Fishing from Bellingham to Birch Bay?

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

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.

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

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

  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.

I have to tend to my WAF  - more later!

Hi Mark and everyone,
I will be moving up from Gearhart Oregon, about 15 miles South of Astoria on Hwy 101. We are about 2 miles North of Seaside. My wife's daughter lives in Bellingham and during visits we have come to really love the area. There are a lot of environmentally minded people in the area along with a heck of a lot more to do than in Gearhart. We will be building a solar home about 5 miles West of Ferndale on Hidden Pond Drive. It's a secluded spot and still close to everything.

I have one kayak, a Hobie Quest, and so far I like it a lot. I am looking forward to fishing in all kinds of places with it. I'm a newbie to this kind of fishing and I am looking forward to learning from all of you.

I am pretty busy these days getting this house ready to sell and dealing with the county for my building permit. I love building and this project is going to be a dream come true.

Mark, I hope to meet you someday soon. In a month or so I should be moving to the area and maybe I can find out more from you then. For now, reading in this forum is really great.
Thanks to everyone.
Dave C

Two things have me curious ...

1) Crabs ... where to go crabbing in that area?
2) Canada ... what's covenient over the boarder?

-Allen

Crabs? I know from personel experience that Samish Bay is full of the buggers. One of the guys I work with, recently moved over from Lummi Is., and he says the area around Birch Bay is good.

Across the border, I've heard a lot about the Vedder R. (steelhead and salmon), and sturgeon in the Fraser R (C&R only).

Dave C., the family and I will be on the Oregon North Coast the last full week of June. My wife grew up in Portland, and has a sentimental attachment to the stretch between Cannon Beach and Manzanita. I've fished about a mile of the beach at Cannon, and had great success. (Was on a cattle boat out of Garibaldi.) One of these days I'd like to get a kayak down there.

Hi Pisco,
I know you will have fun down here on the coast of Oregon, but I really have not fished salt enough to be a source of information to anyone. I did email Allen a map of the area and I guess he sent it to you. That is one thing I can do. If I can be of help to you please don't hesitate to ask.

I finally finished all of the exterior painting yesterday. Now to the interior hole patching and touch-up. We are getting this house ready to sell and it keeps me busy. Thank God I am RETIRED!!!

I look forward to the day when I can meet you all and go fishing with you.
Sincerely,
David

PS When I was a little kid I had a Cisco Kid Cowboy outfit to wear. He was the main man for me at that time. How did your user name originate?

Cheers,
David

How did I come up with my user name?  After hearing my wife tell me for the umpteenth time that I was a fishing addict, I decided to embrace her description. 

I'm in my mid-40s (far from retirement, with a 3 yr. old), and have vague recollections of the old Saturday afternoon movies. I was a big Daniel Boone fan; even had a raccoon skin cap (with a tail with a snap, so that when the other kids yanked it off, I could recover it and reattach it.)

Whats happening Washington! Red Sox Nation in the house! 

Talked to Polepole on another website and he gave me this link. Nothing like the kayak fishing communities that are now Global!
I am coming to Ferndale Washington on June 6th and looking to wet a line. Anyone here guide? I can fish on June 6th after 3pm, June 7th ater 4pm and June 8th in the early AM. Tight schedule and odd week days. Wish I could fish that weekend but have a tournament back in CT. Any help would be MOST appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

The Riddler
Boston, MA.

One other option for yo to consider is Lake Whatcom in Bellingham. The primary launch ramp is at Bloedel-Donovan (less than 10 minutes east of the freeway) and there is decent smallmouth bass fishing just as soon as you are "floating."  Use typical plastics and swim baits in the top 5' of the water column... in and around structure.  Terell and Fazon have LMB and catfish but also have a lot more weeds to contend with...it all comes down to how/where you like to fish.

Whatcom also has a decent population of small rainbows and a few kokanne. I'd slow troll a wedding ring on ultralight line...maybe sweeten it with a single salmon egg.

There are also a few large Lake Trout but they are miles back into the lake and in 250' of water...very seldom caught but often "METERED" on the fish finders.

hi Ferndale Solar my name is troy {a.k.a} gotbaitgofish
 i fish with the norcal guys i work for a solar company in marin county if there anything i can help you with let me know
nawlins007@yahoo.com

http://www.sunpowergeo.com/