Fishing Forum

Can anyone tell me about baker lake. Whats in there? Is it worth fishin?
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I haven't been there for 5 or 6 years at least. It is managed as a "trophy" lake. Which means barbless hooks, no bait, trout limit of 2 with none under 20". Look in the F&G stocking records for when it was stocked last and with what. http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/fish...m?region=4

It is a pretty little mountain lake and being close to Sun Valley it gets a bunch of day hikers. The hike is fairly short maybe 1.5 miles so there is a LOT of traffic on the trail. It is exceptionally pretty in the early summer when the wild flowers are still out.

Most hikers are just there for the walk and don't fish, but a lot of water activity seems to happen anyway. The fish I caught were all caught fairly early in the morning, while they were still cruising the shore, and there weren't other people throwing rocks etc.

All in all a fun hike, and some nice fish if you are lucky.

Several other lakes in the general area too..... Prairie Lakes and Norton Lake Group.
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I spent a morning there in late July. It's an absolutely pristine alpine lake and well worth the modest hike simply for the scenery.



There were trout, trout, trout everywhere, but as with most clear and still bodies of water, their interest was limited to following our lures to shore or ignoring them altogether. I tried a variety of spoons and spinners and got shut out; my ladyfriend landed a li'l cuttie on a Kastmaster.



I think flies would kill it up there because the fish rose the entire time--they just weren't fooled by our spinfishing antics.


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I read that this lake has golden trout. Is this true?
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Historical Fish Stocking
Thursday, September 29, 2011

[url "http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/fish/stocking/waters.cfm?region=4&BegYear=1967&FishType=%278%27,%2713%27,%273%27,%2711%27,%272%27,%2716%27,%2718%27,%277%27,%276%27,%2712%27,%2714%27,%2715%27,%271%27,%279%27,%2710"][/url] BAKER LAKE

Historical fish stocking for ALL FISH TYPES from 1967 through 2011:
Date Stocked Species Type Size Number
Stocked 09/08/2008 GOLDEN TROUT FRY (0-3 inches) 999 09/12/2006 GOLDEN TROUT FRY (0-3 inches) 1,500 09/09/2004 GOLDEN TROUT FRY (0-3 inches) 500 09/17/2000 GOLDEN TROUT FRY (0-3 inches) 375 08/31/2000 GOLDEN TROUT FRY (0-3 inches) 925 08/28/1996 GOLDEN TROUT FRY (0-3 inches) 2,006 08/18/1993 GOLDEN TROUT FINGERLING (3-6 inches) 840 07/06/1990 GOLDEN TROUT FINGERLING (3-6 inches) 654 06/23/1989 GOLDEN TROUT FINGERLING (3-6 inches) 1,180 08/31/1988 WESTSLOPE CUTTHROAT FRY (0-3 inches) 1,000 06/27/1987 GOLDEN TROUT FINGERLING (3-6 inches) 1,540 09/23/1985 HENRYS LAKE CUTTHROAT FRY (0-3 inches) 1,050 08/17/1982 HENRYS LAKE CUTTHROAT FRY (0-3 inches) 1,500 08/10/1979 CUTTHROAT FRY (0-3 inches) 1,500 09/02/1976 CUTTHROAT FRY (0-3 inches) 384 08/31/1973 CUTTHROAT FRY (0-3 inches) 2,720 08/26/1971 CUTTHROAT FRY (0-3 inches) 2,500 08/14/1969 CUTTHROAT FRY (0-3 inches) 2,829
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When I have fished it, I sight fished to the "cruisers". All that I caught were cutthroats. There were a number of smaller fish, especially in the area of the outlet. But I didn't fish for them at the time.

They have been stocking goldens in there for a long long time. I imagine that there must be some in there, unless they all were cutty snacks!
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At the far end of the lake (opposite end of the creek's source), there was this lightly complected trout cruising the banks. Gnats and flies littered the surface of the water (and pestered us to no end, even after heavy applications of DEET), and this big pale trout would casually rise every minute or so to scoop one up.

The pics I've shared below don't do it justice--it had to be very near the 20-inch harvest minimum.



I just figured it was a paler-than-average rainbow as I've not much experience with golden trout. (I thought those were endemic to certain streams in California?)



Whatever it was, I wish I'd caught it. []
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