Question: The Skagit River during the C & R season allows fishing from a sled but you cannot have the motor running. There are a number of people attempting to change this regulation right now so that you will be able to run a motor while you fish. I would like to know how the people on this board feel about changing this regulation. For those that are not familiar with the Skagit, it is a big fast moving river that is very difficult to fish without running a motor. As the regulation currently stands, it is legal to drag an anchor and/or work the oars to slow your boat down. Sleds mainly fish the Skagit during the C & R season as the drift boats like to fish the Sauk and the Sauk limits sled use to transportation only and not from fishing from a boat equipped with a motor. I will be interested in seeing how the feedback goes. Thanks in advance!

i live right here on the skagit, and i feel it is one of the most unthought about regulations in the book. i mean think about it, you can have a sled, but cant fish with power. the only reason i could ponder up is they dont want the fish to be harassed. And then i thought well that cant make sense because you can run a sled all you want just as long as you arent fishing. i could understand where they wouldnt want it on smaller streams, but the skagit come on. it would be great if they changed this law because it has needed to be changed for a while.

I am assuming this a conservation issue...

A sled under power can catch many more fish then one without (while fishing). The idea behind the selective fishery regulations is to protect the late returning wild fish...

I'll jump in on this one!!

No where in the regs does it state and anchor can be dragged to slow the sled to fish a drift but it is done on a quite regular basis up here and deffinately needs to be halted!! I've seen huge balls of chain being drug down the river to slow ones drift and on many occasions have gone a little beyond biting my tongue to try and educate those dragging through known spawning areas.

The Skagit is a huge river with one of the largest CFS's on the West Coast and remains a killer work-out on the oars and a not so effective river to fish out of a sled without oars or by dragging it to slow ones speed.
As most can not afford to also buy a drift boat for the C&R Season or either rig their sled with oars due to the sled size in most cases, current regs should be changed for not only the majority of sled owners that wish to fish the C&R Season up here but to also protect the fish from having redds dredged up. With lack of current enforcement officer numbers for such a big system and limited viewing areas from the bank to enforce a no anchor dragging rule, let alone the current fishing under power going on by those lacking integrity and regard for the law, the regs DO need to be changed.

Regs "in my opinion" should be changed to allow fishing while under power below the HWY 530 bridge located in Rockport down to the current C&R boundry line in Concrete. Current regs should either stand as is for above Rockort or ban the use of sleds all together during the C&R season above Rockport due to very limited viewing areas by enforcement officers and the amount of redds in the upper stretch. Yes, this will most likely bring more anglers to this area but it should also allow for more much needed enforcement officers.
Also as a side note for those taking the more fish caught by sleds under power than free drifting means more hook mortality,..when side drifting or boon-doggin' artificial lures on a river with flows as fast as the Skagit almost every single fish caught is hooked in the outer mouth area and not in the gills or even deeper as is often the case when using bait divers with artificial lures or even some of the smaller plugs seen today.

i've been running my drift boat on the skagit all april and have come to like not having a sled backtrolling through the holes with the engine running. i know sleds will still fly up to the top of the hole and drift through over and over but hay after rowwing all day it's nice to know sled jockys can brake a sweet to.
no, no, don't make me hit the start button again!

I don't support this rule change for the simple fact that I think having sleds zoom up and down the river is annoying (especially during the short selective gear season). Even if the rule was not changed, sleds will still be on the river but changing the rule will only encourage more sleds to be out there. I would probably accept a ban on all internal combustion motors on most rivers. Maybe some of the OP folks understand this better than the Skagit folks.

I would suspect that most people that support the rule change own sleds or fish from them. I would also suspect that most other fishermen would oppose the rule.

I think that as battery technology improves, we should encourage fishermen to use electric motors when possible. Even on the Skagit, an electric can be used in place of backrowing. Anyone scouring the bottom by dragging a chain to slow themselves down deserves to be at the end of it.

Fishbreath,

Sorry, the special regulations are just that: special. Not specifically for the lazy or the weak. Before you get your backside all in an uproar, consider some history. The Skagit has been boondogged with much success for decades without jet-pump equiped motors, nor any kickers, neither gas nor electric. But anglers, being the lazy sots we are, glom on to every new technology, whether it's graphite rods or jet pumps or kicker motors to substitute easy instant success for our keener skills and instincts.

As for size of sleds and controlling them with oars, check out the history. The standard Skagit scow is 18' with a 60" beam at the chine. And some were built at 20'. These are not ultra light boats, and they handle like a dream in that swift, fast, Skagit current.

More to the point, the special regulations are intended for broad applications across many bodies of water. Folks here keep complaining that the fishing regulations are getting too complicated and the regulation book too thick. Well, making an exception for the Skagit that makes it different from the other special regulation waters adds to the regulatory complexity and ever-increasing thickness of the regulations book. So ask yourself, just how badly do you need a kicker to boondog? Given that everybody did just fine on the Skagit for decades without kickers, I have to wonder. I might add that until a few years ago -10 or so - I never, repeat never, saw a kicker on a sled on the Skagit, altho kickers were quite common on the Cowlitz by then.

I would also add that a special regulation fishery isn't intended or supposed to be the easiest nor most convenient fishery in the state. It wouldn't be "special" if that were the case.

By this point you probably think I'm highly biased against jet sleds. That would be true. I think every jet sled on the Skagit is annoying- except mine. (I'd put a smily face here if I knew how.)

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

After lurking on and off over the months I decided I had to speak up on this one.

I have been hearing of late about the continuing slide in salmonid spawning in the Skagit system and wonder what effect all this jet boat traffic is having in this. What with the jets scouring the stream beds I can't help but think there is some connection - Especially those areas lying above Sedro Woolley.

And to drag a chain is unconscionable.

mmm

Come on Guys, I can't believe you think the chain draggers and cannon ball draggers are destroying redds. If you do, you just have not seen to many redds up there. Every redd I have seen on the skag has been with in six feet of the shore and in no more than 18 inches of water. Besides, they have been on the biggest flats that only a moron would fish. If a sled came with in six feet of any of them they would beach themselves.

Oh yeah, and the hydrolics created by sleds destroying the habitat, redds, or what ever. Highly unlikely. Head up to the river on the next high water and then re-think your theory.

And all of you b-itching about the sleds, . Believe it or not, when they are running up and down the river they are moving the stale fish. Where? Closer to the bank.

As for the regs on the sauk/skag, there just fine the way they are. If you need them changed to make fishing easier, tough ****! Try putting some time in.

Time to eat.

Lunch Time,
I just wanted to thank you for stirring up those stale fish for me. And thanks for making sure you don't rip up reds as you drag your chain through the faster water. You would probably argue that dragging a chain stirs up stale fish too.

Kaiser, glad to help in you fishing success. Let's see some pics.

Lunch Time