Monday August 3, 2026
Active NorCal —
The Eel River Pikeminnow Fishing Derby is back for its third year, offering $5,000 in total cash and prizes to anyone willing to help thin out one of the watershed’s most destructive invaders.
Anyone with a valid California fishing license can enter for free between July 1 and August 31, and anglers under 16 don’t need a license at all. Individual prizes run up to $800.
The target is the Sacramento pikeminnow, a fish that doesn’t belong in the Eel River. The species was introduced through Pillsbury Reservoir in the late 1970s and has since spread into every fork of the river. Prolific and wide-ranging, pikeminnow prey on native salmonids and lamprey while competing with them for resources, adding another obstacle to recovery in a watershed already battered by historic overfishing, damaging logging practices, and habitat loss.