The for sure answer is that it is that you can keep 2 nooks, clipped or unclipped. The wild runs of the south sound are gone, what keeps this area going is the 7 hatcheries. Not all of the fish get clipped so you can't tell whether it is a nate or not. I have spoken with the director of the Clear Creek hatchery on the NIsqually, his guess is that without the hatchery fish that his facility and the one across the river provide there might be 200 fish return to the Nisqually. The regs say 2 nooks period!!!
2 years ago we had put a pretty 20 lb fish in the box and were trolling the Slag Pile. We watched a guy in some big a$$ semi yacht hook and play a fish about the same size, he netted it and kept it hanging over the side. Next thing I know he is unpinning it and letting it go. We trolled by and asked why he did that and he looks at us and said "it wasn't clipped". Well after we told him there was no regs about clipped or unclipped in Area 11 his wife was ready to throw him overboard, I'll never forget the look on her face that day!!!
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff