I'm thinking of trying a pontoon boat for the lower Sky and Snoqualmie rivers for salmon and steelhead. I have never tried one anywhere. Is this a good idea?

It looks like a fun and efficient way to fish but since I have never tried it I have many questions:

Are they OK to use for bigger fish?

Are they safe (relatively speaking) on the local rivers? I'm sure it depends on where and conditions but I don't know what they might be.

Easy to transport?

Types and sizes recommended?

I don't even know enough yet to ask intelligent questions. Any advice or recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill

I use my pontoon boat on the Sky. It is great for summer low water conditions but kinda cold in the winter. Size of fish doesn't matter cause I don't fish from the boat, just use it for transportation and wade to fish. Mine is 8ft. Don't go any smaller for river use.
Hope this helps.

I have 2 boats made by the folks at Skookum Products (http://www.steelheader.com) and I have been very happy with them. As stated above they are best used simply for transportation. Fishing alone on a pontoon boat while trying to hold position and the rod can make it very challenging in deed. I used mine on the Skagit to go from one spot to the next and it worked great. You are able to cover a lot of water and have fun rowing as well. These won't take the place of a regular drift boat but they do have their place. I actually use mine more often in the lakes around Kamloops than I do fishing our rivers!

Make sure that the pontoon boat you are planning to get are designed with rivers in mind and are rated to float the rivers you intend to float. Many are not and should not be used in a river as they just won't hold up or be safe!

My buddie, Rick & I assembled our rafts from compotents. The tubes are 22"x12' Frame was made 30 miles East of Seattle. We have a 9' long lower "fishing" deck. We love ours and have floated the Sol Duc and a lot of the other rivers. Don't get one too small, don't skimp on the oars. We fish waters with great success that the drift boats skip through . If you are truly interested I can give you great info.
It will save you $$$ and lots of trial & error.
Raft-Cat

I fish from the pontoon boat on the Yakima all the time. It's a great river to float and fish also very forgiving if you haven't had much time on oars. Good place to learn, at least in the summer when the water is high. You can more safely get a feeling for what a pontoon boat will/won't do.

That said, I wouldn't recommend fishing steelhead or salmon from a pontoon boat on the larger rivers. Larger rivers generally have faster flow in them. It may sound kinda funny but at 6 mph hour things happen pretty fast especially when you're trying to manage a fish and keep your mind on things like the snag pile up ahead. So it's not a good idea to fish from the pontoon boat on larger water.

Another thing, and this can't be emphasized enough. DON'T anchor in faster water with a pontoon boat, DON'T. I've cut an anchor off because of the effect it has. Usually the anchor point is about 18" off the water surface to hold the anchor up out of the water when not in use. The higher fulcrum point causes a porposing action from the water sliding under the round pontoons when the anchor grabs, which is apparently quite funny to watch but not at all what you want to experience!

I'd recommend 9' you can get by with 8' but 9' is a little more stable. for the frame either powder coated aluminum or stainless steel.

For the money I think the Bucks Bronco Extreme is probably one of the best out there. You can pick up a bargain variety but eventually you'll wish you hadn't. I think the Skookum products are pretty good too from what I've seen of them.

Look out for boats that are made from the cheaper painted steel frames. The frame rusts and besides you're trusting your life to this thing on the river.

my .02