phillk6751

It's in today's "Readers take the bait on issue of deteriorating rivers"(Andy Parker, Clackamas County Weekly, pg 3).

The article discusses how the salmon runs in the river are deteriorating due to a few factors:

-Overfishing of the Salmon in the Tualatin in history
-Tualatin river being above Willamette Falls.
-Floods pulling waste in from flooded homes (i.e. 1996 flood)

He also goes to mention the Clackamas River and how unruly kids are ruining it by dumping trash (esp. Empty beer cans) in/around the Barton Park area.

The one thing I'd like to discuss that he didn't cover is the problem of Northern Pikeminnow. I'm not sure how much they actually factor into this equation, but a few years ago I was an avid fisher on the Tualatin, doing a lot of C&R and bonking the Pikeminnow and throwing them on shore. The reason I believe they are a problem is due to their numbers. I rarely caught any other species on the Tualatin. I'd say Pikeminnow to Bass ratio of my catching was 30-40:1. When I was night fishing the tualatin the Yellow Bullhead Catfish were still outnumbered by the Pikeminnow close to 8-10:1.

I'm curious, if this really is a problem, what can we do to fix it? I'm amazed at the lack of knowledge by other people that used to come down to fish or whatnot on the Tualatin. I saw a mother and her daughter release a crawfish from the Tualatin Crawfish Festival, into the Tualatin (and if you've seen how gross the crawfish in the Tualatin are, you'd understand that wasn't helping anything). I also have noticed a few people didn't even know about the Pikeminnow and what they do, who of which probably C&R them not knowing how much of a problem they are for Salmon.

I too see the litterbugs being a problem, I see way too often people throwing cigarrette butts into the river, and trash. I don't really say anything because I'm a shyer person, but It'd be nice to see the river cleaned up so that the numbers return and people can enjoy the fishing in the Tualatin as well.

chris61182

Just keep in mind that the pikeminnow are native to the rivers around here. And the reason there is a bounty on them in the Columbia is that apparently the dams stun the salmon smolts making them easy prey for the pikeminnow waiting below.

But until the introduction of the warmwater species I would imagine the pikeminnow were basically your apex predator in the low lying water ways, while the non-migratory trout dominated the clear water closer to the mountains.

dwelz

............cigarette butts? i think that was just an attack on smokers.... t(-_-t)

joro79

Hey Guys,
I read how bad those pikeminnow fish are but I would love to catch some. I saw some pictures on the off and it seems they can get pretty big. Where should I go fish for them and what should I use for bait? I live in Hillsboro and I would like to fish in a 30 min drive area.
You know what I always thought that is a bad fish - Bluegill. But apperantly it is not such a big problem here.

phillk6751

haha, I am a smoker....but if i smoke on the river, i at least put it out in the dirt or on the dock....and put the butt in my tackle box to throw in the trash.

dwelz

hahaha im just messin around.i do the same thing.usualy my back pocket until i get to a trash can.