If you love fishing, why not get your reel and pole out and make some money while doing it? You can help salmon and make some money doing it. One angler made $48,000 during a season on the Columbia River.

According to a press release from the Bonneville Power Administration, you can help save salmon and makeup to $500 for certain kinds of pikeminnow that are deadly to salmon runs on the Columbia River.

The Pikeminnow Sport Reward Fishery Program, funded by the Bonneville Power Administration and administered by the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, pays anglers for each Northern Pikeminnow that they catch that is nine inches or larger.

Rewards range from $5 to $8 per fish, and specially tagged fish are worth $500.

The program operates from May 1 to September 30, 2021, in the lower Columbia River (mouth to Priest Rapids Dam) and the Snake River (mouth to Hells Canyon Dam).

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Northern Pikeminnow eats millions of salmon and steelhead juveniles each year in the Columbia and Snake River systems. The goal of the program is not to eliminate Northern Pikeminnow, but rather to reduce the average size and curtail the number of larger, older fish.

In 2020, the top-twenty anglers caught an average of 2,351 fish per angler and averaged reward payments of $20,414 each for the 5 month season. The highest-paid angler earned $48,501.

If you want more information on how you can make up to $500 fishing, click here for more details.

Over the weekend I attended my mom's memorial and my sister was talking about how much she loves fishing. My dad and grandpa loved fishing and they especially loved fishing on the Columbia River. My grandparents lived in Burbank and my grandpa loved dropping his line into the Columbia and I'd bet he'd love the idea of making up to $500 just to fish.

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