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PORTLAND, Oregon — The northern pikeminnow is native to the Columbia River and Snake River. It can grow up to 15 pounds and loves to eat young salmon and steelhead trout.
Because these fish are consuming millions of other sport fish each year, authorities created a bounty program 30 years ago, paying anglers for removing them from the river systems. The goal isn't to eradicate this native species, but to reduce their average size and potentially save hundreds of thousands of salmon annually.
For anglers who know what they're doing, the bounty program can be incredibly lucrative. Just ask the person who earned $107,800 for five months of fishing.
The Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program, as it's officially known, starts on May 1 of each year and runs through Sept. 30. The reward can be as high as $10 per fish, with specially tagged fish netting an angler between $200 and $500. The higher earners often get multiple tagged fish.
The amazing thing is earning $107,800 isn't an anomaly. The second-highest earner this year just barely missed the six-figure mark with $98,710. The next two in line claimed $62,330 and $57,290, respectively. The all-time record reward came in 2016, when an angler received $119,341 for his bounty.
So how many northern pikeminnows does one have to catch in order to earn that much money? The top angler this year submitted 10,755 fish during the five-month window. The runner-up turned in 9,786. All told, there were 156,505 pikeminnows caught, which was the highest number in five years.
While the ethics of the program may be debatable (it's the presence of hydroelectric dams in these river systems that's truly decimating salmon numbers, not pikeminnows), it's a remarkable opportunity for anglers to make serious money doing what they love.
