Northwest Fishing Reports

As I'm sure you folks all know, there is a lot of money to be made by catching northern pikeminnows in the Columbia River. Apperantly last years top angler made fifty grand doing it. I've never fished for them before, but thought this year I might give it a shot -- With gas prices as awful as they are now, perhaps I can make enough to pay for a day of fishing. As I said, I am a complete amature at squaw fish. I went to www.pikeminnow.org and learned all the legal stuff (minimum size length, price per fish, etc). The problem is, for fishing tactics, they list everything from jigging with grubs, to live bait, to crankbaits for these fish. If any of you have some more specific advice, I would be greatly appreciative. Also, if anyone has some recomendations on productive sections of the Columbia for squaws, that would be great too. I'm thinking of starting around vernita (the priest rapids section).

Tight Lines,

Joe

I've only fished for squawfish to use for bait for lake trout...Nightcrawlers seemed to do fine...

what you need to do is come over here to the east side and fish Long Lake for a few days. You should be an expert squaw fisherman by then. Seriously though they eat anything and are incredibly easy to catch, so i imagine if you can find then you should have no trouble catching them. Over here I get most of mine, which are all accidents by the way, on jigs and minnow shaped crankbaits, usually when i'm fishing for smallmouth. I would start on the bottom, maybe drifting downstream and dragging a jig tipped with a plastic grub and half a nightcrawler. Bigger jigs and grubs are going to catch bigger fish. Dark browns, blues, and blacks are probably good colors to start with, or at least that's what i'm usually using when i hook up with one.

Iv never done it to get paid but Ive caught them on corn fishing for kokanee and I know they catch them at mayfield while fishing for muski. So anything big and anything small will catch theses fish. Back to square 1 LOL

Nik wrote:what you need to do is come over here to the east side and fish Long Lake for a few days. You should be an expert squaw fisherman by then. Seriously though they eat anything and are incredibly easy to catch, so i imagine if you can find then you should have no trouble catching them. Over here I get most of mine, which are all accidents by the way, on jigs and minnow shaped crankbaits, usually when i'm fishing for smallmouth. I would start on the bottom, maybe drifting downstream and dragging a jig tipped with a plastic grub and half a nightcrawler. Bigger jigs and grubs are going to catch bigger fish. Dark browns, blues, and blacks are probably good colors to start with, or at least that's what i'm usually using when i hook up with one.

Good info, thanks a lot, I appreciate it!

I have always wanted to do this too. It would be awsome to have the fish pay for the camping trip. I dont think you get a check right away though. I think you get one check at the end of the season only for all the fish you caught that year.

bigastrout wrote:I have always wanted to do this too. It would be awsome to have the fish pay for the camping trip. I dont think you get a check right away though. I think you get one check at the end of the season only for all the fish you caught that year.

Im pretty sure thats how it works but not 100%. But man the guy last year got some $46,000 for the year, TO FISH, I WISH

bigastrout wrote:I have always wanted to do this too. It would be awsome to have the fish pay for the camping trip. I dont think you get a check right away though. I think you get one check at the end of the season only for all the fish you caught that year.

Yeah, from what I gather, they give you a voucher, and from what I thought, you get the money within a few weeks, but you could be right, it may be at the end of the season... Still, getting paid to fish!!!! What a great concept!

Joe

Read about some of those guys who make the big money. They spend huge amounts of time on the water. 24 hour stints at a time arent uncommon. But you're right...getting paid to fish!!! Kinda like the redneck version of Bass Masters!

Nik wrote: Seriously though they eat anything and are incredibly easy to catch, so i imagine if you can find then you should have no trouble catching them.

Finding them in numbers is definately the trick to it.

Matt

sounds good sing me up . what part of the columbia, there in lakes too?
:d/

Yea but imagine how much that guy spent in gas and tackle money...46,000 isn't much when you add in gas and tackle and stuff....

kartman253 wrote: sounds good sing me up . what part of the columbia, there in lakes too?
:d/

You'll find anything you need to know about it on this site: http://www.pikeminnow.org/directions.html

Joe

Saw a booth at the sportsman show a few years back. A retired couple made like $30,000 in 4 months...outrageous!! Heard that if you catch one they usaually school and if you hit a big school it pays off..... I'll check out the website. Isn't there a few fish that were tagged and are worth a bunch of money? See ya

muskyhunter wrote:Saw a booth at the sportsman show a few years back. A retired couple made like $30,000 in 4 months...outrageous!! Heard that if you catch one they usaually school and if you hit a big school it pays off..... I'll check out the website. Isn't there a few fish that were tagged and are worth a bunch of money? See ya

Yeah, they have special tagged ones that are worth 500 dollars a pop... Now that would be a good day of fishing!!!!

Joe

Is it only the columbia squaws that you get paid for or is it all squaws get you a piece of change?

gpc wrote:Is it only the columbia squaws that you get paid for or is it all squaws get you a piece of change?

"... [it is legal from 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. "

Joe

beerman1981 wrote:

gpc wrote:Is it only the columbia squaws that you get paid for or is it all squaws get you a piece of change?

"... [it is legal from 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. "

Joe[/quote

Yeah I thought I heard the program was to help the salmon population in the columbia but I wasnt sure. Thank you

There is another article on the pikeminnow in wdfw fishing/shefishing section under the fishing guides and tips section

About how much do they pay you per squaw?