SEASON UPDATE
All stations will be closing September 25, 2024 due to an outstanding season of fishing. We want to extend a…
Attention Anglers: The Northern Pikeminnow Management Program Sport-Reward Fishery will be closing 5 days early due to a busy season of elevated Northern Pikeminnow catch using up the $1.7 million in allocated funds for the reward fishery and meeting the exploitation goals of removing 10 – 20% of the Northern Pikeminnow in the areas open to the fishery on the Columbia and Snake rivers. The last day of the Sport Reward Fishery will be 9/25/2024.
Bonneville Dam, 2016. Photo by Isaac Lane Koval.
Northern Pikeminnow eat millions of salmon and steelhead juveniles each year in the Columbia and Snake river systems. The goal of the program is not to eliminate Northern Pikeminnow, a native species, but rather to reduce the number of large fish. Reducing the number of these larger predators can greatly increase the salmon and steelhead juveniles making it out to sea.
The Bonneville Power Administration funds the program to partially mitigate for the impact of the federal Columbia River hydroelectric system on salmon. Results indicate the program is successful. Since the Sport-Reward Fishery was implemented in 1991, predation of juvenile salmon by Northern Pikeminnow has been reduced up to 40% through the removal of more than 5.4 million Northern Pikeminnow.
The Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission administers the overall Northern Pikeminnow Sport-Reward Program. The program is run in cooperation with Northwest fish management agencies and tribes.
Northern Pikeminnow fish with a roll of cash in a fish hook, 2016. Photo credit Isaac Lane Koval.
You can help save salmon and get paid to do it by going fishing! The Pikeminnow Sport Reward Fishery Program, funded by the Bonneville Power Administration and administered by the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, pays anglers for each Northern Pikeminnow they catch that is nine inches or longer.
Rewards range from $6 to $10 per fish and the more fish an angler catches, the more they’re worth. The first 25 in one season are worth $6 each; after 25, they are worth $8 each; and after 200 they are worth $10 each. Verified external tags are worth $500 and verified tag loss fish are now worth $200 each!
In 2023, the top-twenty anglers caught an average of 4,005 fish per angler and averaged reward payments of $40,135 each for the 5 month season. The highest paid angler earned $107,800.
An angler holding two Northern Pikeminnow in a boat, 2016. Photo by Isaac Lane Koval.
The 2024 season for the sport-reward fishery started at select stations on May 1, 2024. The season will end September 25, 2024.
Fishing takes place within the mainstem Columbia River from the estuary to Priest Rapids Dam in eastern Washington and the Snake River from its confluence with the Columbia up to Hells Canyon Dam. This area represents the migration corridor of juvenile salmon.
Mail in all reward vouchers within 30 days of the end of each year’s fishery. To obtain payment, vouchers must be received no later than Nov. 15 of each year’s fishery. Any issues preventing payment (missing information, voiding of voucher for program violations, etc.) must be resolved by November 15, 2024 or the voucher becomes null and void.
The Northern Pikeminnow Sport-Reward Program welcomes participants of all kinds. Below are links to ADA features, amenities and maps.
We only send out important program updates, such as station changes, season updates and upcoming events, etc.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
800-858-9015 Toll Free
360-906-6707
pikeminnow@dfw.wa.gov
800-769-9362 Toll Free
503-595-3297
vouchers@pikeminnow.org
503-230-3862
800-622-4520 Visitor Center
