bass are my primary target.  LMB, Smallmouth, Spots, if I had to list them.  

I am catching lots of Pike Minnow these days.   and I love it.  so fun.  it is usually obvious what just bit my bait.  the Pike Minnow hits harder with a sharp rap.  like it came running at it full speed.  and sometimes it is two raps.  I think it misses the first hit and it comes around for a new try..or there is a second fish following up right behind it.  (watched this happen today).  a lady called out from her pontoon boat..."yuck..trash fish!"..I didnt pay attention to her, because this particular pike-M had gotten off the hook and was on the deck of my kayak thrashing like a Halibut.  it was hitting my legs with power!!  I was giggling with fun/joy.  I scoop him out and look at the slimed boat..

 

I cast out, hoping to nab the buddy.   what a cool fish!!!

 

now if I could only catch one of those 3 feet long carp!!

I enjoy catching pikieminnows up here too. All the salmon and steelhead guys hate on me for releasing them but they are a native fish and fun to catch. I have caught several 4 pounders and they hit like freight trains and fight hard. 

 

Is there a bounty paid on pikeminnows where you are? Don’t they pay out $6 a fish with more paid as the number you catch goes up? I read that in 2024, an angler made over $164,000 for catching them. They eat millions of salmon eggs and they are trying to reduce their numbers by 10-20%.

We call Pike Minnows Squaw fish and they can get over 3’ long some 6’ long!

Worthless as a food fish.

Tom

@pdxfisher, isn’t Oregon and Washington still paying a bounty on them where individual anglers have been paid over 100K? 
 

*I didn’t see @Scott F’s post when I responded. However, it’s my understanding pike minnow do prey on salmon and steelhead smolts migrating towards the ocean. 

@Darth-Baiter from your description, it got me thinking maybe that first “hit” is a strike to “stun” your bait and the second “hit” is the kill. 😇
 

 

Oh you must not have pickerel snot rockets where you are!

We have pickerel, mudfish, catfish, carp and lots of random perch and panfish species.  They're all fun to catch but nothing beats my green grass queens.

Rock bass are trash fish.  They are an embarrassment to be referred to as a bass.

 

 

 

43 minutes ago, gim said:

Rock bass are trash fish.  They are an embarrassment to be referred to as a bass.

 

 

 

 

 

Your hatred for the rock bass is admirable.  I'm honestly more in awe of it than I once was - at this point - I'd even say that I applaud you for your passion and commitment to the cause of sullying their name for eternity in the bass fishing community.  Bravo.  Carry on sir.  Carry on. 🤣🤣🤣

99.99% of fish that are deem inedible are proclamations from people that heard it from a cousin of a guy, that works out with a sister's coworker.    it is rare if someone says, "oh,..I tried it, and it was gross:.  

 

me:  when it cools off again, I am catching a pike-minnow, butchering it, and cooking it.  I can cook (very) well...I think I have a plan to make it delicious.   and good looking in a photo kind of way.   (pending).   I'll probably never hook into one ever again...  right now it is too hot and the drive too long for the ice in my junkie ice chest to survive.  

1 hour ago, Pat Brown said:

Your hatred for the rock bass is admirable.

It's just another panfish - goes good in the broiler alongside bluegill and crappie.

This issue with Pike Minnow is lots of small bones making it difficult to eat but is editable. My in-laws didn’t like to eat smaller size Northern Pike for the same reason but when boned properly was editable fish.

Tom

 

bones are a pain in A.  I feel the same way about a trout.  but thankfully, a fish anatomy is 100% the same.  I can get around the bones, since they are always running the same format, fish to fish.

 

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

It's just another panfish - goes good in the broiler alongside bluegill and crappie.

In Fisherman classifies it as “more than a panfish but less than a bass.”

 

I’m sticking with trash.

1 hour ago, WRB-2.0 said:

My in-laws didn’t like to eat smaller size Northern Pike for the same reason but when boned properly was editable fish.

I think a lot of anglers here can’t get past that part too. The slime might be part of it too as they are often covered in a stinky snot. The daily bag limit on pike under 22 inches here in most of the state is 10. They are abundant and easy to catch. And yet, virtually no one keeps them.

 

Anglers just don’t seem to be interested in this opportunity and generous bag limit because they continue to target walleyes and panfish like hell is on the horizon.

17 minutes ago, gim said:

In Fisherman classifies it as “more than a panfish but less than a bass.”

 

I’m sticking with trash.

I think a lot of anglers here can’t get past that part too. The slime might be part of it too as they are often covered in a stinky snot. The daily bag limit on pike under 22 inches here in most of the state is 10. They are abundant and easy to catch. And yet, virtually no one keeps them.

 

Anglers just don’t seem to be interested in this opportunity and generous bag limit because they continue to target walleyes and panfish like hell is on the horizon.

My late in-laws in Lake of the Woods would catch small Pike to pickle! I don’t know their receipt but pickle Pike was very popular hors d’ orous in Canada.

Tom

51 minutes ago, WRB-2.0 said:

My late in-laws in Lake of the Woods would catch small Pike to pickle! I don’t know their receipt but pickle Pike was very popular hors d’ orous in Canada.

Tom

Pickled pike is pretty common up here too.  That way you don’t have to fillet around the “Y bones”.

I wish more people would keep smaller northerns. Some small lakes are almost completely overrun by pike in the

10-20” range. Couple of my primary lakes I used to fish have this issue now. 
I wouldn’t consider them a “ trash fish” but I feel much different about that matter when I loose a bladed jig or vision 110… 

I agree with the pickling. It’s a bit of work but it’s the best way to utilize the resource.

My “trash” fish, renamed from Northern Snakehead to Chesapeake Channa to make them more palatable.  They are delicious but the name was off putting.  We have all the other trash fish…Blue Cats, Pickerel, Gar, carp, Grinnell, and probably a few I am forgetting. 

18 hours ago, J._Bricker said:

@pdxfisher, isn’t Oregon and Washington still paying a bounty on them where individual anglers have been paid over 100K? 
 

*I didn’t see @Scott F’s post when I responded. However, it’s my understanding pike minnow do prey on salmon and steelhead smolts migrating towards the ocean. 

 

There is a program on the Columbia but I still just C&R. The guys who make a lot of money fish nonstop during the part of the year the program is running.  They sleep a couple of hours a day but otherwise they are fishing for pikieminnows. They are super intense!

 

Bass, walleye and pikieminnows all.predate on smolt to a degree but they are a drop in the bucket in terms of the overall picture. However they make a convenient scapegoat 

On 6/28/2025 at 5:06 AM, Jar11591 said:

Oh you must not have pickerel snot rockets where you are!

We can all convince ourselves pickerel are still fun to catch until you lose multiple Vision 110s in the same day. Then you're cursing their existence. 

 

That said when they start getting over 2 feet I don't mind catching them haha

I like catching big Freshwater Drum. Good fight in current. They love a Baby Rage Craw.