Wednesday August 6, 2025
Redwood News —
All in an effort to assist in the health of the Eel River, there’s still time to participate in the Pikeminnow Fishing Derby!
In the 1970’s, a small group of Sacramento Pikeminnow were introduced to Lake Pilsbury, assumed to be bait fish. From there, the initial population made their way into the Eel River, exploding in population. Now considered an invasive species, the Sacramento Pikeminnow poses a threat towards native fish populations of the Eel River. Various methods have been conducted to help decrease Pikeminnow numbers, but now the TRIB Research and Cal Trout organizations are calling upon local anglers to take to the banks of the Eel River for the second year in a row.
Gabe Rossi, a research scientist in UC Berkeley’s Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, has been working with Cal Trout in monitoring this year’s event. Also assisted in research done by the Wiyot Tribe, Rossi went on to further explain why the Pikeminnow Derby is being conducted.
“The situation now is, because our salmon populations are so depressed or so depleted, and then we introduced this fish that can eat baby salmon, alter their behavior, and compete for resources, that you have multiple stressors that are preventing the recovery of salmon. So our goal here is to reduce the pikeminnow population as much as possible while the salmon population recovers,” Rossi said.
“And hopefully they can then re equilibrate at a population abundance that is more favorable to native fish, which are so important obviously economically, but culturally. For the people that live here, obviously the indigenous people and everyone, salmon are iconic animals. They’re animals that matter deeply to us as people. And so they’re native to this place and we want them to recover.”
Though the event began on July 1st, there’s still plenty of time to participate as the final day to fish is on August 31st. There’s also about $2,500 on the line in cash prizes for those who catch the biggest fish, the most fish over twelve inches, and the most fish overall. Once caught, Pikeminnow can make for surprisingly good eating, as well as fish emulsion.
Participants must follow all California Department of Fish & Wildlife regulations.
For more information on this year’s Pikeminnow Fishing Derby, you can visit Cal Trout’s website or the Trib Research website.