I was hoping to get out and float from Schaefer park on the Satsop to Hwy 12 tomorrow. I've not spoken to anybody that has done that drift this season. Does anybody out there have an info about this drift? Is it do-able and/or does anybody have any advice on which routes are safe?

Any information would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance
Twig

i have not been down it this year but when i drove over it yesterday it was mud and raising the river flow on the net shows it is starting to drop in but will muddy for a day or two .

Se my post for a report from today.

The visability was not a problem today at all, however the flow was a bith higher than I would have wanted. made it easy to get a round for a rooky on this river

I was in a sled, and there were no obstructions from the highway up to about 1.5 - 2 miles into the east fork.

SA

That is a very long drift, you will have to make good time...(12 miles if my memory serves me).

Can't tell you much about recent conditions but Good Luck...

Thankyou everybody for helping. I'll be sure to post a report about river conditions when I get back to help anybody else I can.

Thanks!!!

SA are you sure about where you were at? Sleds have no buisness above the West Fork. Ran into one of your buddies coming through the Riviera a couple weeks ago while drifting down in my DB. It's going to take someone getting killed before those fools running the county pull thier heads out of thier asses...

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should...

Is there a put in below schaffer? That would shave a couple of miles off the float? If so, How do you access it....

Brian

Trailrat77,

Couldn't have said it better!

trailrat77

Chill dude! The river is self regulating. When the lower stretch is blown out the area up to the Turnow Branch is eazily navigable to a seasoned sledder. I've fished this drainage since 1970. Every year we share the resource with more people. There is plenty of water to share when the river is up.

B-12
There is a put in off east satsop rd. that is about 3 miles below the park. Very nice drift from there down to the highway, but still a full day!
TR77- when the water is up there is plenty of room for everybody...however when the water is down the sled should and pretty much have to stay below the forks. I know SA well and he would not go anywhere where he thought he may have put anyone in harms way!
CM

You might also find out the dept of fish and wildlife take there sled up in the east fork also
so keep that in mind!! If the water is up there should be no problem with a sled in the East
fork!!!

TR77 IF YOU CAN HANDLE BEING IN THE EASTFORK WITH SLEDS THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD STAY AWAY. I RUN THE EASTFORK ALL THE TIME IN MY SLED AND HAVE NEVER PUT ANYBODY IN DANGER AND I AM ALWAYS COURTEOUS TO THOSE THAT ARE COURTEOUS TO ME. FOR THOSE THAT ARE NOT THAN JUST STAY AWAY.

SAME GOES FOR YOU ERIC.

chromefish... No need to SHOUT!
We should just move along if someone is fishing in our lucky spot. Perhaps you'll even find another one.

Slab sometimes we need to shout to be heard. I have no problem sharing the river with driftboats, it just seems its the other way around most of the time. Just get tired of the comments some of the driftboaters make sometimes. My bad if I upset anyone.

Rumor has it that this issue will once again be revisited by WDFG. Remember the proposal to ban sleds on the east fork as well as the Nooch.

Schaeffer to Hwy 12 is about 9 +/- miles of river. It's a longish drift, but much shorter than the 7400 to White Bridge drift on the Nooch.

I have a sled and stay out of the East fork there is plenty of fish and water below the forks and always have tried to respect the river and driftboaters above. The erosion on the upper east fork is real and I expect sled use will end up there shortly! One thing is for sure the sleds running around up there do turn the bite off instantly as I experienced this many times.#2 I have yet to see a sledder that doesn't run over my water or lowhole up there yet chrome you may be the exception but odviosly we have not meet yet so this is not addressed to you but all the other yahoo's up there give us all a bad taste as I have talked with a few other regular guys drifboating up there and seem to feel the same!!!PEACE

Thanks to the information I received, I did the float today. It is a long drift!!!

The first 1/4 mile or so is pretty skinny, but there was enough water to do the float. I would imagine that if th water drops much more, one would have to walk their boat down.

There were lots of chum and out of the 10 boats that I spoke to, only 1 had got a couple of silvers. The clarity was pretty good in the first half of the drift, and continued to deteriorate in the lower sections. Even at it's worst, it was still 3 feet or so.

It's been said before but that take out at the hwy 12 bridge is a biatch!

Fast if you fish the satsop very much then I am sure we have met. I will have to disagree with a sled turning off the bite. There are many instances I will drift a stretch a few times and not get a bite. The next time I go up I will run my boat over the water I want to fish and the next drift down I will get fish. I make this a regular habit no matter what river I fish. Bank errosion on the East fork is not from boats. That is the biggest load of crap I have ever heard. Obviously you dont fish the river enough to realize how the high waters erode and change the course of this river two or three times a year. You could run sleds 24/7 up and down the east fork and not come close to what one high water will do.