Pikeminnow Bounty Still Available

Fishermen angling for northern pikeminnows to help salmon recovery efforts will have more federal cash to put in their pockets.

Northern pikeminnows devour millions of salmon smolts each year. Biologists believe reducing their number can increase the number of juvenile salmon migrating to the ocean.

An international committee of fish experts last year agreed to change the common name of the bony, bait-stealing squawfish to pikeminnow, to avoid use of “squaw,” a term that offended many American Indian women.

The pikeminnow season opened this week. For every one 11 inches or longer returned to a registration station, anglers will receive $4 to $6. The more the individual catches in a season, the more they are worth.

The first 100 bring in $4 each; after 100, they are worth $5; and after 400, they bring in $6 each. Before, they went for $3 to $5.

Special tagged pikeminnows will be worth $50 again this year.

The Bonneville Power Administration and the region’s electrical ratepayers sponsor the pikeminnow management program to enhance fish and wildlife affected by hydropower dams.

The season runs through Sept. 26. Northern pikeminnows may be caught along the mainstem lower Columbia River up to Priest Rapids Dam in Washington and in the Snake River up to Hells Canyon Dam in Idaho.

Idaho expands shot choices

Idaho waterfowl hunters will enjoy more choices in the shot they fling at ducks and geese this fall.

For several years after lead shot was banned from waterfowl hunting in the country, the only legally approved material was soft iron, commonly called steel shot. Lead shot was poisoning eagles and other predators eating waterfowl hit with the pellets.

Many hunters disliked the steel shot’s performance and others objected because they no longer could use some favorite old guns with barrels subject to damage from the harder shot.

Shotshell manufacturers have been busy recently working on different materials that will satisfy both hunters’ demands and the federal non-toxic requirement.

For the upcoming season, steel and bismuth-tin shot varieties have been approved by the Fish and Game Commission. Tungsten-iron and tungsten-polymer also have been approved.

Temporary approval is expected for tungsten-matrix shot and tin shot.

Big-game raffle under way

Tickets for chances to participate in special-permit, big-game hunts are on sale at Washington Fish and Wildlife Department offices.

Besides offering winners additional big-game hunting opportunities, the raffle raises revenues for management of big-game species, officials said.

Raffle tickets are $5, except bighorn sheep tickets, which are $10. Tickets must be purchased by July 23. Winning tickets will be drawn Aug. 13 in Olympia.

One winner will be chosen for each of the following hunts: buck deer, bull elk, moose and bighorn sheep.

Winners of the deer and elk hunts will be allowed to hunt in any open unit except Private Lands Wildlife Management Areas and Game Management units 157 and 485. Those winners may purchase a second tag and can hunt in all user-group seasons with appropriate equipment.

The winner of the bighorn sheep hunt will be allowed to hunt in most of the open bighorn units in common with regular permit hunters.

The moose raffle winner will be able to hunt in any moose unit during the general season from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30.

For more information call (360) 902-2464.

Montana limits fish guides

The Montana Legislature has approved a law that limits weekend use of parts of the Beaverhead and Big Hole rivers by commercial outfitters during the summer.

The law also caps annual outfitter launches at 1998 levels. The law was a product of two years of work of area outfitters, conservationists and landowners. The bill was considered a stopgap measure to slow growth of outfitted use on the rivers until a recreational plan can be developed.

Idaho commission to meet

Discussion of new hunting and fishing license fee proposals is on the agenda for the Idaho Fish and Game Commission meeting today and Thursday at the Burley Inn in Burley.

Other agenda items include setting seasons and limits for sandhill crane, early Canada goose hunts and approval of a budget for fiscal year 2000.

The Idaho Fish and Game Department has proposed more permits and a larger hunting area for the crane hunts.

CASHING IN DERBY WINNERS SCORE Shane Rasmussen apparently will receive $5,000 in cash Saturday evening in Sandpoint for placing first in the adult rainbow division of the Spring Challenge Derby at Lake Pend Oreille. His rainbow weighed 20 pounds, 5 ounces and was 33 inches long. Another angler, Norm Nordstrom, caught a rainbow that weighed the same and was 2-3/4 inches longer. Under the rules, when two anglers catch fish that are the same weight, the first one registered gets the first prize. So, even though Nordstrom’s fish was longer than the Rasmussen’s, the $5,000 will go to Rasmussen. Kurt Artner gets $5,000 for catching the biggest mackinaw trout. He caught his 25-pound, 7-ounce mack Friday. Most of the biggest mackinaws caught in the derby were taken Friday. Mark Wenig’s 19-pound, 7-ounce fish placed second and Lynn Reese’s 18-pound, 8-ouncer was third. Nordstrom gets second place in the rainbow division. Shawn Bongers placed third with an 18-pound, 15-ounce fish.