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Home › Waters › Washington › Baker Lake
Lake · Northwest Washington, Skagit County, the upper Baker River valley beneath Mount Baker in the North Cascades · Washington

Baker Lake Fishing Guides

A North Cascades reservoir on the Baker River with a trapped-and-hauled sockeye run that produces one of the few inland sockeye fisheries in Washington, set directly beneath Mount Baker.

An angler on a dock beside a moored boat on a calm reservoir
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Baker Lake

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About the Baker Lake

Baker Lake lies in the upper Baker River valley in Skagit County, impounded behind Upper Baker Dam and sitting directly beneath the south face of Mount Baker. The setting is as much of the draw as the fishing. The lake is long, narrow and deep, walled by steep forested slopes, and on a clear day the volcano stands at the head of it. The gauge at the dam reports lake elevation and precipitation.

The fishery that sets Baker apart is sockeye salmon. Adult sockeye returning to the Baker system are intercepted at a trap on the lower river and hauled upstream by truck into the lake, where they hold through the summer before spawning. That program supports a recreational sockeye fishery in freshwater, which is uncommon in Washington outside a handful of systems, and it draws boats from across the state when the run is strong enough for the season to open.

Sockeye are fished by trolling small dodger and squid or bare-hook setups at depth, and the technique is specific enough that most newcomers do better hiring a guide or watching the local fleet for a day. Kokanee, the landlocked form, are also present. Rainbow trout and cutthroat trout are resident, mountain whitefish are common, and Dolly Varden and bull trout occupy the system under restrictive rules that anglers need to read before fishing.

Because the lake is a working reservoir, the pool rises and falls through the season and ramps can go marginal at low water. The elevation reading is the practical way to know what to expect before towing a boat up the valley.

Access is by the Baker Lake Road out of Concrete, with Forest Service campgrounds and two main launches.

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Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

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2. What you confirm

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6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

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Pool right now

715.16ft NAVD88
  • 24 hours+0.13 ft ↑ rising

Reading taken 2h ago at USGS 12191600, BAKER LAKE AT UPPER BAKER DAM NEAR CONCRETE, WA. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

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Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Baker Lake.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Lake level alert

Tell me when the pool at Baker Lake ft (NAVD88)

Now: 715.16 ft pool elevation, read 4:00 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 12191600, BAKER LAKE AT UPPER BAKER DAM NEAR CONCRETE, WA).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Concrete - the nearest town on Highway 20, with fuel, groceries and lodging.
Upper Baker Dam - the gauge location at the lake outlet.
Horseshoe Cove - a Forest Service campground and boat launch on the west shore.
Kulshan Campground - a developed launch and campground near the dam.
Baker Lake Road - the paved access running north from Concrete up the valley.
Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest - public land surrounding the entire lake.
Skagit River - the celebrated mainstem river downstream, with its own fisheries.

Seasons

Spring: cold and quiet, with resident trout and whitefish the realistic targets as the pool refills.
Summer: the sockeye season when it opens, with the trolling fleet concentrated and the fishing intense.
Fall: sockeye finish spawning, pressure drops sharply and resident trout fishing improves.
Winter: the road and campgrounds go quiet, with weather and drawdown limiting practical access.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Baker Lake?

Anglers target Bull Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Dolly Varden, Kokanee Salmon, Mountain Whitefish, Rainbow Trout, Sockeye Salmon on the Baker Lake in Washington.

Where can you access the Baker Lake?

Concrete - the nearest town on Highway 20, with fuel, groceries and lodging. Upper Baker Dam - the gauge location at the lake outlet. Horseshoe Cove - a Forest Service campground and boat launch on the west shore. Kulshan Campground - a developed launch and campground near the dam. Baker Lake Road - the paved access running north from Concrete up the valley. Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest - public land surrounding the entire lake. Skagit River - the celebrated mainstem river downstream, with its own fisheries.

When is the best time to fish the Baker Lake?

Spring: cold and quiet, with resident trout and whitefish the realistic targets as the pool refills. Summer: the sockeye season when it opens, with the trolling fleet concentrated and the fishing intense. Fall: sockeye finish spawning, pressure drops sharply and resident trout fishing improves. Winter: the road and campgrounds go quiet, with weather and drawdown limiting practical access.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Baker Lake?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Washington agency site: https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations