Everyone of you saying Jet Ski's have no place on the river are just plain wrong. I use to own 2 Jet Skis and i can tell you Jet Ski's do no more harm to the river than a Jet Sled. You need to focus your anger on the operator because that is where the problem is. Their are 2 types of riders out their. Type 1) The inexperience, often youthfull, sometimes drunk, with a F*** you attitude. These are the guys that give everyone a bad name I always cringe when I see these guys. These guys will ussually disregard all no wake rules and are most likely to purposly try to ruin someones day. Type 2) This is the Family, Adult, casual, I just want to have fun type rider. These are the good guys but Fisherman still seem to lump them together because rider number 2 will often appear to be trying to screw up your fishing but they are not intentionally trying to. They are trying to be cautious when they go up a river so the fastest they will go is prob max 30mph they will stay where it looks deep because of fear of hitting a rock or obstruction. The deep spot is ussually the slot (Hey where do we like to fish) They most likely don't fish except for trout with friends and family on opening day so they don't understand what good steelhead and salmon water is or how to read water to best try to avoid the slot when your fishing (Neither do a lot of jet sledders or they are just trying to stay in the slot to avoid the possible hidden bar.) The Jet Ski crowd from what i have seen is 90% type 2 riders and 10% Type 1. Its that 10% that sticks into everyones head. %10 percent of the boaters out their do the same stupid things but people seem to ignore it and pretend it doesnt happen. Go figure.

As far as scaring the hell outta fish, I use to think jets sleds would destroy a hole after they went through it. my attitude has changed on that. Last week we were fishing a slot for about 45 min with no bites then along came a sled and ran right over the spot we were fishing. We bitched and moaned as he went by but about 5 minutes later we were all smiles as we netted the first fish a nice 8lb summer hatchery.

The reason i loved riding in Rivers so much is that the scenery is always changing. Their is a big trill in seeing whats around the next corner, wondering if you will be able to shoot that riffle, you don't have boats and skiers everywhere so you get to enjoy some solitude. The whole river experience is like a big adventure. Lakes get boring fast since nothing changes and doing circles and spraying water gets old pretty darn quick.

I no longer own Jet Skis anymore because i found i hardly used them. especially in the winter, they would sit and collect dust and depreciate while i fished all season. Finally i outfitted one with a rod holder and used it to get to better fishing spots on the river. i did that twice and decided i needed a drift boat so i sold them. Best decision i ever made.

If this state would issue a boating license similar to a driving license and required classes a lot of these problems would not happen near as often.