Development of a System-Wide Predator Control Program: Stepwise Implementation of a Predation Index, Predator Control Fisheries, and Evaluation Plan in the Columbia River Basin; Northern Pikeminnow Management Program, 2001 Annual Report.

Controlled angling for northern pikeminnow Ptychocheilus oregonensis (NPm) was conducted at Bonneville, The Dalles, John Day, and McNary dams on the lower Columbia River during the months of June through October 1999. Methods were the same as used in previous years: crews were encouraged to innovate and to fish the hours, sites, and baits that were most effective. Boat angling was tried only at McNary Dam. A total of 3,737 predator-sized NPm were caught in 3,206 hours of angling at all four dams, producing a catch-per-angler-hour (CPAH) of 1.2. Although results overall were comparable to those in 1998, catch at Bonneville Dam increased 2.3-fold (CPAH was unchanged at 1.5), where 1,926 NPm (51.5% of the total) were caught. Success rates (CPAH) ranged from 1.5 at Bonneville down to 0.7 at McNary. Boat angling was less successful than angling from the dam itself at McNary. Incidental species composed 3.5% of the total catch at all dams and 12.9% of the catch at The Dalles, where bass Micropterus sp. were relatively abundant. Only two salmonids – one adult and one juvenile – were caught, both at Bonneville.