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.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Steelhead Stars Align!


My guests were due! I came into today with great anticipation. Sarah booked the boat as a Christmas gift for Glenn. I stayed up late the night before tying special egg patterns and planning how I could change my strategies to produce a steelhead landing. Hooking one is huge, but landing one is Northwest fly fishing's Holy Grail. The river has remained low and clear for some time now. These fish have seen some gear over the Holidays. The amount of new fish in the system is most likely minimal, but there will be some moving upstream and maybe some moving up and down different forks. We had been hooking a few fish on bright colors which I prefer for the hatchery fish. It is time to go smaller and darker and more natural.

Sarah said she had been fishing for steelhead for six years, but no fish had yielded to her efforts. Wow! Different runs produce good feelings at different levels. The run I chose had not looked very appealing for some time, but at this level it looked right. The top is fast and the fish will be tight to the bottom or shore. The tail out flattens out and needs a little effort to swing the fly through it properly, but it and the bucket are the most likely area to find fish at low water temperatures. Sarah worked ahead of Glenn with a smaller black and purple moal leech that she had picked out. I was up working with Glenn in the fast water when she reached the tail out. Suddenly I heard yelling from Sarah and I practically ran Glenn over and right through his line to get to Sarah, yelling encouragements the whole way! I couldn't have been more excited! The emotions that this occurrence creates are phenomenal!

Sarah fought the fish well. It made no major runs but it did the scary steelhead rolling to test her hook set. It was a great hook set and she landed the beautiful hatchery hen. In the excitement, we never got a tape on the fish but it was around 22"-24" and between 3.5 and 4.5 pounds. It was amazing! Way to go Sarah. The Holy Grail! Thank you, I was ecstatic to be part of it.

It's always funny when you look at a fish like this one. When you hold it, you say "Yeah, that is 5 lbs." When you get home and do the formula you are often surprised. The basic IGFA formula is length, times girth squared, divided by 800. I caught a beautiful 27" x 13" buck on the Grand Rhonde this fall. That comes out to almost 6 lbs. It sure seemed bigger. Some river systems need to alter the formula because the fish are different body shape and heftier. The Nooksack seems pretty true to the basic formula.

Glenn took this really cool water shot below. I can't wait for Glenn to get his first steelhead. The rest of the day was icing on the cake. We tried hard to get one for Glenn. Sarah hooked into another fish while drifting egg patterns. It seemed smaller so it might have been a dolly. There have been fewer dollies on the river. Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists said it is because of the 2003 and 2005 floods that hit right during the dolly varden spawn. Hopefully they will rebound. Well, that's it for 2007. Could there be a better way to end it?

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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!