Brown Family King
The summertime sun has finally come to Washington state and with her heat came the king salmon retention closure on Sky River. With that stated, I am now shifting gears back to focusing on the Skykomish River summer-run steelhead. If you’re looking for a peaceful float down the river, with the opportunity to catch a summer-run chromer, look no further than your own backyard. The fish have moved up the system and it’s time to break out the drift boat.
Bonner With a Summer King
Otherwise, lets get a crew to fill up the jet sled and head down to the Cowlitz River to do battle with summer-run steelhead. Those fish have definitely shown up and are in the system, as well. Side drifting and pulling plugs are the keys to success down on the Cow.
Lets Go Catch Some Summer Run Chrome!
Sincerely,
Bonner Daniels
bonnerfishon.com
425-281-8772
Fetha Styx and North Fork Composites have come together to create what I would consider the #1 new rod on the market today for action and sensitivity. Coming soon to a dealer near you! Contact Billy or Gina at Fetha Styx for more information.
PS The walleye bite is on over east if your looking for a change of pace. Just let me know when you want to go 
Bonner holds a trophy bass.
I was over fishing on the Potholes Reservoir last weekend. Tyson Ahina, Bob Jorgensen and I were catching large and smallmouth bass between two and six pounds on soft plastics, along with jerk baits. The bass were both in spawn and pre-spawn mode. The weather was great. The fish are all in great condition and very scrappy. We catch and release ALL of our trophy bass.
When we are looking for table fare, we catch walleye.
Net full of walleye.
This year has been great with limits being the norm for my boat. We mainly troll spinners and crankbaits for the fish we target. We also release the trophy walleye we catch, but all the rest are headed for the deep fryer
If you’re looking for a nice change of pace, the Eastside has some truly wonderful warm water fisheries. Give me a call and let’s go catch some fish.
Sincerely,
Bonner Daniels
Bonnerfishon.com
425-281-8772
I will start off with the mother nature report: calm one minute, raining the next with hurricane like winds right after that, and finally the sunshine decides to make an appearance…but with all that weather came the fish. Read more »
Tags: Bonner Daniels, cowlitz river, king salmon, skykomish river, summer-run, trophy bass, Walleye, winter run steelhead
Featured, Fishing Report, Pro Staff | Bonner Daniels | 
May 5, 2010 12:37 am | 
Comments (1)
It is officially springer salmon, late-run hatchery steelhead and native steelhead season. With that said, literally every mainstem river of the Washington Coast and Columbia River has fish in it right now. Big, bright, chrome fish…get out and get in on some of the action!
The trout lakes have been, or are being, planted; the walleye bite is beginning over on the Potholes Reservoir and Moses Lake; the Potholes Open is right around the corner; the Grande Ronde, Salmon, and Clearwater Rivers are overflowing with steelhead; and the Westside chromers are arriving right now. What a great time to go out and go fishing in this wonderfully mild weather.
My days have been consisting of side drifting bait for steelhead and springers out of my Wooldridge XL Jet Sled, which holds five guests comfortably. The fishing has been consistent with multiple fishONs!!! per day. This spring run has started off well, and should continue strong and even get better well into April. I am currently booked up through the 1st week of April, if you would like to get out and get after some of these chrome beauties, give me a call and lets get you on the schedule before its too late. See you on the water
Here are but a few pics from this week’s trips….
TIP of The Week: Keep On Casting!!!
Sincerely,
Bonner Daniels
bonnerfishon.com
425-281-8772
Tags: Bonner Daniels, chrome, Columbia River, fetha styx, fishing, Moses Lake, Potholes Reservoir, salmon, springers, steelhead, Washington
Featured, Fishing Report, Pro Staff | Bonner Daniels | March 22, 2010 2:03 pm | Comments (0)
Here is the steelhead freak report:
Short, BUT sweet…mother nature has been dealing the perfect “river” hand for the past few weeks and the steelhead fishing for my boat has been nothing short of spectacular!! If you want to catch big, brood stock, hatchery steelhead and at the same time have the opportunity of catching a 20lb-plus steelie on the next cast, now is the time.
From now through mid-April, I fully expect the steelhead fishing to continue on a strong note. Get a date before it’s too late
I will let a few of the pics from the last week speak for themselves:
Sincerely,
Bonner Daniels
bdfishon.com
PS Springers are cool…but STEELHEAD rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A few pics from this week’s guided adventures:
The Snohomish System (for the most part) is officially closed and it’s too bad, as the last couple of weeks we experienced some great steelhead action. It would be nice if they could change the regulations to selective gear, catch and release fishing…so we could at the least fish. I will be back out on this system for summer-run steelhead and King salmon starting the first Saturday in June.
With the all the river closures I will be focusing my next two months of guiding on the Wynoochie/Satsop and Cowlitz Rivers. It is also time to break out my drift boat, and if the rivers are anything like the years of past we are in for some GOOD winter-run steelheading for the next couple of months. This is by far my favorite time in the steelhead cycle, as your next cast might just be the fish of a life time. Like Kyle’s monster fish, pictured below, caught right before the closures. I have open dates available, lets go catching!
Sincerely,
Bonner Daniels
bdfishon.com
425.281.8772
PS If you missed it, check out Hawg Quest replays, my first episode was on air Sunday the 17th.
PSS The fishing is really good right now, give me a call!
Tags: Bonner Daniels, cowlitz river, fetha styx, king salmon, salmon, snohomish river system, steelhead, summer-run, Washington
Featured, Fishing Report | Bonner Daniels | February 19, 2010 1:55 pm | Comments (0)
A river fisherman is never happy: rivers are too high…too low…etc, etc. Right now every river in Washington is, at the least, fish-able. Some are low and some are in perfect condition. Which means it’s time to get out there and take advantage of the low water and your opportunity to fish.
Now that February is upon us, expect the start of BIG native steelhead to enter into our river systems. Up size your baits a bit, stronger line and leader, fish cover, and deeper/heavier currents for these brutes. They have a little bit of a different ticker in comparison to their hatchery brat cousins.
I have been out fishing quite a bit of late and the steelhead just keep on coming. This week we averaged three hook-ups a trip. Surprisingly, all of the fish were bright, late hatchery fish, except one really nice native. February and March are historically the prime-time native steelhead months. Now is the time to get a hold of me for your best chance at a fish of a life time…and the last time I checked the calendar, it read February!
Pictures are from this week’s guided trips:
Sincerely,
Bonner Daniels
bdfishon.com
Ps. Check out Jerome Jefferson at “By the River” Fish and Tackle in Fall City, WA
I can’t believe January is already half way done, how the time flies by! It’s almost NATIVE season!!!!!
On the fishing front…steelhead continue to trickle into our west side rivers. We are starting to get into that “No Man’s Land” time of the winter steelhead season now. The early run hatchery fish are starting to wain and the first native steelies are showing themselves. The fish are still there, just don’t EXPECT to go out and catch double digits at press time.
I have been out on the water this week and we are still putting hatchery winter runs in the box. Side drifting is the method and good bait is the key. I am going to start focusing more and more on the Trophy Native fish. If you want the chance at a fish of a life time February through April is the time for Western Washington steelhead. Get a hold of me and let’s get you a date on the river before it’s too late.
Enjoy the pics below from this week’s guide trips:
Fetha Styx is coming out with a Mid Price range (around $175 a stick) set of rods and I, along with my clients, have been out testing them for the past month or so. I can’t wait to see the overall public opinion for the Northwest Premier Guide Series. The folks I’ve had the pleasure to fish with really enjoyed their light weight, sensitivity and ability to add a great fight to the fish. These rods are simply fantastic for the price, warranty and the Fetha Styx name (remember they are built here, locally, in Redmond, WA). If you’re a side drifter, the 961 and 962 versions are the cats meow!! Hopefully they will be available sometime around the end of April.
Get off the couch, give me a call, quit wish’n and lets go fish’n!!!!
PS Check out Hawg Quest, Todd Daniels is the guide on the current episode. Nice work on a good show Todd!
Sincerely,
Bonner Daniels
bdfishon.com
425-281-8772
Happy New Year to one and all! I have been fishing for winter steelhead all over the state for the past two weeks. From freezing temps to rain, to wind, to rising temps, and snow level fluctuations…a fisherman needs to be versatile to be successful day-in and day-out. Pay attention to river fluctuations, it will pay dividends. A moving river means moving fish. With that stated, we have been very successful through all of December’s river fluctuations. If you want to catch a winter steelhead give me a call and we will go from there. We are on them right now!
After this next storm passes and the rivers start to drop, I fully expect there to be another nice surge of hatchery steelhead to be had for the barbeque, and the start of early winter run natives to play with. It is not too early to start booking for prime native winter steelhead and late run hatchery steelhead. Let’s go fishing!
I have been on the Cowlitz and Chehalis systems and then moving back and forth to the Snohomish system. Side drifting bait has been my preferred method of choice. After looking back on my December fishing log, we averaged over 3 steelhead a day in the boat, with the best days being in the double digits…not too bad .
Below are some pics from the past week. Thanks again to everyone whom I fished with in 2009 — what a great year of fishing and catching it was!!!
Tip of the week: DO NOT marry a particular hole, or river. Be willing to move depending on the river conditions.
Sincerely,
Bonner Daniels
bonnerfishon.com
425-281-8772
PS :: Gift Certificates are available.
Mother Nature sure has made the river fisherman’s life tough of late with fluctuating water levels. In for half a day and out for another. Chums are definitely here…. Also, all this cold weather and higher water bring signs of winter steelhead back into our local Puget Sound Rivers. We even landed a few winter runs this week on the Snohomish system. I sure hope these first fish are a sign of good things to come! Whomever does the fish return predictions has this winter run predicated to be very good! I am almost fully booked up for the month of December — get a date before it’s too late.
OH…and I got tired of the weather around here messing up the river clarity, so a few of us packed up and headed east for a shot at the record return of steelhead over lower granite dam. To say the least, the fishing was off the HOOK! We managed to hook a fish every thirty minutes and it was my first time over there in my own boat. Not too bad.
Enjoy the pics from last week
Sincerely,
Bonner Daniels
bonnerfishon.com
425-281-8772
Ps !!!!Save the Snoqualmie River Summer Run Steelhead. Write your congressman!!!!
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