Lake Washington Winter Bass and Pikeminnow?! Woah.

[datsun]

Hey,

I just watched the 'Lake Washington Winter Bass' video on this site, and thought it was great. I was a bit confused about the squaw fish they caught a couple of times, So I was doing a bit of research and found out that "*The common name of the northern squawfish has been changed to northern pikeminnow by the American Fisheries Society."
And later on I stumbled into this website:

http://www.pikeminnow.org/index.html

Anyway I wished I lived closer to that area now, So I could make my living fishing, and Getting 4-8$ a turn in for each Northern Pike Minnow!

the Top guy in 2008 caught 7,015 Pike Minnow and made 57,772 $
The second guy caught 5,185 fish and made 44,608$

WTF!!

Who wouldn't want to catch at least 7000 Fish a year?




-Datsun

[jbball50]

That's crazy, those guys were probably just doing that as a full time job instead of working. Only if I lived closer to Lake Washington or the Columbia River.

[Gringo Pescador]

There is no reward program for Lake Washington...

Rule #7 from the site you posted.

Fish must have been caught in the mainstream Columbia River from the mouth up to the restricted zone below Priest Rapids Dam, or in the Snake River from the mouth up to the restricted zone below Hell's Canyon Dam. The "mainstream" includes backwaters, sloughs, and up tributaries 400 feet from the tributary mouths. "Tributary mouth" is as defined by state fishing regulations.

I saw a segment on some NW TV show awhile ago about a guy that does basically fish all the time and that is his main income.

[steve.carn]

Care to post it (if it's available online)

[sellis_414]

A guy I work with, his dad does this during the summer works for USDA, fishing on the dams and in boats. He said something about there is a minimum size to the fish for the recreationalist that want to collect $. I dont know much about the logistics to it.. ie. where to take the fish and again size.. The lower columbia is where most of this takes place. Annually on the Columbia between Rock Island and Rocky Reach Dam they have a SQUAW, or to be politically correct Pike Minnow, fishing derby that tends to draw numbers.

[sellis_414]

Only if i would have read the link to the website you listed... My bad!

[datsun]

No worries! After rereading what I posted , the title was misleading. Sorry about that.

Man I wonder how many reels/poles they wear out fighting them Pike Minnows! ~7000 fish has got to take its toll on equipment.

[sellis_414]

I think I'd get sick of fishing for them! The guys must be either single or divorced! On the water everyday, would take a tough woman to stick with it!

Fishing everyday... Catching 7000 fish would calculate to a little over 19 fish a day. GEEZ!

[Gringo Pescador]

Care to post it (if it's available online)

Sorry, it was over a year ago - I have no idea no idea now what show it was on now. Might have even been a news clip.

[datsun]

Actually whats crazy was I think the "season" they ran that for was only about 5 months! so like aprox 150 days and 7000 fish thats like uhm and average of 46 fish a day? what the heck! They had to be burning through gear!

The 2009 season for the sport-reward fishery will start at all stations on May 1, 2009. The season will end Sep. 27, 2009.
that's what I was guesstimating my numbers off of. Can you imagine 46 fish a day? average? haha I wonder if these fish put up a good fight?

What a way to build some upper body strength?

Fishing everyday... Catching 7000 fish would calculate to a little over 19 fish a day. GEEZ!

[sellis_414]

Your right on the season...

It would be fun but I'd again get sick of fishing for those bastards!

[datsun]

with that kinda average I think you would have to have a boat full of people catching, I wonder how many other game fish you would get

I still cant get over it. 46 fish!