Pike minnow

Article in the Ukiah newspaper about a tournament targeting squawfish at Lake Pillsbury July 15th with cash prizes. The article in the newspaper was quite educational as it explained how a release of Pike minnows in Lake Pillsbury helped to destroy the salmon and steelhead runs on the Eel River and the Russian River.
       If somebody knows how to put the link up so people could read it I'd be grateful as I don't yet know how to do that. I believe the accidental release happened sooner than the article stated as I remembered catching one in the Russian River Slightly North of Cloverdale in 1974 or 75 and it was probably 16 inches in length. Still remember how it slammed a small two or two and a half inch split lure there resembled a young salmon or steelhead in the Dead Heat Of Summer.
        I also remember catching a couple above the Healdsburg Memorial Dam in the mid-90s probably about 12 to 16 in inches with my son as he enjoyed catching the suckers with worms and releasing them. The last one I caught probably 2006 on the Russian River near Forestville and weighed about five or six pounds is straight up salmon and steelhead gobbling machine.
           None of these fish ever made it back into the river and I know I shouldn't even State this because I could have been cited for wanton waste. I lived with the Russian River in my backyard in Redwood Valley and just over the top of the hill was tomki Creek a tributary of the eel river maybe a six or seven Mile Drive from my home.
         Redwood Valley Fork of the Russian River still had a run of salmon and steelhead in 1976 though not as big as the locals described it 10 or 20 years earlier. Over the top of the hill on the Eel River still had some pretty darn good sized runs but from what I understand not any longer and I watch those spawning fish declined so drastically and fast it wasn't even fun to go up there and watch them anymore.
         After reading the article in the newspaper I thought I'd research on how big a squawfish could get and I came across this video on YouTube which I don't know how to post a link either if anybody's willing to help me out I'd be grateful again if you posted the link so people can watch. It was a YouTube post by Scott Higgins fishing called Russian River California Pike minnow and it was released in 2022.
            He released his fish back into the river and they were pretty good sized so if we can get that video on here to show people what kind of fish we don't want in the river and how to identify the pike minnow people just might start throwing them up on the bank hopefully.

Was just fishing the Eel river a couple of weeks ago and couldn't not catch Pike minnows. They were slamming my Fishing Armory .22 spinner lures. Up to 18" long. In total my buddy and I caught over 20 in a morning of fishing. Great fighting fish but we were looking for Rainbows, Caught some nice rainbows as well. Was all excited to catch some nice rainbows and forgot to measure and sent picks for AOTY....

Sacramento pikeminnow are a NATIVE fish in the Russian River, but are invasive in the Eel and Columbia River systems. 

Squawfish should be released.  After removing there gills.

My buddy said it makes a mean clay pot, minus the bones. Tastes better than bass apparently.

For those of you concerned about such things, they are generally listed as a "do not eat" fish due to high mercury content. Specifically Lake Pillsbury does list them as a "do not eat" for everyone. Bummer because they have been a source of food for human here for thousands of years.
https://oehha.ca.gov/advisories/lake-pillsbury

Sacramento pikeminnow are a NATIVE fish in the Russian River, but are invasive in the Eel and Columbia River systems.

Columbia River supports the Northern pikeminnow, a different species of pikeminnow that are native to the Columbia and its tributaries. They're not an invasive species in the Columbia. However, their numbers are inflated above their historic abundance due to all the dams on the Columbia. The dams provide slow, warm water for pikeminnow to thrive, and funnel outmigrating salmon smolts below the dams to make for easy pickings.

Bonneville Power Administration funds a bounty program on the Columbia that pays anglers to catch and kill Northern pikeminnow to reduce predation on salmonids. The program's effectiveness is questionable at best, as it doesn't address the root cause of the pikeminnow's increased abundance: the dams.

Sacramento pikeminnow are a NATIVE fish in the Russian River, but are invasive in the Eel and Columbia River systems.

Columbia River supports the Northern pikeminnow, a different species of pikeminnow that are native to the Columbia and its tributaries. They're not an invasive species in the Columbia. However, their numbers are inflated above their historic abundance due to all the dams on the Columbia. The dams provide slow, warm water for pikeminnow to thrive, and funnel outmigrating salmon smolts below the dams to make for easy pickings.

Bonneville Power Administration funds a bounty program on the Columbia that pays anglers to catch and kill Northern pikeminnow to reduce predation on salmonids. The program's effectiveness is questionable at best, as it doesn't address the root cause of the pikeminnow's increased abundance: the dams.

You are correct sir!

Tuoulmne River  - Sacramento pikeminnow - you just can't hate on a native salmon muncher when we have soooooo many nonnative salmon munchers.

Tuoulmne River  - Sacramento pikeminnow - you just can't hate on a native salmon muncher when we have soooooo many nonnative salmon munchers.

But the non-native salmon munchers (stripers) are better eating.
Pikeminnows are fun to catch.

Woah those pikeminnows don't have teeth like a pike do they?

Sacto pike minnows are in the carp/goldfish family. No teeth to speak of. I caught them in Stony Creek near Stonyford on a #2 Mepps in 1975, do they’ve been in the Pillsbury area a long time. The fo fight really well for about 30 seconds then give up the game.

Growing up in Ukiah, back in my high school days. My brother, friend and I would fish squawk fish for $$. We would go to Longs Drugs and pull money out of a bag so we could get money for beer and chew. 😆

Well first off, these are now termed "Sacramento Pike Fish" if you wish not to offend the Native America Pomo community up here. Not trying to scold you just inform. Similarly, Squaw Rock along 101 is now called "Frog Woman Rock" and recently received a bronze plaque explaining the story.

Again, just informing you.

So same story I have heard. As the story goes, these Squawfish, or Pike Minnow, were introduced to the Eel system by some hillbillies fishin' live bait. Some say at Lake Pilsubury and some say they were brought over from Clear Lake.

   

https://kymkemp.com/2019/04/11/the-eel-river-forum-took-a-detailed-look-at-pikeminnow-at-their-march-meeting/

However, I would say they are in great abundance in the South Fork Eel. Eel River Recovery guys are doing a dive to make a count as we speak.


Anyway Pikes on the South Fork Eel are kind of a hot fishery in the dinker category. Id say 8" and under is red hot fishing on tiny Panther Marintins or Rooster Tails (with a single barbless of course). In pools above and below Standish Hickey you can find trophy fishing in that size range. Its actually a great time if you have young ones that can cast on super light 4 or 6lb line- non stop action!

The big ones, say 12 to 16" are super red hot but they are quite smart and difficult to catch. Id say they rival or even surpass a rainbow. They will cruise around in glassy, shallow flats in groups of 5 or 7 like a fleet of Star Destroyers but they are tough catch. Take a dive in the deep pool at Standish Hickey and you will see some big ones. They are really the hottest bite in the south fork Eel in the summer if you can catch them. The south fork is generally way too warm for trout or steelhead holdovers in the summer except for a few spots that have a cold confluence with a local creek.

Whats interesting is that if you hook a 6 incher and fight it, often a hog Pike will shoot out of the fern like plants and go for the 6 incher on the hook- but hooking the big guy is another story. Ive heard stories of locals using every trick in the book; lures, flys, and illegal stuff like salmon eggs, and live bait like worms, crayfish, and roach fish, etc to catch them but they still wont take it. Ive caught a few big ones on the smallest rattling Rappals here and there though. Ive even used f4lb fluorocarbon on the big ones with no luck- although Ive heard fluorocarbon is only for salt water??

Anyway, go ultra-light and you'll have a blast on the tiny ones.

Interesting fact about pikeminnow: when spooked or injured, they release a chemical substance through their skin called "schreckstoff", aka "fright substance". This chemical alerts the fish's buddies to nearby danger.

The "fright substance" release can make fishing for pikeminnow pretty challenging. Growing up, my brother and I would fish for large Sacramento pikeminnow when they ran up small rivers that fed reservoirs. All the pikeminnow were in the 18-30" class, and some pools would be filled with them. First cast with a fluke or minnow plug would almost always get blasted by a pikeminnow. However, if you hooked the fish upstream of the rest of the school, you'd rarely get another pikeminnow to bite. The hooked pikeminnow released "fright substance", and it'd shut down the rest of the school.

We learned to fish the pools starting at the pool tail: hook a fish at the downstream end of the school, and work him downstream and away from the school as quickly as possible. This strategy allowed us to land a handful of fish before the school shut off. If salmon and trout released "fright substance", fishing for them would be a whole other ballgame!

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fish-schreckstoff/