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[O. mykiss]

Hi Fishing the Rod, I need your collective wisdom. I am conducting a study at SFU on the predator avoidance behaviours of juvenile salmonids. To do this I need predators; Northern Pike Minnow to be exact. I need to find a stream , river, or lake in or around the lowermainland that I can catch the northern pike-minnow in. They need to be at least 250-300g (about 1/2lb) for my study. Bigger = better. I hope there are some out there, all the ones I have ever fished are iced over in the north this time of year.

[Rodney]

It'd be hard to find any in large quantities during this time of the year as they are not active when it's this cold. I recall volunteers at the Fraser Valley Salmon Society collecting some for tagging during one winter several years ago at Cultus Lake, so that might be worth trying. If you still need some next summer (July and August), then come down to the Fraser estuaries and I'll find you some in this size range.

[Dave]

O. mykiss, I believe some anglers from the Fraser Valley Salmon Society will be attempting tp capture PM from Cultus Lake this winter.  You may be able to hook up with them.  PM me for contacts.

[mykisscrazy]

I took part in a similar study a number of years ago at UBC. I caught all our Pikeminnow in giant minnow traps and a few by angling in Blaney Creek, Lower Allouette, and  Sturgeon Slough in Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows. All through Pitt Poulder is a good place to collect your fish. Unfortunately this time of year things tend to slow down.
For baiting the giant Minnow Traps we used either cat food or fish roe. Either worked well. Once the water temp goes below 9 degrees c they tend to stop actively feeding. If you left the minnow traps out over night you may have some luck. I collected ours sometime in April.
What size of tanks do you have to hold them in once you have collected them? We kept ours in an oval raceway that was about 60cm wide and about 60 cm deep and the straight away was about 2 meters in length.
Unfortunately they were always really jumpy, and did not take well to captivity. Then once they settled down they just did not eat....and they had hatchery coho, wild coho, hatchery cutthrout, wild cutthrout, hatchery steelhead, wild steelhead, and even hatchery atlantics.

Any chance of you being able to use Largemouth Bass as well? As it's about time that question gets answered here in BC as well!
On another note how have you or your professor managed to get this passed through Animal Care. They tend not to look favorably on this sort of  research as they don't like captive fish being eaten by other captive fish?
If you have any other questions you can reach me at mykisscrazy@hotmail.com

[O. mykiss]

Thanks All!

Dave, I Would love that contact info but I cant PM yet. I think it is because of my Jr. Member status. Could you email me at atg4@sfu.ca?

Mykisscrazy, I have thought of bass as well but the only place I know to get them are on the island and in the interior. I have heard there are some around here but I dont know where to catch them. Although Bass are an invasive species west of the rockies, they are valued by some as good game fish (though there are much better native fish as far as i am concerned). No one really wants the NPM so I thought they would work well. Like bass, they tend to eat everything and anything and are a problem in some places. In the Columbia rive basin, you can get paid $4 a fish for every NPM over 9" fork length up to 100 fish. The bounty gets less for higher numbers. A study about concerning juvenile salmonids ability to avoid bass predation would be interesting, but that would be the focus of a different study.  I will definitely look into bass. As far as my tanks go, I have very large holding tanks similar to those used by hatcheries (~60 cm deep and 10-12 feet across). The study will take place in an artificial stream at sfu. Finally we aren't passed animal care yet, we need to know what species of fish and where we are getting them before we submit out permit application.

[Rodney]

PMs are actually only available for subscribers, but you can always click on the individual who you are trying to contact and get their email from the profile page.

Fraser Valley Salmon Society can be contacted via Chris on the forum or by email to Frank Kwak (frankkwak@shaw.ca).

No one really wants the NPM

I want the NPM... Native predators that have had a predator-prey relationship since the last glaciation. Columbia has become a more favourable habitat for pikeminnow due to the dams, so under that situation an ongoing harvest evens out the playing field with juvenile salmon. A study of interaction between Largemouth bass and Lower Fraser salmonids would be much more applicable I think. The lower Pitt River watershed is one place where you can collect them.

[Dave]

O. mykiss, as Rod posted, Frank Kwak is the contact for catching Cultus Lake NPM.

[Dave]

Another contact is Dave Barrett, president of the Fraser River Salmon Table.  Last I heard, the Table was to fund this winter's work on Cultus by the Fraser River Salmon Society.  Confused yet?
 my email is Davidpbarnes@shaw.ca

[BladeKid]

O. mykiss would you happen to be in ecology 204?

[O. mykiss]

O. mykiss would you happen to be in ecology 204?

No, haven't been in ecology 204 in a long time.  I am just finishing up my undergrad and this is my ISS project.

I want the NPM... Native predators that have had a predator-prey relationship since the last glaciation. Columbia has become a more favourable habitat for pikeminnow due to the dams, so under that situation an ongoing harvest evens out the playing field with juvenile salmon. A study of interaction between Largemouth bass and Lower Fraser salmonids would be much more applicable I think. The lower Pitt River watershed is one place where you can collect them.

I agree that a study with Largemouth bass would be interesting, but unfortunately the nature of my study isn't looking at how the juveniles are predated on, but rather how the salmon's ability to avoid predation is affected various treatments. Any data I obtain wouldn't mean much as far as the predators go as the prey would be impaired. I agree that the NPM is a native predator and is important for a balanced ecosystem. I was merely making comment to the view that they have become more of a pest species in many systems as population dynamics shift due to human activity (poorly worded I'll admit). Hope I didn't cause offense. 

Another contact is Dave Barrett, president of the Fraser River Salmon Table.  Last I heard, the Table was to fund this winter's work on Cultus by the Fraser River Salmon Society.  Confused yet?

I operate in a steady state of confusion

Thanks to everyone for your help. I will be sure to get in contact with Frank if my supervisor and I decide to go with pikeminnow. In an attempt to avoid having to get a scientific collection permit,I think I am going to try one of mykisscrazy's suggestions and try to train some large hatchery bred rainbows to feed on the little fish.