Jets on the Trinity

[stevie steelhead]

I have lived on the Trinity River for a quarter of a century, and all of a sudden there are jet sleds and other jet powered boats (jet skis and driftboats with jet engines), showing up on the Wild and Scenic sections of the river between Hawkins Bar and Hoopa.
Most of the jet sleds are out of the area guides for non-flyfisherman. I have seen as many as five jet sleds on the same day packed with up to five clients.
Jet skis arrive in spring and launch from a variety of areas and whine up and down the river.
You can imagine what it feels like when a jet sled blasts by when I am waist deep in the water, and a large fast boat blasts by. Most captains don't even acknowledge that they just swamped you and disturbed the entire river system with the extreme noise level.
The Ranger from the USFS could not believe that this was actually happenning on a section of the Trinity River that is small, narrow, and designated "Wild and Scenic". He has committed to help with the banning of motorized boats on this section.
I am in the process now of trying to arrange a ban on motorized boats from this section of the river(except for emergency/ government boats).
What does this Board think, and who has experience/expertice with the process?
Motorized boats have been long banned on parts of the Smith River for the same reasons, so hopefully a precedent has been set.

[Cal]

Stevie,

As someone who has fished the Trinity since the 1960's, this is very disturbing.

Thanks for taking the initiative to get involved, we need more people who are willing to put in the time it takes to stop the needless degradation of our rivers and our outdoor experience.

Brian

[shawn kempkes]

I would bet it has something to do with the Sac being closed to Salmon. The Trinity has been popular with the jet boat racers so I bet they would fight it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juK5fx2lXvA

[Tony Buzolich]

This has probably happened to a lot of us elsewhere in other rivers. If you wade anywhere there is that risk. I know I've had it happen to me more than once on the Feather in the lowflow and also on the American below Watt and also at Paradise.

If you can think clearly before being run over, try and get their CF number off their boat. Also any identifying things about the boat ie. make, color, name of guide service, etc. This information then should be reported to the local sheriff's department along with filing a formal complaint.

I understand too that jets sometimes can only function under full throttle and have to be up on plane in order to steer. But there is still the safety factor that the driver of the jet must consider first and that is the safety of those people around him.

If he is driving recklessly and putting anyone in harm's way then he needs to be reported.

Any of you old Sacramento guys will remember the jet boat rides they used to take up the American. It was like the mailboat rides on the Rogue. Big boats blasting over everything in front of them would start at the mouth of the American and go all the way past Watt Ave. to ? I don't know where. Anyone fishing or wading or swimming would always get knocked off their feet. That business didn't last long and then they put up the 5 mph law for the entire river.

But, it still happens when guys want to use jets. They just have to reported.
TONY

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

They recently outlawed jets/power boats above Daguerre Dam on the Lower Yuba River.

I think the Trinity River is too small for any kind of power boats.

Not to upset anyone but drift boats are bad enough in the upper river.

We fished it sense the 1970s and that just doesn't seem right............

[wjorg]

I may be way off scientifically, but from my own observation....in rivers with a significant amount of jet use, you will notice the dead zone between the water and the bank.
The constant splashing of water on the bank seems to kill the riparian zone there. You can see it on many places on the rogue where the 40 person jet boats fly by. I wonder what effect, if this phenomena is consistent from river to river, has on the ability of bugs and what not to get in the water, shade, bank erosion, etc....

[lee s.]

Shawn,
The disturbing part of that video is that they seemed to get out and walk away, only to repeat the process another day, supposedly. Seems there should be some way to ensure that scene happenning on all of the streams mentioned whenever they intrude.......that exact same scene.
....lee s.

[slim]

Hey SS
I've seen them too and have to agree that I'd like to see them banned or at least a 5 mph limit as on the American which would in essence get rid of them due to the lack of control at that low speed. If you find that there are things (letters, etc.) that we can do to help you out in seeing this happen, please let us know what we can do .
slim

[huntindog]

There needs to be a ban, but it needs to be worded so as that it allows for a special use permit to be granted for certain ocassions such as the boat races. That would keep all parties (except for the river raping jet boat sled opperators) happy. There is not room for jet boats and wading anglers to coexist on that river. I have not seen it yet but I can only imagine how pissed I would be if i was in that canyon and I got buzzed by a jet boat.

there is one other way to deal with this,,,carry about 50 feet of floating waterski rope with something sort of heavy tied to one end...when you hear them coming give it a toss out...nothing will disable a jet boat for an hour better than floating water ski rope:D

[Bruce Slightom]

Steve, I may be wrong but I think that the motor ban on the Smith is a County ordinance. So you may be dealing with two agency's, Humboldt County and the Hoopa Tribe. You might try to contact Tom Weseloh, Cal Trout's rep on the North Coast. If I can help let me know.

[stevie steelhead]

Thanks for all the support.
Just to add some clarification, the jet boat races on the Trinity, were formally moved to Hoopa from Willow Creek a few years ago after a ghastly head on boat accident killed a racer.
The races have been held in Hoopa since then.
My idea to ban motorized boats on the Trinity River, was to ban them from Hawkins Bar in Trinity County below the Burnt Ranch falls, down stream to Tish Tang below the entrance to the reservation. Therefore, the Tribe does not need to be involved.
I will enlist the help of CalTrout, Friends of the Trinity, and any other entity who would like to chime in on this important issue.
More to come in the next few weeks and months!

[Trout Nut]

Some sort of a ban is needed. We have to be careful what we ask for, though. Many guides use a small gas motor (5-15) on drift boats to motor through frog water sections. I think we can all agree that is not a major disruption.

I am surprised none of these guys has rolled one of these boats. Hopefully we won't have to wait for that to happen -- a big assed jet boat accident..

So it seems limiting the size of any motor would be the ticket, in my opinion.

[mikel]

I can see a drift boat guy using a low hp outboard reasonably on that part of the river, but defineitley a 5 mph or "no wake" kind of limit makes sense. About the time they run over or otherwise drown one of us the authorities MIGHT act on their own. Thanks for bringing this up!

-Mike

[Darrin.Deel]

The trinity is all about oars. No motors!

[dpentoney]

No motors! How about no boats? There was a time when, outside of the Klamath, there were almost no boats above tidewater. How about like it was on the Kispiox when I fished up there, where you could use a boat to travel on the river, but you had to get out of the boat to fish? On rivers like the Smith and the Eel, there used to be water where the fish could be safe. Now, there are hardly any places on the river where they aren't pounded.
OK now, I'm ducking for cover.......

[amoeba]

I can see a drift boat guy using a low hp outboard reasonably on that part of the river, but defineitley a 5 mph or "no wake" kind of limit makes sense. About the time they run over or otherwise drown one of us the authorities MIGHT act on their own. Thanks for bringing this up!

-Mike

And that's exactly what the County ordinance is on most of the American River, about upstream of 16th St. It is posted. That's 5 mph (as in five), not 10, not 20 mph, and not 30 mph. It erodes the bank, and is dangerous. Do not do it.

I call the sheriff each and every time I see a jetboat, jetski, or outboard boat, exceeding the limit, wait for them to respond, and call again if they don't. I don't care if you are joe sixpack or joe flyfisherman guide. If you are speeding up and down the river it is because you haven't got caught, yet.

Slow down and have a nice day.

[Tracy Chimenti]

This is very disturbing for anyone who doesn't like spooked fish.

My buddy wants to put a trip together to fish the lower sac, but insists on taking that monster 21-foot NorthRiver IO Jet. I have these youthful memories of passing up beautiful drifts, all the while running from gridley to the low-flow and practically emptying the entire river at the feet of shore anglers. I'm wantin to take the little 14-foot sled with oars so we can drift.

But once someone gets their hand on all that muscle, it's hard to let it go!