Whatcom County anglers will get their first crack at Nooksack River humpies in at least six years starting Saturday, July 16.
The Nooksack's in-river contingent of pinks is expected to number just over 68,000 fish exceeding the minimum management target by 13,000 fish.
However, if pre-season forecasts come to pass, the humpy return to Western Washington's northernmost large stream basin will constitute not quite two percent of the 5.9 million pinks that are predicted to be coming back to Puget Sound rivers as a whole.
Nooksack anglers will have about 22 miles of river to flog for pinks starting at the Lummi Nation boundary near the Marine Drive bridge upstream to the State Route 544 bridge at Everson. The remaining mainstem up to Deming opens for salmon Thursday, Sept. 1.
THE BOOK ON NOOKSACK HUMPIES
Humpies as a whole and Nooksack pinks in particular have several characteristics that set them apart from other Pacific salmon.
First, humpies, as a species, differ from all other salmon returning to the North American continent in that their returns occur predominantly every other year. From about the mid-British Columbia coast southward the big pink runs happen only in odd-numbered years. To the north in Alaskan waters, the biggest pink runs are in even calendar years.
What's more, though biologists have tried to find older specimens, all humpies appear to return to spawn as two-year olds. By comparison, chinook can be up to seven years old when they come back to spawn and most chum salmon runs have a combination of three-, four- and five-year olds.
Nooksack humpies are the earliest to spawn in Washington waters (sometimes a month before the peak spawning in the nearby Skagit) with the largest portions of the run going to the North and Middle forks and some to South Fork. Only native spring chinook precedes humpies in their spawning runs.
With pinks being the smallest of all Pacific salmon, the Nooksack's humpies have the further distinction of being the smallest of the small, individually, in stature of Puget Sound's pink stocks.
A typical Nooksack pink from the lower river may check in to a creel at three to five pounds. But elsewhere in Puget Sound, runs can produce some behemoths including the current state freshwater record, a 15-plus pound pink was landed in the Skykomish River in 2007.
Pinks get their 'humpy' nickname from the distinctive distended head and arching back males develop just before or shortly after entering the river. Like other salmon in their freshwater phase, both male and female pinks have very sharp teeth erupting from their jaw lines that turn into weapons on the spawning grounds to defend redds (female to female battles) or to fight for spawning rights (male to male combat).
WHERE ON THE HOME STREAM
By mid-July, vanguard pinks of the 2011 run will have already passed through the lower river. But a fair portion will still be available if you can find a piece of river bank on which to stand or a place to slip a boat into the current.
Landowners along the Nooksack are increasingly sensitive to public intrusion on their property for any reason, including what might have been customary, long-standing angler access to fish from the river bank.
You can avoid running afoul of the trespass law (RCW 9A.52.080) and any legal troubles by sticking to just the publicly owned accesses along the river.
Here are the public lands situated in the July and August pink salmon reach (the left and right reference assumes you are facing downstream):
WDFW: Nooksack Unit: part of Whatcom Wildlife Area, it provides about 2.1 miles of left bank trail access between Marine Drive and Slater Road. Walk-in.
WDFW: Tennant Lake Unit: part of Whatcom Wildlife Area, it allows access to about 1.7 miles of brushy, left high bank access between Slater Road and Nielsen Road. Walk-in.
Whatcom County Parks: Hovander Homestead Park: the county park has about 2.3 miles of left bank access from Nielsen Road upstream to near Main Street bridge. Below moderate flows there are two bars in this section. The only public launch for trailered boats is located at the north end of this complex. Drive-up.
Ferndale: Centennial Riverwalk and Vanderyacht city parks: These municipal parks provide about .8 mile of right mostly high bank access, but there is one expansive bar upstream of the railroad bridge. Drive-up and walk-in.
WDFW: Harksell Road: Also listed as the Chappell Access, it provides very limited right high bank access but adjacent lands are privately owned. A WDFW vehicle access permit is required to park here and the area is closed during hours of darkness. Drive-up.
WDFW: Guide Meridian: Also listed as the Degroot Access, it enables limited left bank access to a river bar, adjacent lands are privately owned. A WDFW vehicle access permit is required to park here and the area is closed during hours of darkness. Drive-up.
Whatcom County Roads: Hannegan Road Bridge: This county road crossing has very limited left bank access on the county road right-of-way under the bridge. When river flow is low a bar forms that may be accessed upstream of the mouth of Kamm Creek. The south bridge approach is a high bank option. Drive-up.
WDFW: Stickney Island Road: Also listed as the Proctor-Rupke Access, available by agreement with the landowners, this gated field road provides limited right bank access to a bar. Walk-in.
Everson: Riverside City Park: This municipal park has about .3 mile of right river bank access onto an occasionally expansive, depending on the river flow volume, gravel bar. The ramp was intended to serve trailered watercraft, but the river remains uncooperative, so only carry-in personal or paddle craft have access here.
If you have not visited the river for some years, it would be prudent to check out the ownership of the approach to your former favorite fishing holes. Don't count on land being formally posted for them to now be off-limits.
You can do that easily on-line at the county assessor's Web site.
Always contact landowners in a courteous and respectful manner (weekdays and after 9 a.m. or before 4 p.m.) and after asking for access, accept the first 'no' as an answer.
If you do get permission, behave as if you own the land and want to take good care of it. Pick up litter, close gates, do not drive on crops or pasture, do not build fires and be thoughtful where you park. Consider giving the landowner a sample of your smoked catch as a token of appreciation.
TOP HUMPIE HOOKERS
It's been said that if they are in a biting mood, humpies will strike anything as long as it's pink, but they actually will go after a pretty broad selection of terminal gear.
As with gear selection for other river dwelling fish lure or bait, their effectiveness also depends on water clarity.
The general rule is: start small in clear water and increase lure size as the clarity (visibility) decreases. Both scent and vibration probably play an increasingly important role as the water gets murkier.
Whether you are plunking or casting and retrieving, here are some commonly used lures and baits:
- FSTs: a long-standing lure brand that's a medium-sized, fluttery spoon that comes in thin-blade and thicker (weighted) version for easier casting. There can be a wide selection of liveries (finishes, colors and patterns), but in our glacially clouded waters, pinks and whites are reliable fish getters.
- Dick Nites: another well-known lure brand is an elongated, thin-bladed spoon type. Again, there can be a wide selection of liveries (finishes, colors and patterns), but many anglers like the basic metal finishes in chrome or brass. Smaller Dickies are preferred in clearer water.
- Sand shrimp: Fresh-dug sand shrimp occasionally can be hard to find but are used by both drift-fishers as well as plunking advocates. An increasingly popular, though pricey, substitute are cured and dyed coonstripe shrimp. Unfortunately, in the Nooksack, bait is banned this year.
- Wingbobber: a tried and true plunking lure designed to spin on the leader's axis, there are several derivations of the original that work well either plunked (fished in place on the bottom) or cast out, drifted and retrieved.
- Guppys: once molded locally these old plastic wobbling-style lures have the same action as Flatfish and Kwikfish but it gets its action with a somewhat different and distinct shape. If you're old enough to still have some in your tackle box, use them wisely. Substitutes with the same type of action include Hotshots and other wobbly plugs as well as the aforementioned F- or K-type lures.
- Fly Patterns: bright colored (again pinks, reds and oranges) streamers such as bucktail flies or leech-type patterns tied with marabou are common.
Freshwater salmon fishers, especially those on the Nooksack, need to pay heed to restrictions on the use of bait and the hook and/or point count found in the regulations when they outfit their tackle boxes or vests.
HANDLING HUMPIES
Anglers in the heat of fishing are often known to toss their catches on the bank beside them and quickly get back in the action.
Doing that with humpies, especially in the summer mid-day sun, will put them at risk of turning into an uninviting and unpalatable mess.
To insure they retain their quality do the following:
- Quickly bleed them out by snipping a gill arch.
- Removing the entrails is okay, but getting the whole fish on ice as soon as possible is more important.
- Do not put the dead fish back in river water or in melt-water inside a cooler.
- Put them on ice (cube or block) inside a cooler.
- Use a rack and cover them with a wet burlap or coarse cloth inside the cooler to keep them from coming in direct contact with the ice or melt-water.
- Given this care immediately upon landing them, humpies can meet the strictest standards for a fresh barbeque. They also will retain their firmness and reduce the need for much time soaking in brine before cold or hot smoke curing.
OTHER HUMPIE HALLOWS
Coming in a little later than the Nooksack's pinks, runs to five other Puget Sound streams will be fair-game starting later. They are the:
- Skagit River: Opens Monday, Aug. 1 from its mouths upstream to the Memorial Bridge at Mount Vernon and from there upstream to Gilligan Creek (just about Sedro-Woolley). Anglers may keep three coho, pink or sockeye salmon a day plus one extra humpy. All chinook and chum salmon must be released.
There are many public and several privately owned accesses in these to management sections including five state or locally managed boat ramps and two private (per-use fee or membership) ramps.
In addition, state fish and wildlife accesses and city parks in Mount Vernon, Burlington and Sedro-Woolley have ample bank space. Dikes are generally on private land and are off limits.
- Stillaguamish River: Opens Thursday, Sept. 1, from its mouths upstream to Marine Drive and from there upstream to the forks just above Arlington.
The daily salmon take is two fish plus two more pinks. Both chinook and chum salmon must be released.
Overland access to the banks of the lower Stilly is perhaps more restricted in that there are fewer roads and less public ownership of land in the agriculture dominated valley. Anglers will need to look carefully at a map to find the locations where it's possible to get to the river.
- Snohomish River system: Opens in phases starting with the Snohomish, its sloughs and the lowest management section of the Skykomish River Tuesday, Aug. 16.
Boat launches are well spaced being found at Marysville (Ebey Slough), the Everett waterfront, just below the Interstate 5 bridge, at Lowell and on the lower Sky at the Lewis Street bridge.
Anglers may keep up to three salmon plus one extra pink per day, while they release all chinook and chum salmon.
The Skykomish above Monroe and the Snoqualmie up to the falls open Thursday, Sept. 1.
- Green River: Also opens in phases starting with the lower up to the Interstate 405 bridge in Tukwila Saturday, Aug. 20.
With more than 2.1 million humpies expected to run the Green, anglers have the most generous bag limit of six salmon per day with only three being a combination of chum and coho.
The remainder of the Green above Tukwila opens the first of September or November.
- Puyallup River: Opens from its mouth upstream to a City of Puyallup structure described in the regulations Thursday, Sept. 1, also with a six salmon per day limit bounded by a four-adult and two combined chinook, coho and chum restrictions.
The lower Puyallup is traversed by roads on both banks providing a fair amount of access. Anglers must be on their best behavior here and respect tribal fishers.
Doug Huddle, the Bellingham Herald's outdoors correspondent, since 1983, has written a weekly hunting and fishing column that appears Fridays. Read and comment on his blog at blogs.bellinghamherald.com/outdoors.
