Angler paid record $164,000+ for fishing the Columbia and Snake rivers in 2024

A summer spent fishing was lucrative for one angler who earned a record amount of just over $164,000 for turning in the northern pikeminnow they caught in the Columbia or Snake rivers.

The Northern Pikeminnow Sport Report Program aims to reduce the number of pikeminnow preying on juvenile salmon and steelhead by paying anglers for the pikeminnow they catch and turn into Oregon and Washington departments of fish and wildlife.

The 2024 top earner in the program topped 2023 earnings for a single angler of $107,800, and the record annual earning of just over $119,000 in 2016.

For the first time in the 34-year history of the program, it closed early because the $1.7 million reward fund provided by the Bonneville Power Administration was exhausted five days before the end of the season. Fishing conditions, particularly in the lower Columbia River, were very good this year and participation in the program also was up slightly, said John Hone, a fish biologist at the Washington state Fish and Wildlife office in Pasco.

“Obviously it was a great season,” he said. “We have never had to close early.”

A popular new app that anglers can use to remotely register for the program daily, rather than driving to one of the registration stations, such as the one at Columbia Point in Richland, also may have contributed to increased participation.

In the reward program, anglers who register can earn up to $10 for each of the pikeminnow they catch and turn in, plus can earn bonuses of $500 if they catch a specially tagged fish.

The top angler for 2024 caught 16,150 pikeminnow from May through Sept. 25. The second-highest earner turned in 9,034 pikeminnow and earned $91,300.

The average payout for the top 20 earners was $45,405, according to the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Pikeminnow in eastern WAsh.

Pikeminnow are voracious eaters of juvenile salmon and steelhead, consuming millions every year. The Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program aims to reduce predator-sized northern pikeminnows from the mouth of the Columbia River to Priest Rapids Dam in eastern Washington, as well as the Snake River in Washington and Idaho. Those stretches of water represent a substantial portion of the migration corridor of juvenile salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin.

Northern pikeminnow are native to the Northwest, and the goal of the program is not to eradicate them, but to reduce the average size of those in the Columbia River system. The program pays for fish caught that are longer than 9 inches, as the larger pikeminnows consume more juveniles than the smaller ones.

The reward program aims to reduce northern pikeminnow populations by 10% to 20% in the Columbia River and it met that goal in 2024, according to the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

From the start of the program in 1991 more than 5.2 million northern pikeminnow have been caught in the reward program, decreasing pikeminnow predation on juvenile salmon up to 40%.

The reward program has been more popular in the lower Columbia River than the Tri-Cities area, but there are plenty of pikeminnow to be caught upriver near the Tri-Cities, according to Fish and Wildlife officials.

Some of the places where anglers have had good luck near the Tri-Cities include just south and north of Columbia Point Park in Richland, including Bateman Island; the Columbia River near the mouth of the Snake River; just downstream from the Vernita Bridge across the Columbia River and the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River.

The mouth of the Umatilla River, which is across the Columbia River from Plymouth in Benton County, was the best spot near the Tri-Cities for catching pikeminnow in 2024, Hone said.

Any area just downstream from a dam also can be a good place to fish, particularly for those without a boat, according to Washington Fish and Wildlife. The reward program is administered by the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, along with the Oregon and Washington state Departments of Fish and Wildlife. BPA funds the program to partially mitigate for the impact of the Federal Columbia River Hydroelectric System on salmon and steelhead.

For more information about the program, go to pikeminnow.org.