Angler Earns $159,310 Through Pikeminnow Bounty Program

An angler earned $159,310 in bounty money for catching pikeminnows as part of the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program. (Photo by MagicVova)

A Pacific Northwest man earned $159,310 for catching and turning in pikeminnows to a Washington and Oregon bounty program this past summer. The impressive payout is the second-highest amount ever paid to a participant of the seasonal Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program. The record, $164,000, was paid to an angler last year.

According to tri-cityherald.com, the 2025 top earner caught 15,715 pikeminnows during the season, which runs from spring through September. The top 20 earners averaged 4,131 fish each and earned reward payments of $41,723.

The Bonneville Power Association pays the bounties in an effort to help counter the negative impact that hydroelectric dams have on the salmon population in the Columbia and Snake rivers. Pikeminnows consume millions of juvenile salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake rivers each year.

The program doesn’t disclose the names of its top annual earners, but Eric Winther, program manager with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, shared some of the leader’s techniques for catching mass numbers of pikeminnows.

Winther says the top earner spends a lot of time fishing, and even lives on his boat for the five months of the season. Although having a boat is not necessary for catching the species, it certainly helps locate high numbers of the fish.

“Pikeminnow are easy to catch but hard to find consistently,” Winther said.

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He said the top earner has been fishing for pikeminnow for 25 years and keeps meticulous records on variables like the water temperature, water level, wind and barometric pressure.

Winther said the winner modified his boat by adding night lighting, a solar charger, extra batteries and an electric trolling motor to improve his odds for catching the fish.

The program pays $6 each for the first 25 fish, then $8 for each fish up to 200 and $10 per additional fish. Oregon uses internal tags that are worth $200 to anglers and Washington has $500 external tags on select fish. The top earner did not catch any pikeminnow with the external tags but caught several with the internal tags.

The program’s goal is to remove some of the larger, predator-sized northern pikeminnows each year, but not to eradicate the native species.

Smaller pikeminnows consume fewer salmon and steelhead smolts. During the program’s 35-year history, anglers have removed more than 5.3 million predatory northern pikeminnows, reducing predation on juvenile salmonoids by an estimated 40% compared to pre-program levels.

In 2025, 12,625 anglers registered and turned in an average daily catch per angler of just under 12 pikeminnows.