WSFR Rivers Reports (Nooksack) - http://www.nwfishing.com

	- Photo courtesy of Robert Vitali



	Needs overview, submit your overview here. Current Conditions - Graph format of flow rates at Ferndale from the USGS

	Feb. 29, 2001 Thanks to: Jim Smith Got to the Nooksack about 7:30, above Lynden. Second cast, WHAM, couldn't beleive it. A nice 8# native hen. Released it and continued fishing until a guy dumped a sled in right where I was fishing and moved into the area where I caught the fish. Well I moved up stream about 1/2 mile and continued fishing until I snagged so I walked back to the truck to re-rig. While I was leaning against the truck I felt the truck moving, like someone pushing on it. Then I could feel the ground moving and decided it was an earthquake. The ground rolled for about 30 sec and quit. I looked at Mt Baker and didn't see any smoke. I could hear other fisherman up and down the river commenting on the shaker. That quake didn't seem to deter any of them. I stayed till about 1:00pm with the memory of what I was doing during the Quake of 2001. Feb. 5-6, 2001 Thanks to: Jim Smith Fished above Lynden from 8:am till 2:pm. Water was a bit colored and coming up a little. Saw three fish lost and one landed and released. Went back the 6th and had the bank to myself till about noon. Hooked a nice 12# buck and released it. Seems like all the fish I saw were native. Jan. 26, 2001 Thanks to: Jerry Downing The river is in good shape. The level has been up and down the last couple weeks from the rains and from bank side chats from other anglers it has brought in some fish. There's word of fair fish catches from Nuggent's Corner and upstream. My haunt is the River road below the Guide bridge. Have as yet to release my first steelhead, but the weather's great, the other fishermen friendly, and the challenge is the game. I did see one fish "on" today. It was on the small side and got loose before it was netted, though. The fisherman was plunking with corkies & eggs. I've been trying combinations of corkies and yarn, backed with powerbait eggs or cured sandshrimp. I like to plunk (anchor to the bottom) and drift fish (bottom bounce), it just depends on water color and flow rate. Anyone else having any luck? Or have a favorite setup to share? Nov. 7-8, 2000 Thanks to: Jerry Downing On the 7th, caught and released a small Dolly bank fishing on the River road below Lynden. The hit came on a small red\white lead head jig you might associate with crappie fishing. Some experiments do payoff. This lure presentation has delivered up some fine Dolly, Silver S., Bass, & other Trout catches for me through out this area. Besides my moment another gent netted a nice Silver off the bottom end of the Frog Pond Bar. He was bottom bouncing eggs & yarn. The time of day was late morning. On the 8th, Spent the afternoon\evening bank spooning downstream of the Hartzell road parking area. Rain had brought the river level up, but local temps have kept some color depth. Another fellow had been working the same area with eggs and having no luck. I had no action either, but watched salmon rising from 3pm 'til dusk. So they're still around and I hope conditions improve into the weekend when I can tackle the river again. South Fork - July 4, 2000 Thanks to: Devin Ling On the fourth of July Trevor Ford and myself, floated from Acme to the confluence. We had a great day, hooking and releasing 6 summer run steelhead, and 13 spring kings. The biggest of the Kings was 39 lbs. The steelhead weighed between 6 and 8 lbs. Was by far the best fishing either one of us has had in years. Mar. 8, 2000 Thanks to: Rob Markich Unbelievable!! Absolutely no fish and hammered it from my sled. Fished from Nuggets Corner up to the Cable Hole and than down below Nuggets to the Indian Hole. Fished hard from first light till about three in the afternoon and no bites or hits. Saw four other sleds and one drift boat and nobody got even a nibble today. I am totally baffled. Normally this time of year a guy can get two to four fish on an all day float. Pretty bleak. Maybe it's time to find a new hobby. :( Feb. 19, 2000 Thanks to: Jim Visbeek Drifted Middle Fork to Nugents Corner in beautiful sunshine and gin clear low water conditions. Caught a 10-lb. wild buck on a blue little cleo spoon across from Carol's Coffee Cup, jumped 5 or 6 times, and ran like crazy. Lots of color, with bright red gill plates, which seems odd, as most fish I have caught in the Nooksack are bit more bright and not so much red. Below the School House Hole picked up another, somewhat sluggish, 8-lb. wild hen, much more bright, on a blue hotshot. Then at dark, picked up another wild hen about 12-lbs. in heavy water above the rip rap near the large clay bank, will have to wait for the photo's to see what she really looked like. A great day and we were very lucky for such clear and low water. Feb. 16, 2000 Thanks to: Jim Smith Fished from Maggies rock to the rip rap for about 2 hrs, still nothing. Went on down to Nutter Bar for another 2 hrs, nothing. Talked to two different drift boaters and they also were blanked. Feb. 12, 2000 Thanks to: Jim Visbeek Drifted from Hwy 9 bridge to Nugents Corner, and picked a nice wild hen about 8 lbs., that jumped several times on a hot shot in tail out of cable hole. Then caught another small wild buck about 6-7 pounds in a fiesty mood on grey ghost tied by Jack Salstrom. Finished with a football shaped Dolly about 5 lbs. in tail out of Big Clay Bank on inside bar. Cold and crisp, clear water conditions, flow about 2500 cfm. Feb. 7, 2000 Thanks to: Mike Fished from Cable hole down to Magie's rock. Hit two dolly's but that was it. Jan. 27, 2000 Thanks to: Jim Smith Fished from the Cable hole to the riprap below Maggies Rock. No Luck. Continued down to Noon Rd and Abbot Rd Fished that for about 2Hrs. Nothing. Jan. 26, 2000 Thanks to: Jim Smith Fished the Nooksack from cable hole, Maggies rock, on down to the riprap. Not even a nibble. Went down to Nutter Bar nothing there either. Oct. 1999 Thanks to: Bob McKay This is not much of a fishing report as it is a reply to your story of clubbing salmon. This has been common practice at the southfork hatchery for years. This hatchery is run by the Lummi Nation funded in part if not all by the state of Washington. After questioning hatchery management about this practice, I was told that the eggs were sold to bait companys and the fish were sold to fertilizer companys. The reason for this was simply to keep the returning hatchery fish out of the native fishes spawning grounds.If the fish were allowed to escape the hatchery would lose some or all of it's State funding.This is how our DFW control the number spawners in the river system. If you or I tried anything like that we would be arrested for blackmail! Sept. 9, 1999 Thanks to: Fred Neil Fished the Hovander area for about two hours. Didn't get anything, but did see half a dozen roll, and what appeared to be a good size King jumped clear out of the water right in front of me. Just enough of a tease to get me back next week. June 26, 1999 Thanks to: Dave Oiness Too much snow in the hills this year to fish this early. Last year I was catching nice trout in the northfork of the Nooksack. Mar. 10, 1999 Thanks to: Steve I had read that the river was going to close to fishing on the 14th. Being a sunny afternoon (with no wind for once) I hurried home from work to change and head out to a spot near Lynden that a friend told me about. There were a few plunkers across the river. Didn't look like they had had much action but I assumed that they were really waiting for late evening for their bite to start. I already had a spoon tied on so I tried that for a few minutes but it just didn't seem right for the slot I was fishing. The water was a little fast and colored so I tied on a redish/yellow Aerofly with some shrimp oil (instead of using bait). My new Loomis/Curado/Ultragreen combo felt real good. Less than 10 flip casts later I felt a fast but light tap, tap, tap. That Loomis translated that light hit so strong to my hand that I set the fish as a reflex before I even realized what happened. The bright 8lb hatchery hen did 3 flips and stuck itself in the current for a while but I landed her textbook style on a rocky bar. Being new to the area and not having much time to learn the river made catching this fish feel great! Feb. 12, 1999 Thanks to: Jeff Brink Put in at Nugents, Friday the 12th. Hooked 3, landed 1 of 15-lbs., broke 1 off (large one), missed the other one. Ran into a very rude jetsled. Do these guys actually enjoy fishing? Saw 2 natives go into the bottom of boats, where is the enforcement??? Feb. 5, 1999 Thanks to: Michael Collins I went fishing out in the Nooksack today. The fishing was real good. Within an hour of fishing I hooked one and released it. The next one was a real hog about 17-18 pounds and this one didn't go back. Feel free to E-mail me at MCmetal15@aol.com Jan. 31, 1999 Thanks to: BOB MCKAY Fished the N. Fork from Racehorse to Mosquito Lake Bridge. The weather was extreme! Cold, hard rain, wind, then to finish things off, snow! One would think you should be rewarded for braving this kind of weather. Not so for us anyway. We did however see one fish being fought by another angler in the first hole. The river was in prime shape, just falling from earlier in the week. Lack of fish seems to be the promlem. Two more weeks till blackmouth opens. Jan. 30, 1999 Thanks to: Liam Wood I followed the skiers up the Mt. baker highway and parked just below the Kendall Creek Hatchery. The river was in great shape. Low and a bit silty, but very fishable. I found great water to fish. Long, deep riffles, runs and narrow slots. I like fishing the larger side channels because the fish seem to like to hold in the easier currents they offer. I guess the fish just aren't in yet because i didn't touch a thing except for a small whitefish. No other anglers on the river. Dec. 15, 1998 Thanks to: Lummie Fished the north fork up high, had not seen a thing all day until the big lure change! Hit four steelhead it one pocket and many followed, water was high. Oct. 23, 1998 Thanks to: Fred Neil The river was really great early in the week, as it dropped back into shape from last Saturday's rain. Got a few silvers and a 16 pound king. Unfortunately, things gradually slowed, until it was just about dead today. Spent about an hour each at Lynden and Ferndale, didn't see a fish taken at either. Hopefully a little rain tomorrow will get things going again. Oct. 10, 1998 Thanks to: Sam Thompson I've been flyfishing the Nooksack off and on for the past week in hopes of maybe hooking into a King or Coho. Well, the 10th was my lucky day! A friend and I fished above Nuget's Corner in the late evening and after only about ten minutes of casting I hooked into a nice frisky King which put up a hell of a fight on my eight weight rod. After about ten jumps and twenty minutes later I landed a nice 17-lb King hen which I released. About ten minutes later my friend hooked into a smaller hen which was snagged in the tail (oops). If anyone's wondering, we were fishing #4 red marabou streamers on 8 weight sink tip line. Oct. 9, 1998 Thanks to: Fred Neil The Nooksack produced a good number of silvers all week, mostly in the 5 lb. range. Most action on silver spinners or brass and red steelees, though eggs seem to be getting more productive. Today( Friday, Oct 9) the river was out due to the rain yesterday.Hopefully it'll be back in shape Sunday. Oct. 7, 1998 Thanks to: Michael Collins We fished Ferndale by the treatment plant for 4 hours, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. We produced 2 silvers than were dinks. 2 to 5 pounds at the most. We caught them drifting eggs with a green corky. There were about 10 people along the bar and about 10 people along the rocks. But not many fish. Sept. 25, 1998 Thanks to: Fred Neil Fished the Nooksack at Hovander this morning from 7:00 til 8:30. Lots of fish rolling, but only one hit which didn't connect. About a dozen other people fishing. One said he got a dark king, but no other action at all. Went back at 5:00 PM for another hour. Again, one hit, no other action to be seen. At least it was a beautiful evening! September 18, 1998 Thanks to: Mike Crowley Fished the Nooksack from 9am to 4pm today from the sled. I put in at Ferndale. The launch has changed a lot from last year. The launch site has filled in with silt. There are 2 ways to get your boat into the water now. One by backing your rig on sand/silt into the river and launching. There is nothing to put a winch cable around if your rig sinks in. Or drop your boat in the 4" of water and muscle it over the sand bar. Hint, bring a friend. I launched the second way by myself. My disability insurance should kick in soon. My mentor and friend Rob Markich told me right where to go. I mean where to fish. I didn't go there for the first hour of fishing and got nothing. So I pulled anchor and went up to his spot and hammered the area for the rest of the time and hooked 4 kings (3 jacks one 15#) all dark and 2 coho (ocean chrome bright). I saw guys using eggs without much luck but I think a big bladed spinner (heavy) is the way to go. I think the fish feel the vibration and then hit it. Man do they. I talked to one other sled at the take out he got one jack on eggs. You can bank fish with the same results once the river clears to a couple of feet of visibility. Sept. 11, 1998 Thanks to: Jim Boudousquie River was in good shape, not many fish though. My wife and I fished from the bank above Ferndale. tried plunking, spinners, & drifting eggs. I caught and released one 10" cutthroat on a spinner. That was it for us for the entire weekend. Others I spoke with on the river had extremely limited luck, producing couple kings in the 10-18 pound range and a very few, very small silvers. The natives are reported to be having considerable success in their nets near the mouth. I will refrain from commenting further the river net fishing issue as my views are extremely one-sided in opposition to this river fishing technique. March 8, 1998 Thanks to Rob Markich for the following report: Fished hard from the sled today and had the river mostly to ourselves. That seemed very odd for this time of year. We only hooked two fish for roughly nine hours of fishing time. First fish looked to be about seven pounds and ended up coming off just before she was ready to be landed. The second one turned out to be a nice bright hen about eighteen pounds. Conditions were good with lots of visibility but just not many fish. This season just might end with thud. March 7, 1998 Thanks to Todd Rightmire for the following report: Mike Clausen and I floated from VanZandt Bridge off Highway 9 on Saturday and fishing was pretty slow for us and everyone that we talked to. Mike finally caught a beautiful bright hen on the South Fork of the Nooksack just before it dumps in to the main. We fished the cable hole and continued down. Just below the high school barn in Deming I hooked one and lost it just after it broke water. I was pretty discouraged thinking that was my last chance this year for a steelhead on the Nooksack. Just after we pulled anchor to to call it a day, I shot a cast just upstream from the boat and caught a nice 12-14 lb. native hen. I was using a pumpkin seed wing bobber with a shrimp tail. Feb 25, 1998 Thanks to Rob Markich for the following report: Fished the Nooksack hard from just shortly after daybreak till around three in the afternoon. Got only one fish and the reports from the other boats wasn't anything to write home about. The fish we got was at Maggie's Rock below the Highway 9 Bridge. Nice fish, approximately 18 pounds, at least that's what my partner thought, I would have said maybe 20. Sporting a little color down the side and on the gill plate. No other bites but the water and height were in excellent shape. Evidently still not that many fish in the river. Didn't hear of any other fish caught. February 9, 1998 Thanks to Rob Markich for the following report: Actually not much to report off the Nooksack. I've logged in three trips in the last month with only two Dolly Varden to show. Floated the North Fork on Thursday didn't touch anything and heard the same report from three other fisherman. I've also fished the Middle Fork three or four time this year but that's been a joke also. Quite a few fisherman on the Middle Fork but I haven't seen or heard of a single fish caught while I've been out. I have heard some rumors that in the last week or so some natives have been caught down low in the river by the plunkers. I've also heard some report of natives in the Skagit. One thing is for sure it can't get any worse. January 3, 1998 Thanks to Liam Wood for the following report: Finally! The fish are beginning to show! I saw three nice fish roll above Rutsatz road. The fish seemed to be holding next to heavy structure like log jams and stumps. I hooked a nice fish that fought well, but turned out to be a chunky Dolly. Hopefully January will be a hot month! December 20, 1997 Thanks to Liam Wood for the following report: Fished above and below Rutsatz road without a hit. I landed one small rainbow. I think it may have been an immature "half pounder" steelhead, because of it's very silver color. The water was very low and clear and I didn't see a fish in any of the pools. Let's hope the fish start moving in soon. December 22, 1997 Thanks to Lummi for the following report: Fished middle fork today, hit six above Rutsatz road. Went below Porter creek and hit five none under ten pounds saw Mitch a really good fisherman and he was skunked. Told me he hadn't hit a fish all day. Got to be there to catch them. December 9, 1997 Thanks to Rob Markich for the following report: Went out on the Nooksack in search of some early Steelhead or very late Coho and ended up finding plenty of Coho. Went down below Nuggent Corner and got into one hole where we proceeded to hook Coho after Coho. After about three or so hours we landed seventeen Coho keeping seven very bright and fresh fish and two with a little color. Didn't find any Steelhead but did hear about a couple recently caught. The same guy I fished with on Friday went back out Saturday for three or so hours and got the big skunk. Saw a couple of drift boats coming from the upper stretch with the same report. I guess it pays to be in the right place at the right time. October 15, 1997 Thanks to Samuel Thompson for the following report: The river has been dropping and clearing up in the past few days so I thought it would be a good idea to hit the river for Cohos. It was the right idea at the right time!! I fished above Nugent's Corner for about 2 hours. I was casting orange, size 3, Bluefox Vibrax spinners into likely looking back eddies. After about two casts I felt a nice hard take, this turned out to be a slightly dark 2 pound Coho which I released. a little while later in the same hole I got another hard strike, this time it was a NICE bright 6 pound hen which I also released. In the next hour or so I hooked and lost another nice fish. It sure seems like the fishing can only get better and better on the Nooksack for Cohos!! Good luck to all who fish for these wonderful salmon!! March 13, 1997 Thanks to Rob Markich for the following report: Fished the Nooksack on March 13 and lots of pressure on the river. I've heard lots of good reports over the last five days and I guess everyone else has too. We started at daybreak and finished up at about 4 o'clock. I hooked six fish but only was able to land three of them. Lost one that felt really heavy. All the fish were chrome bright from a five pound hatchery to about a twelve pound hen. We saw about seven or eight sleds and probably four or five drift boats. Water was in excellent shape and most of the fish seem to be in the upper river around where the North and South Forks come together. Last day of the season is March 15, of course just when it starts to get good. Sure to be tons of pressure on Saturday. March 10, 1997 Thanks to Samuel Thompson for the following report: Fished the Nooksack on March 10 near Nugent's corner from about 12:00pm to 1:00pm. Caught one nice bright six pound native hen on eggs and a corkie. The river is in pretty good shape a little better yesterday than today. I talked to another angler who said that sand shrimp were working well. March 8, 1997 Thanks to Liam Wood for the following report: The Nooksack was in great shape today even with the rain and high freezing level. The water clarity was excellent. My friend Brian and I fished the river below the hatchery. I had heard good things about the river, but it didn't seem that their was a fish to be caught. I didn't see a steelhead hooked all day. A drift boat had hooked and landed a nice Dolly, but that was it. Too bad that this is the last weekend to fish most of the rivers! February 28, 1997 Thanks to Rob Markich for the following report: Floated the upper main Nooksack from daybreak till about 5:00. Lots of boater pressure, saw one sled and about seven or eight drift boats. Unfortunately I had bad leaders and broke one off in about the first hour of fishing. Got about a one minute fight before it went snap. Later in the day my fishing partner hooked and after a long battle landed a nice fourteen pound native hen, chrome bright and very strong. After we landed that one we got back in the hole and I made all of two or three cast before I had one hammer me and take off like a rocket before the snap of my leader again. Felt like a really strong fish. One thing's for sure I'll be throwing away what's left of my leaders and replacing the leaders I have. I've never had such poor luck with bad leader. Of the boats we talked to I heard of two other fish caught, both native of about ten pounds or so. Rumor is that there has been some very good fishing up in the North Fork but as hard as we fished the main river there doesn't seem to be too many fish around in the section we fished. February 23, 1997 Thanks to Samuel Thompson for the following report: Fished the Nooksack on Feb 23 from 1:30 to 5:00pm. Water conditions were good with about three-foot visibility. Got one nice native hen about five pounds and had a few other strikes. We were using size eight red cheaters and red yarn. We were fishing from shore and saw about seven drift boats. February 10, 1997 Thanks to Rob Markich for the following report: Fished the Nooksack on February 10th. Put the boat in at daybreak and fished fairly hard till around 3:30 in the afternoon. We hit one fish part way through the morning, about a ten pound native. Really didn't put up that good of fight and landed it within five minutes. Saw another drift boat on the river who claimed he hit a twenty pounder the day before and caught a couple in the South Fork over the weekend. Water was just about in perfect shape and the level was right too but I don't think there are too many fish laying around just yet. Of the people we talked to I was the only one to touch a fish that day. A friend of mine talked to a guy who fished the lower river over the weekend and hook four fish but was only able to get a hook to one. If the weather will cooperate the fishing should get good in another couple weeks. December 13-15, 1996 Thanks to RINELLA14@aol.com for the following report: Fishing was excellent on 12/13 thru 12/15. Friday four fish were hooked two landed. The fish that were landed were hatchery fish, one buck about 6lbs. and the other was a hen about 12lbs. Saturday six fish were hooked three landed (all hatchery). Two were 7ish and another 12 lb. hen was banked. Sunday produced two fish one 5 lb. native buck and an eight pound hatchery buck. All of the bucks are starting to get a little bit of color. They obviously have been in the system for a few weeks. As for the hens, they are all chrome bright. I think I was lucky and stepped into the first surge of fish. I guess I can credit TU (Chambers Creek strain) for these fish since the Sack usually doesn't start producing consistently until mid to late Jan. The following weekend was rather slow, due to the freezing weather. I only fished one day and that day produce one 10 lb. hen after six hours of melting the ice off of our guides. Expect there to be a lot of aggressive fish in the river after the snow melts and water temperature rises to about 40 degrees. Any other questions feel free to email me, Rinella14@aol.com September 27, 1996 Thanks to Rob Markich for the following report: The pressure is on on the Nooksack. The river is getting hit hard below Ferndale with some good catches. I floated the river on Friday and between two of us hit about fifteen fish. All were Coho and most were in very good shape. The largest was about eight pounds with the average around four to five pounds. The rumors are true about Atlantic Salmon being caught. I saw one jet sled land one on eggs and it was about ten pounds or so. Nice looking fish, kind of looked like a Steelhead. I was told by one drift boat that there is no limit on them and their suppose to be unsex fish (sterile). That is not the case though. Also there suppose to only hit spoons and lures but that doesn't seem to be the case either. If the river stays in shape it should be a darn good season. September 27, 1996 Nooksack and Skagit River Atlantic Salmon: I spoke with Ed's tackle in Sedro Wooley to confirm a rumor I had heard about an accidental release of Atlantic Salmon. I was informed that there was a release of approximately 50,000 Atlantic Salmon from a pen in the Cypress Island area. These fish have been heading to our rivers as all salmon do this time of year. The fish are supposed to be sterile (remember Jurasic Park?!). There may be no limit as these fish are not under any kind of regulations that I am aware of. My original lead told me that the locals are catching a lot of them in the Nooksack. Ed's Tackle told me it was "some" and that the Skagit had more. An interesting situation to check out. You can call Ed's Tackle at 1-360-336-3232 for info. Mike Carey, Recreational Lakes Editor June 26, 1996 Thanks to the Rob Markich for the following report: Floated the Nooksack on September 25 and did fairly well. We got out at day break and finished up around 4:00 hooking approximately 12 fish. Two were Kings, kind of brown-green looking, and the rest Coho. The Kings were in the ten to 12 pound size and the Coho were four to five with a couple around seven and eight. I talked to one drift boater that said the lower section was very hot on Saturday with limits being the average catch. Also the fish getting caught were in the eight to ten pound catagory, very large for the Nooksack. The river is just starting to come back into shape after last Sundays heavy rain and I'm guessing that the next week will provide some very good fishing. With the Nooksack you've got to fish it when it's in cause at any moment we could get the rain back and the river could go out for the rest of the season. June 22, 1996 Thanks to the Rob Markich for the following report: It's slowing down! Went out on the 22nd of June for only a couple of hours but the fish are thinning out quickly. This time I hooked five and landed only two. Both of the fish I landed where late Spring Steelhead, strong but sporting lots of color. Maybe with the recent rain it will bring in a fresh run and things will perk back up. June 17, 1996 Thanks to the Rob Markich for the following report: Fished the same hole as a couple days before and although it wasn't as good it still gave up some fish. Fished it for about three hours and hooked six fish landing five and only losing one. This time I landed one beautiful ten to twelve pound Summer Steelhead, two comeback Spring Steelhead and two Spring Chinooks. The kings weighed about eight and fifteen pounds. The eight pounder was marginal on fight but the fifteen pounder was a scrapper. It appears these fish are moving up river pretty fast and I'm just heading them off as they come by. If you do fish the Nooksack remember all Steelhead and Salmon must be released. I've found using a barbless hook is the only way to go for a quick release. You might lose some on the battle but if you keep a nice tight line most of the fish you hook you'll be able to get to the bank. June 15, 1996 Thanks to the Rob Markich for the following report: Finally turned out to be in the right place at the right time yesterday. Found a hole on the Nooksack that was crawling with fish. I fished it for three hours and hooked and landed ten fish. 4 Summer-run Steelhead, 3 spawned Spring Steelhead, two Jack Chinook and one Dolly Varden. I also lost another 5 to 8 more fish that I couldn't get the hook to. When I started fishing the hole every cast caused a hookup. The summer Steelhead were the nicest Steelhead I've ever gotten from the Nooksack at about 12 to 14 pounds. Very fresh, bright and very strong. This action went on for almost three fast hours till finally the fresh fished moved through the hole and the remaining fish got too spooked to bite anymore. What a day, too bad fishing can't always be like that! March 8, 1996 Thanks to Rob Markich for the following report: Floated the Nooksack on Friday March 8. Got a late start and didn't put the boat in till after 9:30. Floated the section from the forks to Nugents corner. There were two drift boats ahead of us when we put in. Water was colored but very fishable. Fished till about 3:30-4:00 and ended up hooking a total of 5 fish landing two natives and keeping one hatchery fish. All fish were chrome bright including the hatchery fish. Biggest one was about 16 lbs and smallest was the hatchery fish weighing in at about 7 lbs. Of the three other boats we talked to only one fish was hooked between them.