Pink Nighty
Life of the Party
I read a lot of pessimism about fishing for SRC in the North Sound. And the "North sound" is defined as anything north of Seattle it appears. From general tone, it appears that Whidbey is the last point north of productive SRC water.
I live a bit north of there in Blaine. And while I have a passionate love affair with the beaches of whidbey for salmon fishing, the thought of 1.5-2 hr trips each way to learn to target SRC is a tough proposition. With a 3 month gap in river seasons, bass still cold and decent tides I'm gonna try and see what swims up here.
The Place: From Bellingham Bay to Boundary Bay, including Semiahmoo and Drayton Harbor, Birch Bay and Birch/Cherry points.
This area is bounded by the mouth of the Nooksack to the south and the mouth of the Fraser to the North, though I wont be going international on this adventure. There are also 3 fish bearing streams on the US side and 4 on the Canadian side that drain the area between the large rivers.
There is a lot of potential habitat to probe here. Enormous boulders dot sand/cobble flats. Dense patches of eelgrass cover flats off gentle beaches in some places, while kelp beds encroach on the steep bouldery beaches of others.
Life is relatively abundant here. I have employed these beaches for other uses for years and the amount of bait can be staggering at times. Crab, octopus, all kinds of shellfish can be found and birds/marine mammals are generally present.
The time:
From today though April I am planning on making this my primary fishery. After that will depend on how its fishing because I cant just ignore bass forever guys jeez.
The first month presents opportunities to fish high slack and outgoing tides. I will often be restricted to midday with my baby on the back, which looks decent for the next while with midday exchanges of 9+ft. As april approaches I should have shots at large exchanges on the incoming tide.
The gear:
Felt bottom waders, round laundry bin with wading belt through the holes for a stripping basket. Chest pack full of gear, backpack full of screams.
Echo Carbon Xl 9' 5wt
200gr floating Skagit head on Lazar line, tips from floating to t11
OR
WF5F from SA (I think)
Fenwick glass 8'6 6 weight
Skagit setup as above
OR
Integrated tip/shooting head with a 20 ft 5ips tip
I'll update this post as I go, using it as a log for tides, wind and strategy. I'd really love any thoughts related to this area. The SRC advice in other threads is fantastic and I have consumed it thoroughly, so I am hoping this thread can relate more specifically to the area 7ish region.
Wish me luck! Gotta be better than not fishing.
I live a bit north of there in Blaine. And while I have a passionate love affair with the beaches of whidbey for salmon fishing, the thought of 1.5-2 hr trips each way to learn to target SRC is a tough proposition. With a 3 month gap in river seasons, bass still cold and decent tides I'm gonna try and see what swims up here.
The Place: From Bellingham Bay to Boundary Bay, including Semiahmoo and Drayton Harbor, Birch Bay and Birch/Cherry points.
This area is bounded by the mouth of the Nooksack to the south and the mouth of the Fraser to the North, though I wont be going international on this adventure. There are also 3 fish bearing streams on the US side and 4 on the Canadian side that drain the area between the large rivers.
There is a lot of potential habitat to probe here. Enormous boulders dot sand/cobble flats. Dense patches of eelgrass cover flats off gentle beaches in some places, while kelp beds encroach on the steep bouldery beaches of others.
Life is relatively abundant here. I have employed these beaches for other uses for years and the amount of bait can be staggering at times. Crab, octopus, all kinds of shellfish can be found and birds/marine mammals are generally present.
The time:
From today though April I am planning on making this my primary fishery. After that will depend on how its fishing because I cant just ignore bass forever guys jeez.
The first month presents opportunities to fish high slack and outgoing tides. I will often be restricted to midday with my baby on the back, which looks decent for the next while with midday exchanges of 9+ft. As april approaches I should have shots at large exchanges on the incoming tide.
The gear:
Felt bottom waders, round laundry bin with wading belt through the holes for a stripping basket. Chest pack full of gear, backpack full of screams.
Echo Carbon Xl 9' 5wt
200gr floating Skagit head on Lazar line, tips from floating to t11
OR
WF5F from SA (I think)
Fenwick glass 8'6 6 weight
Skagit setup as above
OR
Integrated tip/shooting head with a 20 ft 5ips tip
I'll update this post as I go, using it as a log for tides, wind and strategy. I'd really love any thoughts related to this area. The SRC advice in other threads is fantastic and I have consumed it thoroughly, so I am hoping this thread can relate more specifically to the area 7ish region.
Wish me luck! Gotta be better than not fishing.