The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has launched the numbers for final yr’s Pikeminnow reward program. The high inserting angler spent their summer season final yr from May to September focusing on the northern pikeminnow and netted themself almost $70,000 in bounties. The high incomes angler within the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program was rewarded with $69,230 for the Northern Pikeminnows they turned in. The second-place angler netted themself a cool $63,700 in bounties for the pikeminnows they turned in. The pikeminnow bounties given out final yr had been increased than they’d been in 2021. This was as a result of the reward program raised the bounties per turned-in fish, going from $5 per fish as much as $6 per fish. This yr this system paid $6 every for the primary 25 pikeminnows. Then paid $8 every for 26 to 200 pikeminnows and $10 for every fish after the primary 200 fish turned in throughout the season.
Surprisingly sufficient the Northern Pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus oregonensis) isn’t an invasive species in these river methods. Instead, they’re simply outcompeting the pressured salmon and steelhead populations. Because they don’t seem to be usually not focused they usually unpressured so the pikeminnows thrive. The bigger pikeminnows eat hundreds of thousands of juvenile salmon and steelhead every year as they migrate downstream to the ocean. So to fight this the Pikeminnow Program was made to assist shift the typical measurement of the pikeminnows. The purpose is to take away about 10 to twenty p.c of the bigger fish within the inhabitants, these bigger pikeminnows are the primary predators of the smolt. So with a smaller common measurement, the predation wouldn’t be that dangerous sooner or later.
Over the previous ten years (2011-20), the highest 20 anglers caught a median of three,353 fish per angler and averaged reward funds of $27,836 every for the five-month season. The highest-paid angler in 2020 caught 5,579 fish and earned $48,501, whereas the all-time file harvest is 14,109 Northern Pikeminnow value $119,341!
To see extra details about this program and presumably make your self some cash for fishing this summer season verify them out right here
