Every fisherman’s dream

Catching fish and getting paid for it. To good to be true? Not!

The Northern Pikeminnow Sport-Reward Program is paying $4-$8 for each northern pikeminnow caught in the lower Columbia (mouth to Priest Rapids Dam) and Snake (mouth to Hells Canyon Dam) rivers. This year’s qualifying tagged fish will be worth $500.

In my hierarchy of preferred gamefish these guys rank a couple branches down from Whitefish and usually become airborne missiles with a general trajectory toward the bank someplace. But I’d be willing to drag a load of these around in my truck long enough to cash in and go fishing for say, Bass on the John Day, or Steelhead on the Deschutes.

Kbarton over at Singlebarbed can now pack up the rods, a box of Jean Paul Lipton’s X factor nymphs, and go on a working vacation. The only caveat being that he will probably have to buy some stovepipe to slip over his waders from the knees down to cut down on the fang punctures. If its not mosquitoes, its something else. But if those X Factor nymphs are as good as it sounds he should be able to pass on the questionable Weenies and Bacon in a Blanket for something a bit more eclectic.

Sounds like an adventure in the making to me.