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Sometimes thing don't go as planned.

10/15/2015, 2:30-6:30 PM
Okuma Celilo 8ft Ultralight
Pflueger President
8lb P-Line CX

The weather was as perfect of a day as one could ask for in October. A crisp yet warm day with a slight breeze and beautiful scenery- the perfect day to chase the notorious Bulldog of the river.

I was dropped off by the 72X bus and hiked about a mile to the river, my bare legs exposed to all manner of thorns and nettle. It mattered little in the scheme of things, I am not to be denied the river by some silly foliage. Upon reaching the bank, I hopped down onto the mud, and to my surprise, it gave way, leaving me on the ground with a dirty backside. I washed the slop off with the help of the cool Nooksack current and began to fish.

First off, "cool" is an understatement. That water is frigid. Unable to lug my waders up to college (yet), I donned my wading shoes, and essentially stood in the current until I couldn't feel my feet anymore. Then was I finally able to fish effectively.

The water looked so good- seams, deeper runs, and wooden structure all combined to create a great ambush spot. The water had pace to it, however, and no fish seemed to feel like living the fast life today. An hour and a half of relentless prodding and dissecting of the river yielded no results. Finally I moved on from that spot, scampered back up the muddy slope I came from, and moved spots.

The next spot was a larger portion of river. A good moderate pace and moderate depth signaled decent fish holding water throughout. My first cast, an aimless hurl into a the center of the run, was greeted with a solid tug before my gear descended the depths. Fish on, my first decent one of the Nooksack.

An ever-so-familiar fight pattern was displayed, and I grinned a cheesy grin as the beauty bulldogged its way around the river bottom. From the stained water resigned a silver-olive warrior, its sides freckled with peach-red spots. I gently held my first Nooksack bull in the cool current, unhooked it, and after a moment of admiration and photos, turned her off of her side and watched her bullet off back into the depths and disappear.

It was the first of five, but the only one of any size. It was probably around 16 inches, maybe a tad more or less. The rest were 8-10 inches and I let them shake the hook free in the water to reduce the stress on them. My usual technique for luring the biggest fish out of a given run didn't pay many dividends today. Or perhaps only smaller fish were present. But I doubt it. I also don't care. It isn't about the size or the number; its about the experience, the river, and the beautiful fish that reside there, however big they may be.

My trip home did not go as planned. As a freshman at WWU, I don't have the luxury of owning a car, so I ride the busses. It's free, but it's no guarantee. For example, you would expect the bus that's supposed to make a stop at the bus stop at a certain time to actually stop when you flag it down, not drive away like the Fed is coming after it.

Well, it drove right past me and the bus stop. I laughed, plugged the route into my phone back to Bellingham, and began walking. 7ish Hours for 21 miles, I had better get going. I chewed through two of those miles before a good friend of mine picked me up off the road and drove me home. Thanks, Courtney :)

tike

10/16/2015 8:15:00 AM

I truly enjoy your posts! I feel i was along on the adventure with you! So sorry about the bus, but.... at least you caught fish and had a wonderful time in the wilderness.

dj2loud

10/16/2015 9:16:00 AM

Ian, wondering how far up or down you've gone on the nooksack? I posted a beauty catch 30 1/2 " dolly a few days ago fishing south of the mosquito lake bridge -- I've been looking for bear tracks making my way north of the bridge but have yet to find some--

Ian Horning

10/16/2015 10:24:00 AM

@dj2loud I was right by the bridge as well. I haven't been able to explore that much yet because of that thing called school haha. I did do some yesterday; the bear tracks were on the western side of the river in the mud. They looked quite fresh too! Saw no coho up there.

dj2loud

10/16/2015 11:34:00 AM

Ian- I thought that was you after looking at the pictures ( the hat gave you away ) I had made my way under the bridge and started fishing the bank to the right of the bridge and was gonna holler over at you asking if you caught any but ya started walking the other way-- I was there at 9am but left and went down to river road and caught a 24" silver with plenty of sea lice ( no tails ) just as bright as can be and feisty! If you want to run some other places hit me up and we can meet somewhere and go fish, im out of maple falls so river isn't very far and running up to ferndal/lynden don't take long at all--I'm assuming your a fly only? Im usually fishing 3/5 days a week lately as I work refinery--

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