Let’s watch Chef Taku clean one of these ugly-ass fish and make a delicious pita wrap out of it! His cookbook looks pretty cool, BTW.

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Press release from CalTrout:

“Go get ‘em!”

The Eel River Pikeminnow Fishing Derby is back again, after over 500 fish were caught in the 2024 derby. The derby is put on by a collaboration of groups working to restore native fishes in the Eel River. 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 $500, with $2,500 in cash prizes! There is no entry fee. Data from your catches can help managers aid in the conservation of our native fishes.

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 and have been found to consume native salmonids and lamprey among other fishes in the Eel River. In 2018, The Wiyot Tribe and Stillwater Sciences began a focused effort to monitor the pikeminnow population in the South Fork Eel and develop a better understanding of their prey through diet analysis. 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 better understand pikeminnow in the Eel River. 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 affecting the Eel River such as historic overfishing, logging practices, habitat loss, and impacts from climate change, pikeminnow can have a significant effect on native fish populations.

The waters open to fishing for the derby are: the South Fork Eel River downstream of the Humboldt County line to the confluence with the mainstem, the mainstem Eel from Dos Rios to the mouth of the Van Duzen, and the Van Duzen from Grizzly Creek to the mouth of the Van Duzen.

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 this link.