baker lake kokes

Going to be heading to baker lake this Sunday to try and wack some kokanee. To be honest this is my first time salmon fishing and I have no clue what I'm doing. Anyone else thinking of hitting the lake this weekend? Any tips or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

You're going a week too soon for me to hook up with you. I plan to head out there on the 19th. Hopefully you will do well and share your report so I can learn from your success   

No need to target kokes, this is the time of year sockeye run thick in the lake.

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The way things sound most of the biters can be found 15-25 feet down although a few good fisherman have marked fish further down and caught them as deep 50 feet. The size O big ring dodger in 50/50 or hammered chrome have been productive on these sunny days while white has been a solid choice early in the morning or in overcast conditions. Leaders span 10-16” for most with a small ultraviolet or pink squid and a SMILE blade. The big thing is running bait, either a sandshrimp tail or piece of pink coonstripe shrimp goes a really looonnnng way. Most of the fish in the lake have been schooled up very tightly and the action is pretty intense once you find fish!

Just got back from there. Rory's note is fairly accurate. Best bite early (pre-dawn), but if you come across a school you'll likely get bumped. Had 200+ boats out there today (Friday), a zoo. Even had a boat run into my rod in the rod holder when I was up and dealing with things. Expect massive crowds during the weekend. No joy for me, just fishing.

I went on the opener (for sockeye) and it was hardly crowded compared to other times. And a note to all powerboats! It is not very nice to stare at me in a little kayak for more than a minute. Ten seconds is even to much!!!

The fish were biting from 15-40 feet when I was there. And yes the lake will be packed on Sunday

I went on the opener (for sockeye) and it was hardly crowded compared to other times. And a note to all powerboats! It is not very nice to stare at me in a little kayak for more than a minute. Ten seconds is even to much!!!

The fish were biting from 15-40 feet when I was there. And yes the lake will be packed on Sunday

But don't you like it when they have to talk loud over their engine and they don't think you can hear them. It's like eaves dropping in on a conversation about yourself.

I went on the opener (for sockeye) and it was hardly crowded compared to other times. And a note to all powerboats! It is not very nice to stare at me in a little kayak for more than a minute. Ten seconds is even to much!!!

The fish were biting from 15-40 feet when I was there. And yes the lake will be packed on Sunday

You were probably just so inspiring to the staring guy that he could not help himself. Now he's got to get a kayak, too.

Fished it this morning and got two pretty quick. My guess is they trucked up a bunch more socks overnight.

I didn't think it was too terribly crowded. Or, I'm just used to fishing in a bit of traffic. Alot of salmon fishing is like that. People bunch up where the salmon are. But generally speaking, they are there for a good reason.

It does have an upside though...people tend to collaborate quite nicely. They willingly share depths, speed, bait setup and leader length.  Feel free to quiz boats who just landed a fish (The depth is the most important factor). The whole lake is buzzing with information passing back and forth. It's kinda neat.   And I've found folks to be pretty good natured (and curious) most of the time. Like kola16 said, they stare at you like you just descended from space.  And like YT said, you can hear them talking about you quite clearly because sound travels so well across water. And they never realize you can hear them.

And there's not alot of shame out there when it comes to jumping on a spot where a boat just landed one. It's almost encouraged. The sockeye school, so it pays to jump in or at least steer towards that line. Trust me, everybody does it. And when people do it to me I am like, be my guest. I have my hands full trying to slaughter, bleed, pack up and mark down the fish.  As long as nobody gets too close before the fish is netted...nobody gets hurt

The most frustrating thing about fishing in traffic is not the constant maneuvering...it's watching the boat right next to you hit a double when you haven't even gotten a tap!

Nice fish ,Rory.....man, I gotta get up there and try that someday!

Nice sized fish Rory! I forgot about the people talking, and you can hear them plain as day. Cracks me up pretty good haha. I will be up there a few week days this week again.

What's the setup you used? I was out there Saturday morning and I trolled from 6:30 til about 11 and not even a tap. Marking fish all morning so it wasn't a lack of fish... Was using a Jet Diver 30 with a small dodger behind the diver about 20 inches, and a red hook or a piece of shrimp on the red hook about 12 inches behind the dodger. I didn't see many hook ups. I think it's a little early but obviously the fish didn't like me or my damn setup.

Ray, I think it's the scent off your hands, or that you can't huli on your way in

I know I'm stinky but I didn't know the fish could tell 

THey smell thier creeks from the ocean???

Might be your dodger. Try a size 0 dodger, it's about 11 inches. Like Rory says - hammered chrome for sunny days, darker or painted for cloudy days or early light. Go with 12" leader, give or take a couple of inches. Diver should work fine, mostly I'm at 20 - 30 feet on leadcore. I don't like dealing with downriggers.

But it's hit or miss fishery. I pulled around for 5 hours one day, hit 3 times and lost one at the boat. Next attempt I limited in the first hour of fishing, with two fish about 15 minutes apart.

I'll be up there Friday to Sunday this week, getting my fill.