16 days on the Columbia

Just pulled off the mighty Columbia out in Oregon land. Fished it hard for 16 straight days. Fishing was excellent! Most of the fish came on bottom bouncers and spinner/crawler rigs. Somewhere around 70 fish over 18″ and about the same under 18″. Not a but of fish but some very nice ones.

Released several in the 26″-28″ range, however the sad part of the trip was the nets. Oregon permits the Native Americans to keep and sell Walleyes as incidental catch. One netter told my fishing partner that he had netted a 21 lb fish. THe native american said that they are getting twice the price for walleye as salmon. Now I wonder what they are targeting? The price was $4.20 a lb for walleye by the way….

Also caught several nothern pike minnows (formerly known as squawfish) which a $4 a fish helped pay for the boat gas. Bonneville power auth (BPA). has a program to mitigate the impact of the dams on salmon smolt headed to the Ocean. N pikeminnows eat them by the thousands..78% of their diet is smolt. So they started a program to PAY fishermen to catch pikeminnows. 1st 100 fish are $4 , 2nd 100 fish are $5, and after that each fish is a $6 one! Some folks make a good summer income by fishing for pike minnows.

dan
out in Oregon land where the walleyes grow bigger and the native american nets are getting the big girls! It is sad to see a world class fishery wasted

The thought of a 21 pound walleye……………….is almost fantasy!………………….netted and sold……….unbelievable! All it would take is to get some huge, national exposure on Columbia walleyes and the state would have to consider the validity of protecting and utilizing this resource! Unless of course, the guys in office own salmon factories!

And then…………the future of the pike in the Columbia isn’t being helped any with a minnow bounty, is it? …………Mmmm…………sad news indeed.

I am coming out there to see ya one of these days! Gotta see what it’s like before it’s gone!

Pikeminnow is the northern Squawfish. There are no northerns in the NW (actually I’ve heard that there might be a lake in NE WA that has a few, but none in the river).

Destroying the walleye fishery in the Columbia has been the goal of the Oregon DFW for years now. They have proposed a no-limit walleye fishery and had even considered a reward program for walleye similar to the pikeminnow reward. When you have a high limit and no minimum size, the fishery will always be in danger of being fished out. Salmoners have a much larger voice in the NW. Oregon wouldn’t miss the walleye. Washington tolerates them.

Dan,

This is very saddening to hear. The Columbia is on my list of must hit bodies of water. Unfortunately, it’s a long ride out there and I don’t see myself getting there in the next two years. It scares me to think what will be left of the walleyes two to three years from now.

here is the biggest fish of the next four days on the river.

31.5″ and 11 lbs…. on a bottom bouncer and spinner….

it was released.

dan

Awesome Dan, I envy you!