Catch Northern Pikeminnows for Fun and Profit in Washington and Oregon

ANGLER PAID $61,000 REWARD FOR CATCHING NORTHERN PIKEMINNOWS

from The Fishing Wire

Angler Paid $61,000 Reward for Catching Northern Pikeminnows

One angler is being paid $61,000 for the northern pikeminnow he caught in the Columbia and Snake rivers and turned into state fish and wildlife officials last summer. Next year he has the potential for an even bigger payout as the Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program plans to pay more per fish turned in when the season opens in May 2022. This year the program paid out almost $700,000 to anglers who registered for the program and then turned in the northern pikeminnow they caught each day.

That’s down from the $840,000 paid in 2020. That’s because river conditions were not ideal, including at one of the best places to fish in the Tri-Cities, the mouth of the Yakima River, said Eric Winther, project leader for the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife Pikeminnow Sport Reward program.

Grass and debris clogged the water when the pikeminnow fishing is usually at its best there in May and early June, he told the Tri-City Herald. About the same number of anglers participated in the program in Washington and Oregon this past season as the year before. But anglers did not do as well this past season, with about 89,600 fish caught compared to 103,100 the year before. To encourage people to keep fishing next season, the program plans to increase the reward paid per fish. Last season payments started at $5 per fish.

Next season it will pay $6 each for the first 25 pikeminnow; $8 each for 26 to 200 fish; and $10 for each after 200. In addition, specially tagged pikeminnow are worth $500.