Deschutes Boater Passes

[Chromaflage]

Today my dad went to G.I. Joe's to get a boater's pass for the Deschutes. Lo and behold, you can't get them there anymore. They told him that the only way to get them is to purchase them on line. Not sure it that's 100% accurate, but that's their story.

So, to save others some time and frustration, here is the web site where they can be purchased:

Deschutes Boater Pass (http://www.boaterpass.com/MainFrame.asp)

[5string]

its true, online purchase.

not a bad deal acutally.

a couple clicks and you are good to go. you can also see how many other people have purchased for certain days in certain sections.

[Abalone]

I bought a pass at the Oak Grove GI Joes last weekend. The made a mistake. They sold me a pass for three
days and only charged my Eight bucks. It should have been Eight bucks per day. I found this out when my
fishing partner bought a pass at the Fly Shop in Welches. I showed them my pass and they pointed out the mistake.
The new system is confusing for everyone and that's why some shops won't sell them. The stores told me that
they could only sell passes for the lower river and If I needed a permit for Area 1 I needed to go online.
That really doesn't make sense to me because for one, not everone has a PC at home. My partner has a PC but
his printer is broke. The permit I got didn't list the area I was in and the store told me it was good for the
entire river.

Heck if I know what's going on.

[ssteelheadsteve]

You should see what they have in store for Deschutes Guides like me.

[Abalone]

I hope they use the money they raise to put in some foot bridges.
All I want is to cross the river to fish the other side.

Do you need a pass to swim it ?

[Rusty]

A better question would be,"What do they (BLM) do with all of the money raised from their Passes?" :whazzup: :smash:

On a recent 3 day trip from Trout Creek to Maupin, not one toilet had been serviced, no TP, and they were a mess. After thirty + years of experience drifting the river, I am disgusted with our Federal Gov'ts rule making and lack of viable follow-up, This complaint is only the tip of the iceberg. Those of you who use the resource a lot know exactly what I am talking about. SHAME on you BLM!
:noway: :redface:
Rusty

[flysdown]

Help me out here....I went to the boaters pass site and it looks to me if you by a season pass, you can't use it on weekends? So what is the point of buying the season pass.
:shrug:

[Whiskey Dick]

flysdown, the season pass is no good on weekends from memorial weekend through labour day weekend. If the majority of your floating is weekends do not buy the season pass as it is no good to you.The reason the blm give for buying off the web site is it will give a more accurate count of boaters on the river on the buisy weekends.
Rusty, i have been told that the cost of running the boater's pass web site is around $80,000 per year and it cost $140,000 to set it up!!!!!, and for the first time the tribe was allocated funds to police there bank starting in 2004. As for the toilets, that is an ongoing discusion with the blm, they say they have no way to access them to empty them, they also say they are buying new ones that will not need to be emptyed they are a compost toilet and they cost $30,000 each, but if they put it in the budget this year and if it is approved they will get them next year and then they have to submit the instalation costs and if that is approved they will be installed the following year maybe!!!!.so you are looking at a minimum 2 years to replace the old toilets and they are only looking to replace a couple a year.
Abalone, the pass does not list the area you are fishing,it asks for the launch point and take out point and that determines which section you are fishing in. When you go on line to buy that is the first question you are asked and if you do not fill it out you can not move on to the next step. It sure sounds like the oak grove gi joes really messed up and the kicker is if you were checked at the boat ramep before you launched and your boaters pass did not show that launch site you would not be allowed to float!!!!.
The better places that i have used to buy passes from are the Welches fly shop if you are coming over from Portland and the Chevron gas station in Madras if you are in central oregon, both these places know what to do.
for those of you that might be interested in 2003 in section one(warmsprings to harpham flats)the daily boaters days target was 550, we were over that number on one day by 21 boaters. however if you look at the total for the month, 550x31=17050 we where way under at a total of 10314 including the annual pass factor. Man every time i look at these numbers i need to go get a drink,tight lines,brian :cheers:

[flysdown]

Could those numbers be correct? Are you saying 550 boaters on section 1 in one day? if you had five people in a raft that would be over 100 rafts. Three in a drift boat? A lot more. With a mix of rafts and boats, a number of of at least 150 total boats per day in that section. That is hard to believe.
I used to float that river a lot, built a bunch of fencing and planted a lot of trees along the river from Mecca to Trout creek, but after a bad experience with a bogus OSP ticket I just could not even look at the river for years.
Now I will hike in and fish a few spots out of the way, and float a couple times a year, but want to echo the feeling of poor stewardship by the BLM. They seem to want to take in a lot of money and lay down a lot of rules. Also, what I have seen and experienced myself, the OSP is boardering on harrassment (spelling?). I shouldn't rant, just remember the great times I had over there years ago. Steve

[Whiskey Dick]

Hi flysdown, yes those are the numbers that are allowed on section one(550 per day)on any day. remember section one is from warmsprings to harpham flat. when was the last time you stoped at the ws boat ramp on a sat morning to watch the fun? it is amazing to count the boats and rafts launching. i was there on the 5th and per the blm checker by 10am there where 62 boats/rafts already in the water ahead of us with another ten getting ready to launch. now that was in the salmon fly hatch and a lot of people do come and float just for that time.when i got home that night i checked the boater pass site and it showed 197 passes sold for launch at ws for that day. the real buisy time are the weekends in august, last year the first 3 were over 500(509,571,525), the fourth at 477 and the last one at 381.a lot of people on section one and the main reason i only guide a couple of weekends a year on section one.

"A better question would be,"What do they (BLM) do with all of the money raised from their Passes?"
On a recent 3 day trip from Trout Creek to Maupin, not one toilet had been serviced, no TP, and they were a mess. After thirty + years of experience drifting the river, I am disgusted with our Federal Gov'ts rule making and lack of viable follow-up, This complaint is only the tip of the iceberg. Those of you who use the resource a lot know exactly what I am talking about. SHAME on you BLM!" well said rusty i wish i could tell you what they spend the money on, it is not the river.
tight lines,brian :cheers:

[greenbuttskunk]

82nd st. GI joes has the daily boaters pass. Bought it today.16 large for the weekend! :bigshock: I thought that was pretty steep. Oh well. They do have them.
GBS

[Chromaflage]

I found out that G.I. Joes' has left it up to each store to decide if they wanted to sell them. We were told by the Gresham store that the only place to get them this year would be on line.....somebody's got their lines crossed I think.

ORS