Press release from TRIB Research: 

“If you can’t beat ‘em, eat ‘em”

The Eel River pikeminnow fishing derby is back. The derby is being put on by a collaboration of groups working to restore native fishes in the Eel River, in part by eradicating invasive Sacramento Pikeminnow. We need your help to remove more pikeminnow this summer! From now through August 31st, anyone with a fishing license (or if under 16 years of age, no license is necessary) can go and catch pikeminnow on the Eel for a chance to win up to $400 in cash prizes and do your part to remove these non-native piscivorous (fish-eating) predators.

Pikeminnow were introduced to the Eel River via Pillsbury Reservoir in the late 1970’s. Since then, they have spread to all the forks of the Eel and are remarkably prolific. They make seasonal migrations within freshwater, based on water temperature, prey availability and spawning preferences. In 2018, The Wiyot Tribe and Stillwater Sciences began a focused effort to monitor the pikeminnow population in the South Fork Eel, develop a better understanding of their prey through diet analysis, and test suppression methods. Since then, the collaboration has grown to include CalTrout, UC Berkeley, the Bureau of Land Management, California Department of Fish and Wildlife and TRIB Research, all working together to determine best practices for pikeminnow removal. A recent method has been to install a channel-spanning weir to limit pikeminnow migration into the upper South Fork Eel. On top of the other factors negatively affecting the Eel River such as historic overfishing and logging practices, habitat loss, and impacts from climate change, pikeminnow now have a significant effect on native Pacific Lamprey, coho salmon, Chinook salmon, steelhead and Sacramento Suckers.

The waters open to fishing for the derby are from the mouth of the Van Duzen to the South Fork confluence on the mainstem Eel, and from the mouth of the South Fork to the Humboldt County line (near Piercy) on the South Fork Eel. All current fishing regulations for the Eel River apply for the derby (including no bait, barbless artificial lures only). The prize categories are for most pikeminnow (greater than 6 inches or greater than 12 inches) caught during the contest, biggest fish caught and a drawing for anyone who enters a fish. 

We recommend eating your pikeminnow in the form of fried fish cakes, fish balls in noodle soup, fish tacos or smoking them. Don’t believe the common misconception that pikeminnow are inedible. They are delicious, they just need extra care to deal with the y-bones.

For more details on how to enter the derby visit https://tribresearch.org/pikeminnow/