Small Town News

Good fishing means good luck for pikeminnow angler

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Some guys have all the luck. At least that's Bruce Oliver's take on the fact that during the months of June and July of this year he caught four tagged northern pikeminnows near the Cathlamet Marina and Elochoman River. The fish were worth $500 each.

"I got $2000 for the four of them," said Oliver. "That's a pretty fair chunk of change for a guy just having fun."

Oliver lives in Arizona but spent many years in Longview. That's how he learned of the Cathlamet marina. He currently keeps a little motor-home at the marina and fishes the Columbia.

"I've taken the last three weeks off," he said smiling, "I've made enough money. I'm on vacation.

"Each pikeminnow caught on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, nine inches or larger, is worth from $4-$8."

The Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program is a part of the Northern Pikeminnow Management Program. The pike minnows eat millions of young salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake Rivers each year.

Oliver said he fishes about 110 days a year for "pikes". The fish are predators, and researchers believe that reducing their numbers will help strengthen the salmon and steelhead runs.

The northern pike is native to both the upper and lower Columbia River, and Oliver said millions of young salmon survive because of fishermen like him. Fish and Wildlife agrees and estimates that pikeminnow fishermen like Oliver have reduced salmon smolt predation on the Columbia by 37 percent. In 2008, nearly 160,000 northern pikeminnow were caught.

"We're not trying to eliminate northern pikeminnow," said Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife fish biologist Eric Winther, "What we're trying to do is reduce the average size. The smaller pikeminnow eats fewer salmon smolt, which in turn reduces salmon predation."

Fish and Wildlife research indicates the pikeminnow program is successful. The statistics show that since 1990 over 3.3 million northern pikeminnow have been removed from the Snake and Columbia rivers as a result of the sport reward program.

Oliver said he makes over $100 a day catching the pikes and and that he's a good fisherman.

"There's no secret to this, and it may sound egotistical as hell, but I spend a lot of time thinking about what I'm doing," he said.

Oliver doesn't just go out on the river and throw some bait in the water. Oliver said he has studied the river and the fish and tries to be in the right place at the right time.

"You have to consider different things like tides, water temperature and the sun," he said.

"This is my seventh year fishing Cathlamet and I have a pretty good sense of where the fish will be. On an incoming tide, late in the summer, I have places I go to, that I've found and know will have fish during that time of the year."

Oliver said he's not giving his secret fishing spots away but the bait he uses is no secret. "I use crawdad tails and worms for the most part. I won't use chicken livers because if that rod goes "tap," "tap" the fish just took your bait, and I hate that."

He also has to deal with the competition, which can be frustrating at times. Oliver said it's gotten to the point that some of the regular pikeminnow fishermen now follow him around.

"There is this one guy that makes his living following me around and he wouldn't know a good fishing hole if he found it," he said.

"You know luck has a lot to do with catching four tagged pikeminnows. You have to put yourself in the position to be lucky."

The pikeminnow is the largest member of the minnow family native to the Pacific slope of western North America. Formerly known as "northern squawfish," the name was changed to northern pikeminnow by the American Fisheries Society in 1998.

Pikeminnows have long snouts and large mouths that extend back under the eye. Their bodies are dark or dusky green above and silvery or creamy white below, with clear fins.

The pikes caught don't go to waste. Fish and Wildlife collects the fish carcasses and has them turned into liquid organic fertilizer for agriculture and fishmeal for poultry and dairy cattle feed.



Copyright 2009 The Wahkiakum County Eagle, Cathlamet, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2009 The Wahkiakum County Eagle Cathlamet, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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