Whatcom Creek - Bellingham Wa

[HULI_ISDA]

Wanted to try fishing this creek for the first time. Wonder if it's worth the drive. Wanna know if anyone been out lately and is the chum are in. Thank you

[riverhunter]

I would say to wait a week. Usually around the 10th of November is when I start to make plans to make it up there. In about 2 weeks you won't be able to keep them off your hooks. Then a week after thanksgiving it usually dies down drastically. Fortunately this year thanksgiving is early

[Jakefish]

I would say to wait a week. Usually around the 10th of November is when I start to make plans to make it up there. In about 2 weeks you won't be able to keep them off your hooks. Then a week after thanksgiving it usually dies down drastically. Fortunately this year thanksgiving is early

It is still spotty. Last Sunday it was good, this morning it was a barren wasteland.

[countryboy87]

I went Thursday 8-12 saw probably 20 fish hooked.. Its still spotty but ya never know when its gonna turn on so if ya have the chance get up there n get a line wet

[dj2loud]

was there yesterday, seals snacked on 2 of my 4 or so caught.... There are 5 seals this year and they will grab fish outta your hand when landing so be prepared... There are fish here, but already showing purple bars and black belly's, some big ones that's for sure..... If your not keeping them, place em in the tube and make sure to NOT just grab them by the tails! The fish biologist down there for a few hours was taking and showing the russians how to PROPERLY land and place them in the tube..... All i saw was gills and tails grabs.... LEARN HOW TO PROPERLY CARE FOR THESE FISH!

[riverhunter]

I can't release in the tube as I will not fish the wall but opposite of it. I usually just pull the hook out without removing them from the water. Touching them as little as possible. I only fish that creek to keep females as I'm looking for eggs for winter steelhead. I usually freeze a few skeins for the following year when my supplies are depleted.

[Jakefish]

Even the seals have mostly given up on the chum run this year. I can't believe there still aren't more than a handful of fish in there. I may recall something about the BTC hatchery having a major die-off a couple of years ago due to a power loss or some such thing - is this the return from that problem year? Does anyone else remember? Any BTC fisheries students or former students recall?

[jake_k]

Former student here. The return should be fairly good size 3 years ago we took over 400,000 eggs. Its still early also they don't make good push until nearly thanksgiving.

[dj2loud]

That may be the case, but the past 3-5 years the fish were there 2 weeks into october and ended before thanksgiving...... I recently went back into my notes and the 1st chum i caught was october 7th...

[riverhunter]

Every year is different. Example, the creek I usually fish and catch silvers is ready to be fished by late sept first week of Oct. This year didn't see or better yet didn't catch anything until the 25th of Oct.

[fisherman92]

I was planning on going tomorrow. Still might but idk if it's worth the drive if the run is late. Might give the coho one more weekend. Sounds like the runs are around 2 weeks behind for alot of species this year.

[riverhunter]

I wanted to try for coho one last time also but wasn't sure if it was still producing. Went the last 2 weekends and this past weekend was some tough fishing. With the waters dropping so much and clearing up quite a bit I had to put in more work then usual. If you happen to go for coho I was hoping you could share what you experience. You could pm me if you don't want it to public and in return I could share my experiences with you everytime I go out even if I don't catch any but others do well.

[dj2loud]

Chum run today was phenomenal, come to whatcom! its getting loaded, i was there for about 3 hours and the fish just kept coming in, seals disappeared and the fish are big!

[fisherman92]

Went this morning from 9 to 11am. Saw a few small schools but barely anything. Maybe it's hot again this afternoon? Might go tomorrow but seems hit or miss right now.

[branweeds]

It’s definitely hit or miss right now. Almost nothing all afternoon but a couple more schools later this evening. Hopefully they start coming in more consistently.

[dj2loud]

Rivers gonna rise this week, i'm thinking they are gonna be pushing in fast from here on out.... Only saw 5 or 6 on beds in the nooksack way up river yesterday... I limited at whatcom in about 20 min and went up the sack from USA 9 all the way to the hatchery, didn't see anything on the nook but these 5/6 on bed.....

[countryboy87]

Anything goin on yet?? Should be about time

[dj2loud]

old post but what the hell... I have seen folks up there but haven't heard about anything special going on yet. Wait till thanksgiving time and slay some chum....

[fisherman92]

I think this huge rain might help? After last year I'm iffy on trying till I hear good things...

[branweeds]

It's still really slow. Tried for a couple hours yesterday since the rivers are blown and didn't see a single chum.