Bounty Fishing?

[birdaddict]

how do they fish for pike minnows? I have caught a few while fishing for trout casting rostertails but I imagine there is a better method.

[alanger]

Seems stupid to only pay a bounty on the 9+ inch fish, don't 8 inch fish grow into nine inchers??? 

it wil save our good fishes and fish habitat

[carpsniperg2]

You can make some money doing it bit don't use baby lamprey for bait they work extremely good but you will get banned from the program for life.  I am speaking from experience. The problem I have with the program is that if they really wanted them gone wouldn't they pay you for every fish no matter how you got them?

Or salmon smolt I heard of one person getting busted with a little bucket of live smolt. He dip netted them out of a creek, and was using for bait. Talk about bad new

[Button Nubbs]

I bet they worked pretty damn good though...

[BigGoonTuna]

Here's a question; why is there a bounty on "Pikeminnow", and not on Harvest Trout, and Steelhead?  I'm no biologist so I don't know for certain, but I think a 10lb steelhead will eat a heck of a lot more salmon eggs, and salmon fry than any size Pikeminnow will.

Don't get me wrong, I've made a little money here and there fishing Squawfish, and I love fishing steelhead and harvies.  I'm just curious.  It must be just that time of day...

steelhead aren't in the rivers to feed, while they will attack things, i'd imagine their impact on smolts is pretty minimal.  sea run cutthroats are probably a different story, but i doubt there are enough of them to really do any damage.

hell, squawfish are a native species, and you don't see any bounties on non native ones that eat smolts(like bass, walleye, etc).  kinda makes you think.  they money is definitely good if you know what you're doing though!

[220hunter]

i did this last summer and when your catchin fish you catch ALOT of them and the more fish you catch the more they will pay you too, by no means is it easy and you dont just go out there and catch em, you got to follow around the school of fish and find them all the time. can be boring at times and when its 114 degrees out it kinda sucks but every fish you catch is money in the bank       have friends that do this too and they have bought new boats from the money they got. ill probably do it this summer to

[HornHoarder]

Thanks for the imput fellas. It makes me think I'm not crazy after all. I realize the "fun" aspect of it will probably die off when its 100 degrees and been at it for months, but I plan on treating it like a job. Besides if I can make a good income during the five month season that leaves me the rest of the year to go hunting.

[7mag.]

I'm glad this topic came up. My brother and I have been planning this for several months now, but there was that lingering feeling in the back of my mind that it was too good to be true. I'm not planning on making a living, but the idea that I could spend a lot of time fishing, and possibly make enough to pay for expenses, is intriguing.

[pjb3]

I am willing to go for a summer if someone wants a "tag a long"
I'm not working so it could be a job

[Stickerbush]

I wish they had this bounty program upriver in priest rapids and wanapum pools, then it would be a lot easier for me to do it. Grant pud has their own program up there I worked for them killin npm(norther pikeminnow) for a summer, it was great . Nothin like getting paid to fish, they seemed to bite on wiggle wort and kwikfish lures pretty good. Anything about the size of a smolt and shiny with movement.

yea it is kinda funny though we promote bass and walleye though they are non native and they eat everything. But the NPM are definitely voracious predators, pretty hard fight for their size too

[JKEEN33]

Is the bounty still in effect? It's been several years since I have heard anything new about this.

[Curly]

The reward fishery is still going.  Check out this link:  Link

[HornHoarder]

Well, heres a little update... Been fishing for pikeminnow for the last 15 days. Doing terrible . I have tried fishing out of Cathlamet, Willow Grove, and Beacon rock. Only got 8 legal pikeminnow. I never imagined they would be so difficult to catch. Been distracted by the salmon,steelhead,sturgeon fishing though. Having a blast fishing everyday, not making much money. Not done yet.. planning on hitting up Boyer park soon. Anybody else been bounty fishing lately?

[PolarBear]

I saw a TON of them in Lake Chelan.  I bet a guy that knew what he was doing could clean up there.

[Jburke]

I saw a TON of them in Lake Chelan.  I bet a guy that knew what he was doing could clean up there.

Lake Chelan is not part of the reward fishery though.