Let me start off by saying this is NOT an anti sled post. I feel they have just as much right to be there as I do.
I do not wante them banned or restricted in any way so all of thoes who want to get mad over what i am about
to say well just chill.

Saturday I floated the North Lewis (caught 2 and hooked 3 others) all the sleds we talked to were complaining
about how the fish were so spooky.
the river was flowing 1600 cfs and mostl the fish were holding in 4 feet of water or less. The sledders generally said that the low clear water is why the
fish were so spooky. Now I put on at first light and floated over many many fish that never spooked yes as soon as I got past the first sled the fish would
scatter before my boat even got to them. Also when I would anchor up to fish and a sled came in below me from downstream the pool i was fishing would suddenly fill with fish.
The sleds are why the fish are so spooky. The river is lower than it was in May and June sleds simply cannot go full throttle up river every 20 minutes and expect the fish not to be spooky.
This is a no brainer!!!!! if you don't want the fish to be spooky then quit running over their heads with your sled.

I tell you what too these fish are grabby to spinners until they get run over by a sled. then the bite turns off.

you may not like all this but it is true.

You are so right.... it does'nt matter the river....but the key is to know where the fish lie and keep off em!

Well Rob, as you know, I was one of the sleds on the river that day. Unfortunatly for me, I had never been on the river below 2200 CFS, so I didn't know what to expect.

Yes it was low, and yes my sled was spooking fish, If I had it to do over again, I'm going to use my minidrifter at 2000 CFS and lower. The holding water at 1500 CFS is shallow and fast, If I tried to stay off the fish w/my sled, I would have ended up on the beach (which I did, once, by the way ) The deeper areas just do not have the current to hold fish, and probably don't have the O2 either.

It's runnable in a sled, but not very fishable. Sorry if I put off alot of fish for you guys Rob, I'm still a sled rookie, learning as I go.

We'll have to do a drift sometime, And you can sled it w/me in higher flows.

Aaron

AAron.

No worries i wasn't complaining at all just thought it was a little humorous with everyone talking about how spooky the fish are. That is precicely why i launched at 5am. I bet if you were to float it in your drifter you could go home with a limit every time. Guys in the sleds certainly catch lots of fish there but like you said below 2000 i think it's a little better in a driftboat.

It is more a case of how/where you run that sled.
Two of us fished the river Sunday, in of one of the bigger sleds on the river. We got six fish, hooked eight. Four were out of the same hole on four consecutive passes through the same hole. Just stay on the far side from the fish and take it easy, and don't run the engine as you fish - even the kicker. We floated by fish that barely moved away as we floated by. The most amazing thing was the fish my partner caught, his lead was 6 inches from his rod tip when he saw the fish following. he just pointed the rod tip down let the fish swim up to the bait, open its mouth and chomp it. The bait was 4 inches under the surface, about eight feet from the boat when he hooked it. If I hadn't been there I would never have believed it. And that happened at 11:00.

Huntar I think your 100% right.. The only time the fih spook to my drift boat is if I put the oars in the water to take a stroke. We also had a sish follow a spinner clear to the boat before striking. Them close in battles with an insane steelhead are kinda wild...

I was on the Lewis the past two weekends and I have to agree. The sleds were thick. I'm strictly a bank maggot but at one point I had three sleds between me and the opposite shore. One was headed upstream, one was going downstream, and the third was anchored.

When I fished the shallow water, I couldn't move anything. I switched to fishing the deep holes at around 8:00am and picked up a couple fresh summers (8-10lb range). I used a white jig/shrimp tail combination under a slip float set at about 6 feet. The lesson learned was to fish the deep water when the sleds are present.