Pikeminnow Season: Catch A Fish, Make Money, Save Some Salmon

ACROSS, OR — Sunday is the start of the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Fishery season in Oregon and Washington. To make it more interesting, the reward program is offering more money for every fish caught.

The program, which was started in 1990, is funded by the Bonneville Power Administration and run by the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission along with Oregon and Washington departments of fish and wildlife.

It offers money for every northern pikeminnow someone catches during the 5-month season, they get paid. This year, the bounties being raised.

The more fish that someone catches the more money that they will get.

The agencies said that an angler will get $6 each for the first 25 that they each. Fish from 26-200 each bring in $8 and every fish after that is worth $10. There are also specially-tagged pikeminnow that will bring an angler $500.

The program's website states that in 2021, the top six anglers each earned more than $20,000. The top earner took home $41,409.

The pikeminnow season was started to help protect salmon in the Columbia and Snake Rivers. The pikeminnow are predators that eat juvenile salmon. By cutting back on the number of pikeminnow, the agencies involved in the program said that more salmon make it to the Pacific Ocean.