The 2023 season opened May 1 for pikeminnow, the fish that makes anglers a bounty if they sign up initially and capture them in the Columbia or Snake rivers of Washington and Oregon.
“Catch cash, save salmon,” says the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program. Pikeminnow are starved eaters, eating young salmon and steelhead in those rivers.
Last year the leading angler in the bounty program made almost $70,000 for kipping down northern pikeminnow from May through September.
The leading 20 payments in the program were $20,000 or more in 2022, according to the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The program pays $6 each for the very first 25 pikeminnow; $8 each for 26 to 200 pikeminnow; and $10 for each after 200 for the whole year. Amounts spent for fish increased in 2022.
In addition, specifically tagged pikeminnow deserve $200 to $500.
In all, the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program paid $1.4 million for pikeminnow captured and kipped down in 2015.
The mouth of the Yakima River is among the very best locations in the Tri-Cities to fish for pikeminnow, especially in May and early June, according to the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
A registration station for the program opened Monday from 2 to 6 p.m. at Columbia Point in Richland. Also opening Monday were the station at the Columbia River Vernita Bridge rest location from 10 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. and a brand-new station at Hood Park in Burbank near the mouth of the Snake River from 3 to 6 p.m.
On June 1, the Windust Park station by the Lower Monumental Dam on the Snake River will open. The Ringold station near Pasco will not open this year due to the fact that of absence of angler interest there.
To get involved, sign up prior to fishing every day with kinds available at boxes 24 hr a day at registration stations. Fish captured need to be gone back to the very same registration station throughout running hours on the date marked on the registration form.
When pikeminnow a minimum of 9 inches long are kipped down, a coupon is provided that can be sent by mail off for payment.
How to capture pikeminnow
The Northern Pikeminnow Sport-Reward Program suggests fishing in rocky locations with quick present near dams, islands, stream mouths, points, eddies, rows of stacks, and ledges or bars in the river.
Most fish are captured in 7 to 25 feet of water where they are eating smolts, freshwater clams and crayfish.
They relocate to discover victim and if you don’t have good lead to thirty minutes to an hour, the program suggests going up or down stream.
Fishing normally is finest throughout low-light conditions, such as daybreak and sundown.
Information on fishing for pikeminnow with bait, plastic grubs or lures is published at bit.ly/3LlfpaL.
Since the Bonneville Power Administration started spending for the program in 1990, the variety of young salmon and steelhead feasted on by pikeminnow has actually reduced about 40%.
The Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife collaboratively handle the program.
Full information — consisting of where to sign up, ideas for recognizing and capturing pikeminnow and how to get a $10 perk voucher — are published at pikeminnow.org. Information likewise is available by calling 800-858-9015.
