Uh oh. I'm a specist.

Had to verify that was even a word in the "urban dictionary"

I think pikeminnow deserve special care.

Did you ever notice that when you pull them out of the water, they act like they're gasping for breath? Well, when I took first aid and CPR class, first thing they told me about rescue breathing was to CLEAR THE AIRWAY. So for those poor pikeminnows, I reach into their gills and CLEAR THEIR AIRWAY to help them breathe better. You do this by hooking your finger behind their gills and pulling hard to clear any obstructions. Then you can release them back into the water feeling good about the help you gave them.

Poor things.

I admit to liking bass fishing. I used to get pretty wound up when my buddy would lip smallies and just kind of chuck em back like you see the bubba's on T.V do it. Then about 5 years ago, he caught one about 13 inches that was bleeding pretty bad so he threw it in the cooler ( we always release them ) because he thought it would not live. There was ice in the cooler, and a bunch of cans floating in about 4 inches of water. We get back to his house 3-4 hours later and take the thing out to fillet it, and it was still alive. He took it into his back yard where he has a waterfall deal with a small pond, revived it, and the next day it was swimming in there. 3 years later, it was still there, even though the water pump was turned off in the winters and it would freeze almost solid. He would pick it up a carton of worms or some gold fish now and then, and it was a blast feeding it. It got maybe 16-17 inches long, but one day just disappeared. We like to think he just got sick of us and walked away.

Them things are pretty tough

Sounds like a local eagle ate well one afternoon.

All squawfish are toast if I catch them. I actually target them in the spring/summer on the Chehalis system.They are the demise of many smolts as proven on the Columbia where they have a bounty on them. I wish they had something like that on the Chehalis not for the money, but to get people interested in eliminating them or at least thinning them out. I think it was also a big mistake to introduce walleye into the Columbia.

I know a guy who used to be a squawfish bounty hunter. In the early 90's he said he killed thousands of em and got paid for it.

I don't know the guy that well so I don't know how much BS he was shooting in my direction.

If he did kill thousands of those crappy fish, my hat's off to him.

I usually toss those things up on the bank for the birds.

You would think there should be some form of criminal punishment for that one. "Hmmm, endangered salmon. Let's add another predator into the ecosystem." Does any genuine thought actually occur at government offices?

Unlike the squawfish/pike minnow, at least you can eat the walleye.

For you folks that are throwing fish on the bank. Give a little respect to your fellow fisherman. Youre stinking up the place and attracting pests (bears, scavengers, etc). Take the things home and use them for fertilizer.

The pikeminnow/squawfish reward program is not set up to eliminate the species. Those fish are native to the river system. Man put a big rock in the river and gave the pikeminnow an advantage over the salmon. The intent of the program is lower the numbers and lower the average size. Thus creating more opportunity for the smolt to get down river.

I was only kidding about genocide - I probably "bank" 4 or 5 squawfish/pikeminnow a season. It's a winter only fishery for me and the floods wash the carcasses back into the river and food chain. Good point though about stinking up the place when there are alternatives.