frank97038 here; i personally fish for steelhead, pikeminnow, and salmon in this order.
i feel that by applying pressure to the pikeminnow population of the columbia river system my chances of catching more steelhead and salmon increase with each effort i make.

Frank,

Are you bounty fishing?  Some guys make a decent living doing that, but I for one wish they would expand the areas for the bounties.  These fish are everywhere in the Columbia and all tributaries as well.  I've caught some big ones in the Willamette and John Day Rivers.  To limit you to basically the dam spillway areas seems a little couterproductive to me.  
I fish mainly for Steelhead these days, but get after Salmon when present and a day here and there for other species. 
JustDave

yes, i often fish for the bounty on pikeminnows. does anyone else do so?

i think the areas encompassed by the bounty program is limited because of the lack of personnel to man the stations, but as anyone who has fished the columbia river for any length of time will tell you our efforts have had a noticeable affect on the quality of the game fishery in the target areas.

I also having been catching pikeminnow in both the Willamette and McKenzie Rivers.  Dexter Lake just outside of Eugene is so full of them I doubt that small trout have a chance of survival.

Once a year the town of Lowell has a pikeminnow fishing derby on Dexter Lake during their Blackberry Jam Festival. Prizes are given for the most and biggest pikeminnows caught.  It's my understanding that the local school raises some money by selling the catch for crab bait.

When it comes to pikeminnow forget about "catch and release"!

It would be nice if the bounty program could be extended, but I think you are right that lack of personnel to man the counting stations is the problem.  I wonder if it would be possible for local tackle shops to take part in the program?