After I thought I had seen it all now I know I have, I was sitting on the bank of one of my pristine little holes(that you have to walk 30 minutes too), waiting for the next metalhead to come through when I here the unmistakable roar of a jet sled, here comes three guys in about a 16 foot sled with a 40 horse pump on it and goes flying through my hole never even backing out of the throttle spraying water everywhere and the driver had the nerve to hold up his hands indicating they had no fish yet, how can this be where did they launch?

I have seen an influx of driftboats over the past few years but a sled? Things are getting out of hand!

FJ...out.

I have only been to the skook acouple of times aways back but a sled!Sounds like these guys were way out of touch!It would of been hard for me to be nice!

Wow! I'm impressed. The recent flooding must have knocked out the sweepers and log jams that were there in the past. I've thought about floating it in my small raft (well downstream of the popular fishing area), but it always seemed like there were so many log jams that I would spend more time portaging than floating. But a jet sled! That's about as crass as can be. There is just no space.

Isn't the rule that a sled should stay at least a stone's throw away from bank and wading anglers? You could reach out a shake hands (or whack 'em with your wading staff) on the Skook.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

We used to float down the skook in inner-tubes and rubber rafts. Speaking of sweepers and log jams, my mom and brother nearly drowned when their raft found a fallen tree where the skook spills into the chehalis. A passing boater (on the chehalis!) luckily saw them and pulled them out (my mom was actually stuck UNDER the tree).

Only boat launch I've seen near the skook is the one just downstream from the skook mouth on the chehalis. Is is possible that these guys came from that far down? Or is your spot too far upstream?

YES, PHISHPHREAK - YOUR RIGHT ABOUT THE LAUNCH. THERE IS NO OTHER LAUNCH IN THAT AREA. AND FOR YOU BIGJOHN, I WOULD HAVE BEEN PRETTY HOTHEADED ABOUT A SLED ON THIS LITTLE RIVER. KNOWING THIS RIVER WELL, THAT IS JUST DUMB. ALSO CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS THAT PEOPLE ALSO TRY GOING UP THE NEUWAKUM TOO. THESE RIVERS SHOULD BE FOR THE BANKIE NOT FOR BOATERS. EVEN A DRIFT IT WOULD BE TO DANGEREST. OH WELL YOU ALWAYS HEAR OF THE DUMB THINGS PEOPLE DO. FISH-ON <*(()>{

Actually Sturgeon, I was born in Centralia and have been floating the Neuwakum sense the 70's. Not going to say from where to where, but it is a fun and safe float. And no people.......

Hey I seen that sled too. They did put in on the chehalis by the old borst home. My buddy and I drove down there to see who they were. The licinse plate holder said Fish on Kent WA.

HHHmmmm, I don't know this river or any of the real issues involved but have to comment on the original post.....

I own a 17.5 ft. sled and run a 90 horse outboard..... my experience with various boats and motors tell me that 3 guys in a sled powered by a 40 horse pump are not "flying" anywhere...

A 40 horse motor with a pump is about a 25 or 30 horse at the pump and does not "fly" a sled with 3 adults in it.

I'm with you staydog, I have a 19.5 sled w/175 Sportjet. I admit its loud for a small river and I would not "fly up" a small river, but is this America the land of the free? Can we not fish where its allowed? Maybe the 3 fishers could not walk in like the rest? Many things to consider with an open mind.

SD & TB,
You guys ever seen the Skook??? I'm surprised they call it a river, more like a creek than anything. Jetboats on tiny (not just small) rivers don't cut it period!!! I have a 18 ft. sled also, but I wouldn't take any sled there. The punch line is they had NO BUSINESS being where they were with a sled!!!
Later, Jeff

Bottom line is a Sled does not belong on this river.........Os

Jeff head,Amen, these guys probley have never seen the Skook.

I will anchor in the Chehlis at the mouth of the Skook, but I won't take my sled any farther up.

I've drift boated the small Skook with 'Fly before, and at average flow we still had part of the boat go under branches just to make it thru a couple narrow slots. This is no place for a jetsled, at all! You can say this is America, the land of the free, but that does NOT mean free to do obviously dangerous and menacing acts that disturb the peace for others. I think the act of running a sled up creeks would fall under at least a couple other juristictions other than the WDFW. Likely against the generalized rules and safety rules of boat operation of the state marine board. Likely also the local law enforcement rules of general safety and keeping the peace. Someone let the guys knows what's up before they try to start a very bad trend! And alert those authorities quickly by cell phone the next time you see one coming. Good luck with it.

RT

RT & Others,

I don't believe there is any law or regulation that prohibits running a jet sled of any size on the Skook or most other rivers. Designated navigable waterways are regulated by the Coast Guard. Other waterways, rivers, and lakes in WA are regulated by county governments. We have a number of small lakes that have restrictions such as 5 mph speed limits or no combustion engines allowed. But the vast majority of waterways are not regulated. Common sense and courtesy are the limiting factors. And in this case, they didn't limit.

As for the physical suitability of the Skook to jet sledding, I remarked that I was surprised they even made it up the river, altho I don't know how far they really went. The Skook is littered with log jams and sweepers. So navigate around them you might think. However, the channel width is 50' or less in many places, and seldom equals or exceeds 70'. My sled is 16', and I don't think I could turn it around under power in most parts of this stream, because the shallow water would require this to be done with the boat on step, and at that speed, the turning radius is greater than the channel width. At an idle, I'm not sure if there is enough water deep enough to turn the boat, even with the vastly lower turning radius. Couple that with the assorted sweepers and log jams and you've got a river that isn't suited to motorboat travel.

I wonder if the guys who did this were just curious to see if it could be done.

Jetskis, anyone?

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

So the million dollar question? Why try to navigate up this small pristene river in "about a sixteen foot sled" as Big John originally quoted came to my mind. I checked flows for the Skookumchuck on that particular day and the river was on the rise so they had the water even if they didn't in most minds have the room to navigate.
One thing BigJohn didn't tell us, was he fishing downstream near Centralia or further up by Bucoda where the river gets really small. Not that it will make much difference here. What will make a difference here is that this is not the first time in this river's history that a sled has been on it nor will it be the last. The big difference is that it is not an every day occurance, and most likely just three very bored guys thinking, Should we try it up there?
Of course we will never know what they were thinking, and the river is still there, somewhat scared, none the less pristene.

I'm pretty amazed they could even have room to turn the boat back around...I floated the upper river in my driftboat which is very light and I'd never do it again. I portaged around 3 log jams and basically it was a lot of work. The next float down to Bucoda is supposed to be decent, but there is very little room even for a small driftboat.

PISSED THAT THIS WAS EVEN BROUGHT UP