On the Eel River, the most hated fish is a California native — but a stranger nonetheless

MENDOCINO CO., 6/9/26 — Every summer a line of volunteers in masks and wetsuits floats down the South Fork Eel, shoulder to shoulder across the current, counting the one fish almost everyone on the river wants gone.

They are counting Sacramento pikeminnow, and this is the 11th year they’ve done it. The Eel River Recovery Project runs the dive every summer along a 12-mile stretch of the South Fork, from Rattlesnake Creek down to Standish Hickey State Recreation Area — two six-mile reaches, six divers, the whole run knocked out in a day when enough volunteers show up. They count only fish over four inches and sort them by size, and they also log the young salmon and steelhead they pass on the way.