‘Michael Jordan’ of bounty fishing earned $159K in WA and OR

One Pacific Northwest man earned $159,310 for spending the summer fishing from his boat and turning in his catch to a Washington and Oregon bounty program.

It was the second highest amount ever paid to a participant in the seasonal Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program, coming close to the record of just over $164,000 paid to a single angler last year.

He’s the Michael Jordan of pikeminnow fishing, said Eric Winther program manager with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The top earner for 2025 caught 15,715 pikeminnows, while the top 20 earners averaged 4,131 fish each and reward payments of $41,723.

The Bonneville Power Association pays the bounties to help offset the impact of hydroelectric dams on salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers.

Pikeminnows are voracious eaters of juvenile salmon and steelhead, eating millions in the Columbia and Snake rivers each year. How he earned top bounty

The rewards program does not reveal the names of its top annual earners, but Winther shared some of the techniques of 2025’s leader.

For starters, he works hard at catching pikeminnows.

He spends a lot of time fishing, living on his boat for the five months of the season, Winther said.

Having a boat is not necessary to participate in the program, but it helps to locate the high numbers of pikeminnows needed to bring home big reward money.

“Pikeminnow are easy to catch but hard to find consistently,” Winther said.

The top earner has been fishing for pikeminnow for 25 years and keeping meticulous records on variables like the water temperature, water level, wind and barometric pressure.

He’s a pipefitter by trade and has modified his boat to be the Batmobile of pikeminnow fishing, Winther said.

Improvements include night lighting, a solar charger, extra batteries and an electric trolling motor to save the time required to use an anchor.

Sunrise, sunset and night are generally the best fishing times. 5.3M pikeminnow gone

The program pays $6 for the first 25 fish, then $8 for each fish up to 200 and $10 per fish after that.

Oregon uses internal tags that are worth $200 to anglers and Washington has $500 external tags on select fish. The top earner did not catch any pikeminnow with the external tab, but caught several with the internal tabs.

The season is generally open May through September.

But in some sites it opens a week or two earlier to allow anglers to follow the pikeminnows that are following the spring salmon smelt.

Near the Tri-Cities, early spring fishing can be particularly good near the mouth of the Yakima River before the runoff hits. Bateman Island has been a popular spot to drop a line.

Pikeminnows also congregate in the spring downstream from dams, including Ice Harbor Dam near the Tri-Cities, for a few days to weeks to feed on smolts that may linger after clearing the dam.

Rewards are only given for pikeminnows over 9 inches. The goal is not to eradicate northern pikeminnows, which are native to the Northwest, but to remove some of the larger, predator-sized northern pikeminnows each year. That helps shift the population toward smaller pikeminnows, which consume fewer salmon and steelhead smolts.

More than 5.3 million predatory northern pikeminnows have been removed in the program’s 35-year history, with predation on juvenile salmonoids decreasing by an estimated 40% compared to pre-program levels.

In 2025, 12,625 anglers registered and turned in an average daily catch per angler of just under 12 pikeminnows.

Winther is expecting a good season this year, because water levels in the rivers may be low.

Officials with the pikeminnow reward program will have a booth at the Tri-Cities Sportsmen Show Jan. 23-35 at the HAPO Center in Pasco and also will hold seminars at the event.

You can also learn more about the program, including rules and regulations, season dates, station times and fishing tips at pikeminnow.org.