Thanks to all my supporters

Dear Friends and Anglers,

I have officially shut down all aspects of my fly fishing business. This blog will remain up as an archive and for when I feel inspired to discuss fishing and fishing related issues. I want to thank everyone who has supported me through this adventure. My clients are incredible people that I really enjoyed spending time with over the years, dating all the way back to 1994 in Colorado. I hope to see many of you out on the river. Feel free to email or drop me a line anytime!

Jason Cross

For local guiding and lessons, please contact my good friend Ed Megill @ cascadesfly.com.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Local CCA Chapter


I have committed myself to become the interim president of the Bellingham chapter for the CCA (Coastal Conservation Association). Our fishery needs our help and we can make a difference in our life time. I will be organizing a meeting for all parties interested during the first two weeks of March. With regulations getting tighter and tighter on sportsmen and nothing changing for commercial fishermen, it is time for us to step up and speak as one powerful voice. If you belong to another organization that is helping our fisheries in different ways, that is fantastic. You need to belong to CCA too! CCA has the proven track record to make change happen. This can only be done with the strength of numbers and the strength of political change.

Gary Loomis raised the hairs on the back of my neck in his speech Friday night. It's not about fixing the small problems, it's about going after all of them, one at a time and starting with the biggest. He put it this way: if a man is dying of cancer, has a broken arm and is lying at the bottom of the pool, what problem do you fix first? Do you try and treat the cancer? No, you get him the hell out of the pool. So, if the salmon and steelhead stocks are being depleted beyond repair, do we go out and plant a bunch of trees along a small salmon stream and hope that the fish will return? No, we go after the reason they are not returning and that is harvest. Harvest numbers are sickening. Am I against the commercial fishing industry, absolutely not! But if these amazing anadromous fish have survived over-harvest for 140 years and there still are some left, don't you think if we at least cut down on the non-selective commercial harvest salmon and steelhead might make a comeback? This is what CCA is going after first and I am jumping on board!

It is time for some of us to stop going fishing (which it looks like we will have to do locally in March and April) and give back to the fisheries that we love. All of you who are doubting CCA need to take a closer look and realize that we must unify and that CCA has the strength to make it happen.

Keep posted on this blog for more information. If you sign up, please be patient because it takes a little while to get your materials. In the mean time, send me your info so we can get organized to make things happen on our rivers and streams and the Puget Sound.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Local Information

Nooksack River

The Nooksack is our most Northern Puget Sound river. From the flanks of beautiful Mt. Baker and the Mt. Baker Wilderness the Nooksack River travels 75 miles to Bellingham Bay through diverse terrain. Three forks make up the main stem that locals say starts in the town of Deming. The North Fork provides most of the water in the drainage right off the northern side of Mt. Baker and parallels the Mt. Baker Highway often unseen. The Middle Fork is smaller and faster tributary with a steeper gradient and deep plunge pools. The South Fork, although some 50 miles long that stretches into Skagit County, is only fishable for 14 river miles before it closes to protect endangered Chinook spawning grounds.

The North Fork Kendall Creek hatchery provides a decent fishery for winter steelhead and October salmon fishing. Chinook and coho hatchery returns are mainly from the Native hatchery on the South Fork at Skookum Creek. Salmon fishing opens on the Main Stem in early September and stays good through a healthy chum run well into December. Both forks open in October for salmon but can be fished for sea-run cutthroat trout in September. Thanksgiving brings about hatchery steelhead season which carries through into January. Wild steelhead start trickling into the system in December and really show up in good numbers in January and February. Sadly for the fishermen the river closes in the end of February.

The main stem is a true spey rod river with some beautiful classic steelhead runs that will remind you of other nice places you have fished. The forks are smaller and lend themselves more to the single handed rod or a switch rod. The North Fork Nooksack is a wild and scenic river and boasts an incredible population of bald eagles. The river shifts quite frequently throughout the vast channel as the waters rise and fall with rain. Tree roots and log jams make up much of the excellent fish habitat on this fork. The south and middle forks are more defined channels and runs and holes remain more consistent. Wherever you are on this river the backdrop is spectacular. Around one bend you will look back and see The Sisters and the next bend will offer a pristine view of towering Mt. Baker.

Resident trout and anadromous dolly varden are found throughout the system in small numbers with the latter being off limits to target. The North Fork Nooksack above the 100 foot Nooksack Falls can be fun summer trout fishing with light weight rods and surface flies. Some open tributaries such as Canyon Creek can be great fun on the dry fly in July through September for small to medium sized trout. These tributaries of crystal clear cascading water sooth the sole and bring you smiling back to the roots of fly fishing.

Puget Sound Beaches are fun relief from the river and Stillwater settings. Sea-run cutthroat are available for the catching along several nice cobblestone reaches. The shelter of bull kelp beds provide a great feeding grounds for this fun anadramous salmonid. Late summer sees the arrival of solid hatchery coho fishery easily within reach of shore.

Come on up and get away from the crowds. You wont believe how beautiful it is and you won’t regret it. And, oh yeah, you might catch some nice fish!