Ferndale Solar:
Hi guys, My name is Dave and I am going to be a Ferndale resident sometime later this year. My wife and I just bought a secluded piece of property about 5 miles West of Ferndale. That puts me at 6 miles and about 11 minutes from the beautiful waters of the sound in the area of Cherry Point. We are going to build a solar home on the property and after that I will have time to go fishing.
Do you know if the fishing is any good in the area from Bellingham to Birch Bay? If so, what can a person expect to catch?
Allen, thanks for the email today. Your story and pictures of your trip to Sombrio were great to read. I am relieved to find out about this forum and that there are kayak fishermen in the area.
Thanks for the work it took to start this forum. I will be viewing often. See you soon. Dave Culver
Pisco Sicko:
Hmm, good question! I was a student at WWU, years ago, so I'm familiar with the area.
On the freshwater side there are two good lakes (for LMB) in your new neighborhood. The close one will be Terrell; the other's name escapes me at the moment but is easy to find. It's split by Guide-Meridian Rd, on the way from B'ham to Lynden.
The main river in the area is the Nooksack- I never had a boat when in school, so don't know anything about floating it. I would start during low-water periods, so you get a chance to figure it out before there's a lot of water pushing you around. I always bank/ wade fished it upstream, esp. the N and S forks. The other stream I fished was Whatcom Cr., right in town. There is a park downtown on the creek's estuary.. It has a boardwalk parallelling the creek channel. We would fish it in the early winter for hatchery steelhead, during incoming and high slack tide.
On the salt side:
Starting at Larrabee St. Park, on Chuchanut Dr., south of B'ham. There's good crabbing during the season (check the regs.!) Kind of shallow near the park, but if you go NW, you might get in to deeper water and be able to fish for silvers during their season (late-Aug. - Oct.) The Nooksack gets a good run of silvers, and I've heard of people fishing for them in the bay.
The S ends of Lummi and Eliza Isl. are supposed to be good for bottomfish. Probably be another good area for salmon fishing, in season.
Ferndale Solar:
Thanks Pisco Sicko, That is a wealth of information. I will be living about 1/4 mile from Lake Terrell and the sign says you can only keep one LMB over 17" per day! I was amazed. I've never caught one that big. I was also hoping to be able to catch Ling Cod and bottom fish in the area of the Sound near Cherry Point. Do you think that is a possibility? Thanks again for the post. Cheers, David
MarkH:
Hey David...welcome to Whatcom County. While I don't have the time right at this moment to give you more feedback re. local fishing I wanted to give you a heads up that there are at least 2 other guys in Bellingham who enjoy kayak fishing...my son and yours truly. We've done some fishing from our kayaks in a number of places...but not as much "catching" as I would like. Overall, I am a bit disappointed in the NW fishing having grown up on some great fishing in So. Cal and Baja California. But, the fact that I've not been all that successful up here over the past 13 years might give you ample warning that my "free advice" will be worth what you pay for it...nothing!
At any rate, in the next week or so I'll try to find some quiet time and give you some highlights both fresh and salt.
Where are you relocating from, by the way? This is a wonderful area to live and raise a family...
Best regards, Mark
Pisco Sicko:
:o Wow, more people coming out of the woodwork! Hi to MarkH (and son), glad you found us. Hopefully we can help you out in the catching department.
Re bass in Terrell L.: Terrell is under general statewide gamefish rules, except some seasonal boat fishing restrictions. No min. size; daily limit of 5; only <12" or >17"; only 1 >17". There ARE some big bass out there! Oh, and the other lake is Wiser Lake (the one whose name I couldn't remember). I've caught some nice bass in Wiser, too.
Some (sad) WA state fishing history: our state has all too often acted too late when it comes to protecting fish stocks. When one fishery was depleted (and finally restricted) pressure was transferred to other species. The state has consistently been behind the curve, with the result that fishery after fishery has suffered serious declines in stocks. First was salmon, then true cod, then the rest of the bottomfish. About the only species that hasn't crashed, has been halibut, which has been primarily regulated by the feds. At this point the Sound and San Juan areas have been hammered hard and are under pretty tight restrictions. (Hopefully, the stocks will make a comeback.) The best fishing in the state is out towards the coast. Inside, you'll have to pay your dues finding out-of-the-way spots that haven't been fished hard, or concetrate on migratory fish that are seasonally abundent (i.e. salmon)
Re bottomfish around Cherry Point: Lots of hydrocarbons floating around, so I would probably release most fish caught in that neighborhood.
However, about halfway between Cherry Point and Sucia Is. is Allen Bank (SW from Cherry Pt., about 3-4 miles). Here's a view from Acme Mapper- http://mapper.acme.com/?lat=48.33902&long=-124.669&scale=14&theme=Topo&width=4&height=3&dot=Yes According to the Fish-n-Map, Allen is supposed to be good for lings and rockfish, with halibut around the edges. I haven't fished it, but I have had good success around the northern San Juans.