Pikeminnows

Some guys have all the luck. At least that’s Bruce Oliver’s take on the fact that during the months of June and July of this year he caught four tagged northern pikeminnows near the Cathlamet Marina and Elochoman River. The fish were worth $500 each.

“I got $2000 for the four of them,” said Oliver. “That’s a pretty fair chunk of change for a guy just having fun.”

Oliver lives in Arizona but spent many years in Longview. That's how he learned of the Cathlamet marina. He currently keeps a little motorhome at the marina and fishes the Columbia.

“I’ve taken the last three weeks off,” he said smiling, “I’ve made enough money. I’m on vacation.

“Each pikeminnow caught on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, nine inches or larger, is worth from $4-$8.”

The Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program is a part of the Northern Pikeminnow Management Program. The pike minnows eat millions of young salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake Rivers each year.

Oliver said he fishes about 110 days a year for “pikes”. The fish are predators, and researchers believe that reducing their numbers will help strengthen the salmon and steelhead runs.

The northern pike is native to both the upper and lower Columbia River, and Oliver said millions of young salmon survive because of fishermen like him. Fish and Wildlife agrees and estimates that pikeminnow fishermen like Oliver have reduced salmon smolt predation on the Columbia by 37 percent. In 2008, nearly 160,000 northern pikeminnow were caught.

“We're not trying to eliminate northern pikeminnow,” said Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife fish biologist Eric Winther, “What we're trying to do is reduce the average size. The smaller pikeminnow eats fewer salmon smolt, which in turn reduces salmon predation.”

Fish and Wildlife research indicates the pikeminnow program is successful. The statistics show that since 1990 over 3.3 million northern pikeminnow have been removed from the Snake and Columbia rivers as a result of the sport reward program.

Oliver said he makes over $100 a day catching the pikes and and that he’s a good fisherman.

“There’s no secret to this, and it may sound egotistical as hell, but I spend a lot of time thinking about what I’m doing,” he said.

Oliver doesn’t just go out on the river and throw some bait in the water. Oliver said he has studied the river and the fish and tries to be in the right place at the right time.

“You have to consider different things like tides, water temperature and the sun,” he said.

“This is my seventh year fishing Cathlamet and I have a pretty good sense of where the fish will be. On an incoming tide, late in the summer, I have places I go to, that I’ve found and know will have fish during that time of the year.”

Oliver said he’s not giving his secret fishing spots away but the bait he uses is no secret. “I use crawdad tails and worms for the most part. I won’t use chicken livers because if that rod goes “tap,” “tap” the fish just took your bait, and I hate that.”

He also has to deal with the competition, which can be frustrating at times. Oliver said it’s gotten to the point that some of the regular pikeminnow fishermen now follow him around.

“There is this one guy that makes his living following me around and he wouldn’t know a good fishing hole if he found it,” he said.

“You know luck has a lot to do with catching four tagged pikeminnows. You have to put yourself in the position to be lucky.”

The pikeminnow is the largest member of the minnow family native to the Pacific slope of western North America. Formerly known as "northern squawfish," the name was changed to northern pikeminnow by the American Fisheries Society in 1998.

Pikeminnows have long snouts and large mouths that extend back under the eye. Their bodies are dark or dusky green above and silvery or creamy white below, with clear fins.

The pikes caught don’t go to waste. Fish and Wildlife collects the fish carcasses and has them turned into liquid organic fertilizer for agriculture and fishmeal for poultry and dairy cattle feed.

By Stevan Morgain

Leather ripped apart and rubber-soled shoes screeched across the pavement in downtown Cathlamet Saturday and Sunday when internationally sanctioned longboard racers took over the town and slid, crawled and dodged their way down the town's steep streets.

The two-day professional longboard competition began calmly enough on Saturday at the Stockhouse Farm on Puget Island. The sedate, long and lonely distance skaters didn’t really prepare the few spectators that hung out at the finish line for what was in store later in the weekend.

Organizer Judy Edmondson said the 7.5-mile race, called a “push race,” around Puget Island had drawn about 20 amateur and pro-board racers by starting time.

The skaters began arriving at the Stockhouse Farm with skateboards tucked under their arms. In singles and pairs they registered for the event, then set about renewing old acquaintances.

Edmondson said the idea for the race came from her son Addison Fox, age 14 years.

“Addison has wanted to do a push-race on Puget Island for some time,” said Edmondson. “His grandfather lives out here and thought it would be a great place for him to have the race.”

Edmondson said at first she told Addison “no” because Puget Island was too far a distance for the skateboarders to have to drive for “just a push-race.” They needed more of a reason.

Then Edmondson said one day Addison caught her in the right mood and she said, “Okay, lets do it!”

“So we brainstormed on ways to make it happen,” Edmondson said, “and we thought if we had a benefit attached to it we might get more people to come out.”

Edmondson said her father, Cameron Edmondson, had mentioned that the Wahkiakum Family Practice Clinic might be shutting its doors for lack of money and so she thought it would be a good cause to support.

“We thought we’d try and generate some interest that way but we also thought if we had a broader range of events we’d bring more people in,” said Edmondson.

She said during the discussion with Addison and her father, Addison took off to see how long it would take him to skate around Puget Island on his board. “By the time he got back, my father and I had turned one event into a weekend-long, three-race event,” said Edmondson.

She said that after a little research, her father put her in touch with the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce, which agreed to be the local sponsor. The Cathlamet Town Council also agreed to let the skating association close River Street on Saturday and other streets intermittently on Sunday for the downhill race down Columbia onto Broadway.

Edmondson said the Chamber and Town Council were very supportive and liked that all the proceeds from the event would go to help keep the clinic’s doors open - and bring a lot of people to Cathlamet.

After the push race on Puget Island racers moved to River Street for the next phase of racing. Called Tight Slalom racing, the challenge matched racers against the clock as they navigated a string of obstacle cones that were set up on a downhill course along the middle of River Street.

Surprisingly, the average age for open style Tight Slalom longboard racing is 40 years old.

“I started racing in the 1970’s,” said John Stryker, 46, “and I’ve never thought of stopping.”

Brad Hackman, 46, is still at the top of his game. Short, stocky, fast and tattooed Hackman is the 2007 downhill Tight Slalom world champion. His movements are quick, fluid and show an economy of controlled motion as he kicks it through the slalom cones heading downhill. “I do this for fun,” said Hackman.”

Sunday was a great day for what came next - a “festival of speed.”

Professional longboard racing stems from the skateboarding craze developed in the 1960’s. The speeds, however, are new. During Sunday’s race down Columbia and Broadway, the board racers were reaching speeds of 35-40 mph, with their bodies poised just a few inches above the asphalt.

The streets of Cathlamet were lined with spectators. Onlookers stood behind bales of hay as the first longboard speedsters took the turn from Columbia to Broadway and immediately slammed into the hay bales.

The races continued for several hours as one racer after another was eliminated. The crowd groaned each time skaters slid on their bottoms, or tumbled head-over-skateboard into the hay.

Canadian Patrick Switzer won the $500 prize.

“I love it,” said Switzer. “It was a good race and $500 is something to race for.”