this morning. Went home today for a few hours to shower and do laundry. Pretty sure the stink is washed off of the hat...
 
Wanative said:
It was a bust for me Pat. My friend got one nice sockeye and I landed a good sized bull trout. The only 2 bites we had Saturday and we didn’t fish Sunday.
It was slow for the majority in my opinion but there's always those that catch a few and say the fishing is great which it was for them! I've been there and done that too.
There were 6500 sockeye in the lake for fishing Saturday. Which is a low number for an opener. Typically the run peaks around the middle of July.
This summary is from the wdfw website is not looking too great IMHO.
View attachment 188145
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+Going into this season the pre-season forecast of just under 71,000 was below the most recent two years actual returns. Having 6,500 fish in the lake for the opener maybe down from recent years it certainly better than seen in the early years of this fishery where catch rates were pretty decent. If one digs a bit into those 6,500 fish transferred into the lake it may not reflect the run strength compared to recent years. According to the comanager's list of agreed to fisheries (LOAF) this year fisheries showed a significant increase in the fishery downstream of the Baker trap. For example, the Swinomish in river/bay fishery has increased from 21 days in 2025 to 28 days in 2026.

With a consistent weekly transfers from the trap to the hatchery/spawning ponds any increase in the down river fisheries would result in fewer fish to the lake.

After having taken part in the various state sockeye fisheries (lake Washington, Wenatchee, upper Columbia and Baker lake) I'm of the opinion that the Baker lake sockeye was by far the best biters. In the early in the fishery the management of the run was such that unlike many hatchery support runs that tendency of the population to be good biters was maintained. The returning adults were not subjected to a harvest recreational until after they were in the lake. The brood fish were collected from the run at the trap thus avoiding the selection of biting from the brood stock. Have to wonder the selection of the best biters in the river recreational fishery over the last 3 fish generations have reduced the tendency of the fish in the lake to bite?

Curt
 
Smalma said:
+Going into this season the pre-season forecast of just under 71,000 was below the most recent two years actual returns. Having 6,500 fish in the lake for the opener maybe down from recent years it certainly better than seen in the early years of this fishery where catch rates were pretty decent. If one digs a bit into those 6,500 fish transferred into the lake it may not reflect the run strength compared to recent years. According to the comanager's list of agreed to fisheries (LOAF) this year fisheries showed a significant increase in the fishery downstream of the Baker trap. For example, the Swinomish in river/bay fishery has increased from 21 days in 2025 to 28 days in 2026.

With a consistent weekly transfers from the trap to the hatchery/spawning ponds any increase in the down river fisheries would result in fewer fish to the lake.

After having taken part in the various state sockeye fisheries (lake Washington, Wenatchee, upper Columbia and Baker lake) I'm of the opinion that the Baker lake sockeye was by far the best biters. In the early in the fishery the management of the run was such that unlike many hatchery support runs that tendency of the population to be good biters was maintained. The returning adults were not subjected to a harvest recreational until after they were in the lake. The brood fish were collected from the run at the trap thus avoiding the selection of biting from the brood stock. Have to wonder the selection of the best biters in the river recreational fishery over the last 3 fish generations have reduced the tendency of the fish in the lake to bite?

Curt
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I have to believe the biting fish in the river removal is watering down the number of biters that would make it to the brood stock pool to keep good biting progeny coming, and to the lake for anglers to chase.
 
Wanative said:
I'll make it up another time or two at least
and chase kokanee as a fill in until the coho show up in the river.
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Experience has shown that fishing tactics for sockeye and kokanee can be very similar with slight modifications based on the size of the target fish.

This was driven home to me the last few years that there were sockeye seasons on lake Washington. At that time the standard approach was to fish a dodger (size 0 in either silver or white) with either a bare hook or U-20 flatfish. Also, one of the rules of that fishery was individual limits - that is no boat limits. I decided after catching my limit rather than just sit watching my partner to fill their limit I would take a second rod to target cutthroat. At that time I was getting into kokanee fishing and had heard the Lake also supported some nice kokanee so decided to switch from cutthroat to kokanee. Once my sockeye limit was achieved, I switched my sockeye rod (dodger and bare hook) to a lighter outfit with a 4-inch dodger with a double hook baited with scented corn behind several beads and a smile blade. A minute or two after deploying that gear had a takedown; a sockeye! It quickly became clear that was not a fluke and that we needed consider modifying our approach to our sockeye fishing.

We took those "adjustments" to Baker. I bring all this up because it has to be frustrating when fishing is tough to lose fish. Early my kokanee fishing it was pretty common to land only 50 to 60% of the fish hooked. After a couple seasons of experimenting with various hooks styles, sizes etc. that landing rate stayed pretty constant until I experimented with Gamakatsu's split shot/drop shot hooks. With that hook (size 2) tied tandem that my landing rate jumped to nearly 90%. The adjustment for sockeye was to upgrade to a size 1/0 or 2/0 hook tied on 20# leader. While as in all fishing the landing rates can vary from day to day our landing rate for sockeye remained in that 90% range. Food for thought?

Curt
 
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