Geez, I almost hate to stick another 1 star report on here. Shannon doesn't get that many reports so I guess I'll throw mine in.
Got to the launch about 10:00 am. We wanted to fish the N. end of the lake, to troll up through what I think of as kind of a channel that is lined along the sides with MANY/MANY STUMPS. At least that is how I remember it from the 1st time fishing it last year. The S. end of the lake at the launch is quite deep obviouslly due to the dam. Some places over 200'. This would be easy open water to troll. If you haven't been to the lake, it is the most stump clustered lake i have ever fished. When we fished going N. through that narrow area we were trolling in about 40-60' of water. I did mark certain large fish that seemed to hang right at ledges and bumps in the bottom contour. As I would drop the DR down to 5' above what looked fishy.... I would catch the ball on what I'm sure now was trees/stumps. besides stumps the lake is full of trees that are hiding just 10-12" below the surface. I am talking about in 35' of water! Huge tall trees. Anyway, it was a PIA to troll through.
We got the exploring itch and begin to explore coves, and many creeks. It is a beautiful untouched place. We found a few roughed in camps sites that I think people have boated deep uplake and made a little boat in campsite. It felt a little spooky like I was coming into that underground hide out that the North Bend guy was hid out in last month.

Back to fishing.... 6 of the 7 boats on the lake were all anchored up and chumming/still fishing Kokanee, about 1 mile up the lake from the launch. We went through there as well, spent a bit of time dropping down worms and maggots to the kokes. No Kokes for us! The people around us were definetly catching fish though. I even made my own chum.
Trolled spoons, mini hootchies etc.

Lake is VERY high now, temp. was 54 degrees. Launch is in excellent shape with new crushed rock, plenty of parking, etc.

G-Man

6/10/2012 9:41:00 PM

Quad, the trout in this lake are a bit shy. I've found that like the Lake Washington cutts, you need to drop back 100' of line from the boat for consistent results when trolling. BTW - I've snagged up my downrigger on trees 60 feet down in 180 feet of water on this lake.

The Quadfather

6/10/2012 10:20:00 PM

Well I must say, "Thank you, G-man" Ya, this is one weird lake. It made me feel like all my past fishing/trolling experience was only playing Little League in terms of fishing, LOL. It is such a strange enviroment to boat safely in, let alone not loose gear. I would not recommend boating this lake without a spotter on the bow watching for those sneaker trees just under the surface. (Unless you stay to the Dam end of the lake)

RiverChromeGS

6/10/2012 10:51:00 PM

we did very very well at the dam end when we fished

Chromer

6/11/2012 12:22:00 PM

The reason why there are stumps and trees is because it was once a river, obviously because of the dam. But Baker Lake is the same way. There are many stumps and trees.

Try cooked deli shrimp for kokanee. They love it.

The Quadfather

6/11/2012 12:35:00 PM

Yes, I understand the Skagit river. I'm just saying it's a dicey place.

MotoBoat

6/12/2012 9:42:00 AM

Shannon sounds very similar to Spada with respect to the sunken tree tops. But I think Shannon has a better boat ramp?

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