Northern Pikeminnow

For bait fishing, use worms (most common), chicken liver (kept cold and fresh), cut-bait strips, fish entrails, fried chicken skin, salmon e.g.gs, crayfish tails, or shrimp. For lures, choose lipless crank baits with rattles or diving crank baits that reach bottom, preferring colors with blue, green, or black backs.

Prime fishing season runs May through September, with peak success in late June and again in late September-early October as water temperatures increase.

Employ three primary techniques: plunking with just enough weight to hold position against current, back-bouncing by lifting bait 1-2 feet and letting it drift with current, or drift-fishing using steelhead techniques. When trolling, use walleye techniques at 2-3 mph downstream over bars, ridges, and island ledges.

Their diet varies dramatically with age - juveniles feed extensively on macroinvertebrates and small fish, while adults become aggressive predators consuming salmonids, sculpins, perch, suckers, crayfish, and freshwater clams.

Found throughout Oregon's Columbia River basin, including the Willamette and Deschutes Rivers. They occupy diverse habitats from deep river channels to slow water sloughs, river shorelines, and tributaries.