While human anglers toiled through 90 degree temperatures this summer, northern pikeminnow, a native salmon predator with a bounty on its head, lived apparently unaffected by the heat.
The opening of steelhead fishing on the Deschutes River last week was much anticipated in the city of Maupin. “The whole town of Maupin is excited,” said John Hazel, owner of Deschutes Angler Fly Shop, in anticipation of the opening. “I would expect a good number of fishermen. We are one of the best steelhead rivers in Oregon,” he explained.
Substantial reward increases for the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Fishery make it potentially more profitable for anglers participating in the 2022 season.
The departments of fish and wildlife from Oregon and Washington today set four more days of recreational salmon and steelhead fishing on the Columbia River.
The fisheries will take place Friday, May 15 through Sunday, May 17 and on Wednesday May 20.
The popular Northern Pikeminnow fishery will be getting a late start this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The 2020 Northern Pikeminnow Sport-Reward Fishery will not open on May 1, as originally planned. The fishery is tentatively scheduled to open May 11, for registered anglers with licenses to fish in the Columbia and Snake rivers.
Two recreational white sturgeon fisheries in the Columbia River upstream of Bonneville Dam will close during the upcoming week under rules adopted today by fishery managers from Oregon and Washington while a third remains open until its harvest guideline is met.
Anglers earned nearly $1,162,000 in 2019 through participation in the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program in 2019. In all, they removed more than 146,000 northern pikeminnow from the Columbia and Snake rivers, which means fewer big fish preying on juvenile endangered salmon.