Whatcom Creek - Bellingham Wa

[dj2loud]

Was up there about 11am yesterday, saw 3 taken out and they were pretty chrome but bars starting to show.. Thanksgiving week looking like the normal years... Also saw 3 seals already chasing fish... Someone bring a paintball gun....

[fisherman92]

Well bass is on the agenda for this weekend. Next weekend should be good for chum? Hopefully they have started coming in with these rains? Any updates? Thanks and good luck on the battle field of Whatcom creek haha

[branweeds]

Unfortunately pretty slow still, even last year was better at this time in November.

[Jakefish]

According to the escapement reports, the hatchery has only received 20 chum as of 11/7. That is dismal. What's worse is that 18 of the 20 are listed under "mortality", which means they only have 2 fish on hand. People need to be very careful when transporting their fish from the steps to the tube - move them quickly, keep your hands out of the gills, cradle the fish under the belly - don't just hold them by the gills or the tail and dump them in the hatchery tube.

Update - last year the hatchery had 190 fish as of 11/8 and zero mortality. Wow, this is looking terrible.

[fisherman92]

That doesn't sound good. Yeah last year was the worst year I saw by far, but I only make it up on weekends. Hopefully it picks up..

[Jakefish]

I expect it will be closed soon due to a lack of broodstock. Ironically, most of the fish bypass the fish ladder anyway, so that won't really help. We need anglers there to put them in the hatchery tube. They should just close retention and make it catch and release into the hatchery tube only.

[dj2loud]

Jake it has nothing to do with mortality from handling and shoving down the tube, I fished a few days ago two days in a row and put 3 down the tube, came in the next morning the same time and 3 out of the 3 fish i put down were laying on the sidewalk with a 1/2 its body eaten by the local otter/river rats that are getting into the pens.. If you notice the boards, wire and etc at the base of the railings, this has been the problem so far. There isn't many fish making its way up as of yesterday, I refuse to fish it until the run materializes and i can shove some down the tube again.. They rely on you and I and everyone else to jam as many in there this year as possible considering last years 1388 was the most dismal on record... The native netters should be ashamed to have netted last year at the mouth for 11 straight days.... Aslo they should start popping the seals, 7 counted the other morning chasing what few fish were there.... kill them all....

[fisherman92]

Well I hope I can do my part in placing fish in the tube this year... hopefully they show. Good luck. See you there IF the fish show..

[Jakefish]

Stopped by to have a look a couple hours ago - still nothing. No fish on, very few anglers, and nothing I could spot in the ponds. Only 1 seal. Maybe they have given up.

[Jakefish]

And as expected the closure was just announced. Today is your last shot if you are going to go - it is closed effective 11/15.

[dj2loud]

i don't know why they closed it to all fishing, pretty dumb if you ask me considering the fisherman are the ones that have been the only ones to put fish down the tube for hatchery collection. We might as well give this fishery up in a couple years, fucking nets went in the bay in october and haven't come out.... **** this state and its bullshit.... You will see me up there placing fish in the hatchery tube without recourse from the state....

[fisherman92]

Well I figured I'd post to see if the chum are going to show this year or if anyone has heard/seen them showing up? The last 2 years were dismal compared to previous years, I'm curious if this is a trend or they're going to show up in full force this year. Thanks in advance for any info!

[Jakefish]

It's still early, but there are no signs of any fish at all. I just walked the 100 yards from my office to the wall - the creek looks good, fairly high flow (but not too high). Tide was high, but there were no signs of fish in the usual spots right below the rapids. No seals, no fishermen (not even Jacob or Eddie, the 2 regulars who almost live there).

If there is a correlation - the Fraser River chum forecast has just been downgraded to the worst in decades. I've seen plenty of chum on the river I've been fishing, but overall I think they are suffering from poor ocean conditions - not to mention that chum returns are normally lower in pink years.

[fisherman92]

I know its early too. Thanks for the heads up. Hopefully they show and I can get a chance to run up and give it a shot a day or two in Nov. I'm still chasing coho around but with the rains coming most rivers are going to be unfishable. My local river is already blown out like crazy after yesterday..
Thanks Jakefish!

[branweeds]

I know its early too. Thanks for the heads up. Hopefully they show and I can get a chance to run up and give it a shot a day or two in Nov. I'm still chasing coho around but with the rains coming most rivers are going to be unfishable. My local river is already blown out like crazy after yesterday..
Thanks Jakefish!

Talking to my buddy in the program there it sounds like they aren’t expecting much of a return this year either. I know some other dudes who have been hitting it recently but seen nothing at all yet. That being said, we can always hope. Coho has been absolute sh;t this year so a few chum would be nice.