.02 cents and a little common sense from a guy who is not fishing the 'Nooch. The obvious and most prominent thing glaring from this thread is that over-population may have replaced greed as the main root of most evil. Same for the rivers here in NW Oregon. Some thoughts from this fishermen that has bankfished, driftboated, and sledfished many many rivers in the entire NW region for 35+ years: With the increasing populations in general and on our rivers, common sense, proper riverside communication, and tollerance simply have to pervail now and hence forth. Hopefully, appropriate public education can do an adequate job; otherwise it may force government &/or voter decided guidelines as to how our rivers can be used. I don't know how common my sense actually is after reading these posts, but I will offer some insight for whatever it's worth to you. I fully understand the driftboater's feeling of lost river serenity when the noicy sleds roar thru. Do those driftboaters realize that the bankangler has some of the same feelings as he fishes a pristine drift for a bit only to have a big metal driftboat coming floating and oar splashing thru his holding water? Does the driftboater concerned about the impact of sleds upon reds realize that more than half of driftboaters do more damage to spawning gravel with their oar tips & boat bottoms scraping than a sled whisking past w/o touching gravel does? Not to say there is no sled impact- motorboat wake causes bank errosion and some gravel impact. Even wader's boots cause impact on the gravel. We cannot fish w/o impacting the rivers to a degree- we can only keep it reasonable. However, we can quit focusing only on other user group impacts in trying to justify exclusion. Some more common sense with as little bias as possible: First, living closer to a river does NOT give someone more intrinsic right to fish it! Period! I have a right to come up to fish the Nooch with my WA lic. just as people from Aberdeen have a right to fish rivers near me in Oregon. I may not like it, but I have the wisdom to accept the reality that this country is a common land, NOT a group of divided territories! Second, I do believe that we are at a point in the NW that we need to restrict the use of sleds and other motorized boats, at least on portions of smaller rivers. I would absolutely love to run my small wake causing, flat bottom 18' Alumaweld sled up the lower ends of the Tillamook area rivers for 'nooks & steelies! Big time! But I know that these smaller rivers simply can't handle intersecting boat traffic between the numerous driftboats coming down and sleds & motorized drftboats coming up. Both from a safety standpoint and a practical impact standpoint; not to mention the poor bankfishers w/o a boat. So when ODFW banned motor use on boats above Hwy. 101 on many of the medium to smaller coastal rivers I accepted that as proper common sense. I don't know what the Nooch looks like, but if it's running 700 cfs and there is a lot of pressure then there should be an established deadline above which motors are banned. As a loose rule of thumb in such a senario, such a deadline should be at a point where sleds would more likely become a danger to river users &/or where the river is just too small & delicate to handle the combined traffic. Also to be considered is an area where most of the driftboat and sled overlap occurs. A deadline could be put just below that point. There are many large rivers in Oregon & Washington for me and my fellow sledders to enjoy. A bonus of sled fishing restricted lower portions of smaller rivers too is plenty. I cringe to think the following may have to happen, but in the not to distant future it may have to: At some point, if we still have enough salmon & steelhead to fish for, river population concerns may dictate that such guidelines as odd/even day accessability and river use sections will be needed. You and your fishing buddies may have to apply for an odd or even day license (trying to get the same days together). Eventually many rivers will need section restrictions for upper 1/3 bankfishing, middle 1/3 driftboat fishing, and lower 1/3 sled fishing. Where applicable, the sections could be rotated by user groups. - In the meantime common sense and courtesy are a MUST. If some rude and selfish guide or other fishermen commonly fishes outside of these guidelines then people may have to get over the "don't snitch mentality" that you and I grew up with and start making collective reports to local fish police or sheriffs on the individual offender so that he may be banned for a period of time, to return later on a probational basis. - I suggest that some people representating each 'Nooch user group meet to discuss the issue. If you think this post is worthy, take copies to a meeting to use as a starting place. If you can't achieve compromise agreement then I suggest you vote on an arbitration agreement to set a proper motor deadline. You should be able to appoint an appropriate local unbiased person to arbitrate, rather than to have to rely on the apparent idiom within the WDFW. If you can't come up with an unbiased local, I will offer to be a knowledgable and unbiased arbitrator to hear opinions in a meeting and then tour the river and I will give you a good opinion where a motor ban deadline should be- to use as a set arbitration or a voluntary experiment. It would be an interesting co-operative achievement that could set a NW precedent among fishermen, w/o having to rely on the government! Just get it decided in meetings and then stake an agreed to deadline sign in view on the bank; either on public or permissioned private property. Let me know if you come up with enough interest in the idea. You may have to deal with a nay saying sled guide by group peer pressure and letting him know that non-cooperation will likely lead to bad publicity for his business & the strong possibilty that the WDFW could ban motors altogether if they have to be petitioned to get involved (likely won't occur from a guide or regular fisherman after such an explaination). If you 'Nooch users can set a successful "get along usage agreement" w/o government intervention, that has the strong potential to set a great "model" for user group co-operation that might just well spread thru much of the N.W. in the crowded years to come.- Pardon such a long post. I feel strongly about need for proper solutions to this growing problem. - Steve Hanson (ReelTruth1@aol.com)

[This message has been edited by Reel Truth (edited 05-14-2000).]