I’m Baaaaaaaacck…., I just arrived back home on 11/1/11 from my month long guiding adventure at Heller Bar, WA on The Snake River. I was able to guide 27 of those 30 days with some great people on my boat. The scenery was epic and the weather except for 3 rainy days was fabulous. Summer Run Steelhead were the fish of choice…, but we caught many Chinook adults and jacks, plus catfish, squaw fish, white fish, sturgeon, bass, and suckers all side-drifting good eggs. The Snake is a very healthy river system to say the least.
If you missed this fishery in 2011, not too worry…, as I am already working on my 2012 season on The Snake River at Heller Bar, WA. I will start around 9/15/2012 and finish up around 10/10/2012. I would recommend 2 days on the water if at all possible. This year was Wall Tent central and I’m looking to rent a house this next year. If nothing is available I will run my trips through the Red Lion in Lewiston, ID which is 45 minutes from the boat launch and is surrounded by restaurants and stores for your convience. Otherwise your more than welcome to camp out at Heller Bar right at the mouth of the Grande Ronde River with me. Fish, Big Horn Sheep, Turkeys, Chukar, Deer, fires, glo corkies and spinners from the bank, drinks, and that days fish stories are all a part of The Heller Bar experience.
I was looking over my fish log for the month of October and my boat landed over 250 Steelhead, not including King Salmon and Jacks! You can expect double digit fish days on this river. We did have a couple of slower days where we caught 5-8 Steelhead and Kings. But again only a couple of slow days. The water was at a 20 year high for that time of year which definitely changed the fish holding locations a bit…, it took me a day to re-figure it out. But after that day it was on. Our best days were 25-30 hook ups on Salmon and Steelhead…, NO joke! Below are some of the fish that we caught. FYI those un-clipped fish (you will see in the pictures below) are legal to pull out of the Water with an Idaho fishing license. Get a hold of me with any questions regarding my favorite Jet Sled Steelhead fishery, hands down!
I am now booking winter run steelhead trips on the Cowlitz, Sky and Snoqualmie Rivers starting 11/29/11 through 12/30 /11, Get your date…, before your too late! FishON and see you on the water Also, don’t forget to check out Steelhead University’s fishing report as I put up a fresh weekly report there, you can go directly there through the links section on my mywebsite’s home page. Mention Salmon Steelhead University and take 10% off of your next fully guided trip from now through December!!
Bonner Daniels
bonnerfishon.com
425-281-8772