Colorado > Ice Fishing Colorado
Colorado River Pikeminnow... 80 lbs!
Prairiegoat:
--- Quote from: PGKris on Feb 06, 2007, 01:04 PM ---Well they look identical :-\ Either way, putting a bounty on them is pointless. They breed, and breed, and breed some ore. And they don't really compete with salmon :-\
--- End quote ---
HOW TO SAVE A SALMON
(AND MAKE MONEY DOING IT)
How can YOU save a salmon? Go fishing! Thousands of anglers are saving salmon by catching northern pikeminnow, and they are getting paid for their catch. YOU can help by taking part in the BPA-funded Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program, part of the Northern Pikeminnow Management Program. Northern pikeminnow eat millions of young salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake rivers each year. Researchers believe reducing the number of these predators can greatly help the salmon and steelhead.
In the 2007 season, we will pay anglers for fish 9 inches and larger. The reward will remain the same at $4-$8 for each northern pikeminnow caught in the lower Columbia (mouth to Priest Rapids Dam) and Snake (mouth to Hells Canyon Dam) rivers. This year's qualifying tagged fish will be worth $500.
We're not trying to eliminate northern pikeminnow. What we're trying to do is reduce the average size. Smaller fish eat fewer smolts. Evaluation of the reward fishery is an important component of the overall program. It will tell us how effective we are and where we need to make improvements.
Results indicate that the program is successful. Since 1990 over 2.8 million northern pikeminnow have been removed from the Snake and Columbia rivers as a result of the sport reward program. Millions of young salmon survived that would have otherwise been eaten. We estimate that predation on juvenile salmonids has been cut by 25 percent. In 2006, nearly 238,000 northern pikeminnow were caught.
The northern pikeminnow caught are not going to waste. They are used in liquid organic fertilizer for agriculture and fish meal for poultry and dairy cattle feed.
WHAT IS A NORTHERN PIKEMINNOW?
The northern pikeminnow, is a large member of the minnow family. It has a long snout and large mouth. It is dusky green above and silvery-bronze below. It is similar in shape to the walleye, but a pikeminnow doesn't have the walleye's spiny dorsal fins and white-tipped tail fin. Unlike walleye, northern pikeminnow are native to the Columbia River system. The Columbia's northern pikeminnow is not the same as the threatened Colorado pikeminnow. They are two distinct species.
WHY IS MY ELECTRIC BILL PAYING ANGLERS TO CATCH NORTHERN PIKEMINNOW?
The 1980 Pacific Northwest Power Act directs the Bonneville Power Administration to fund work to improve salmon runs harmed by federal hydroelectric dams.
Development of the hydrosystem has made young salmon more vulnerable to predators, including northern pikeminnow, by slowing the flow of the river and concentrating young salmon at dams. In addition, young salmon pass dams through conduits around dam turbines, over spillways or through the turbines. This disorients and injures them, making them easy prey for northern pikeminnow.
THE 2007 NORTHERN PIKEMINNOW SEASON
The fishery includes the mainstem lower Columbia River up to Priest Rapids Dam in Washington and the Snake River up to Hells Canyon Dam in Idaho. Also open within this reach are backwaters, sloughs, and up to 400 feet into tributaries on the Columbia and Snake rivers. (Check fishing regulations for your state.)
For every northern pikeminnow 9 inches or longer returned to a registration station, anglers will receive $4-$8. The more fish an angler catches, the more they're worth: the first 100 in one season are worth $4 each; after 100, they're worth $5 each; and after 400 they're worth $8 each. Special tagged northern pikeminnow will be worth $500 again this year.
The 2007 season will start May 14, 2007. The season will end September 30, 2007.
Bonzo:
Pretty ridiculous band-aid type cure. If you can get a pikeminnow to grow to 80 lbs, hell with the salmon. I'm still pi$$ed they changed from squawfish.
PGKris:
I can't see it being all that effective, sorry. I've caught and killed so many pikeminnow from my local lake, they're still there. But I have noticed a slight increase it trout size over the past few years. Could be any number of factors contributing to that though. Question to ask is why kill off all the pikeminnow when they were coexisting with the salmon long before we got here. I dunno....there's too many factors I'm not aware of. Tight Lines
Kris
ifitswims:
I really hope they continue to kill all of the world class sportfish, they are of no significance.
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