I posted this on the Chehalis river thread, but thought I would start one about bait for squawfish.
I have found that squawfish will fight to get at pieces of salmon sperm sac. It is hard to keep on the hook, but they bite it so fast that it doesn't seem to matter. If there is a better bait, I would be surprised.

In fact I have some vacuum sealed in my freezer now. My wife thinks it is strange but I was going to participate in the Columbia bounty they have for pikeminnows, but never have.

old cured eggs work well.

Hey, just like ColeyG!

i have never heard of this theory. it must be a great secret or a total gag. i what i do know about the squaw fish, they school up in big schools. if you catch five quickly your on a hotbed of them buggers. squaw don't seem to be picky. however the guys who make 15.000$ seem to have it down on what they really love. spawn sack strips huh... my guess would a 4" strip with a 2 hook hook leader.

I along with my kids have made enough money in the past to buy two cars (used) for their use. We would use nightcrawlers first, once we caught the first squaw that was to small we cut it into strips keeping the skin on...hook that strip with a worm hook and backbounce it behind the boat...chaching...and because you hooked it through the skin the bait usually catches multiple fish.

I'm always tempted to just go fish the buggers full time.


JimB

I know that when I fished Ozette I couldn't help but catch them on everything. Never known them to be very picky.

Night crawlers, old eggs, ancient powerbait, cut up chub/squawfish.

Are they native to any westside rivers/lakes or all escaped bait?

It is not a gag. Sperm sac baits work better than anything I have ever tried. I used to fish for them as a boy all summer long between Centralia and Galvin. I could catch them on other baits, but never like they go after sperm sac baits. I only discovered sperm sacs recently. (For bait that is)

The second best thing I found was a treble hook in the back of a small shiner or squawfish about 2 feet below a bobber. They seem to eat their own kind quite readily. I read today that you may not use live bait to fish for game fish. Is a squawfish a game fish? Is it legal to use live bait for them?

Someone mentioned earlier that they school. I wonder if the old crappie trick of catching one and hooking a balloon on a line would allow you to follow a school around and stay with them.

Stop the presses. I just read that a northern pikeminnow IS a game fish. How stupid is that?

I also did real well in a deep very slow hole on the Newaukum in July by poking a bunch of holes in a can of oil based tuna then going back later with the anchovies.Game fish? Give me a break.I wonder who ever ate one ? I remember a time up on Mayfield Lake at the launch when we were taking out and some people were talking about a squawfish a kid had caught and they were trying to identify. One guy insisted it was a "golden trout". I told them it was a northern pikeminnow better known as a squawfish. The dad wanted to know if you could eat it. I said "you could eat a turd,probably be about the same". He got pissed off for some reason. Go figure!

When i targeted squawfish in my earlier years, I would readily catch them on nightcrawlers the best, Also try fishing 5" Brown colored Kalin's Grubs, Panther martin spinners, silver blade/yellow body. Also Yellow Sonic Rooster tails will work too.

Why would you waste perfectly good eats on bait? And for squawfish, no less?


click here

OK there's one of those milt threads on this board as well, but for the life of me, I just couldn't find it.

Ronnie -
If pikeminnows, suckers, sunfish etc were not classified as game fish it would nto be legal to fish for them. Just the way the laws work.

What you have been (and was ) silly is paying a bounty on a fish that was not legal to catch.

Tight lines
Curt

Ahhh, nothing like washing down some milt sacs with a Pabst Blue Ribbon!

FNP:

Want me to start keeping the "good eats" I find around the boat launches???? Could make a special trip in from CP, just to drop them off.....


Kidding aside.......pieces of prawn work very well....and they stay on the hook better than some of the other baits mentioned. I enjoy giving them a "love tap" around the head and send them down the river for "eagle or osprey" food.......

How about a nice milt shake? I dont get the opportunity very often cause I only seem to catch them on an a small and very popular SW Wash river but whenever we catch them we give them the Lou Cabraci treatment but instead of sleeping with the fishes, they get to sleep with the squirels.

Where is BlueJay when you need him? You know that guy has all the subtleties of this down! I bet he could really put on a clinic when it comes to eating jizz sacs. I believe he once said "chum cum is good to the last drop". I know he is looking forward to trying milt from other salmon species but he is still waiting to catch one.

Kaiser thats not very nice, bluegay would be hurt if he read that.

Found it....

PP milt thread

The banter on this topic at PP was WAY funnier than at Ifish.

Now if I can just find that hilarious RvW pic.....

huh? salmon, sturgeon, carp and shad are not classified as game fish.

i catch monsters pikeminnows in the chehalis. hooked one sturgeon fishin the other night that went apeshit, 22 inches long.