I agree about the fatigue thing. I typcially would set my bugs during the climb, somewhere close to level-off. During IOE, I got threatened with a point deduction from a check airman because I was going to reset my bugs in the climb...this guy was a hardass, and I just "ok" and went with it.

Seattle to Bellingham is a quick flight...typically 15/20 mins in the air. So not much time to screw around.