FISHING -- The Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Fishery Program in the Columbia and Snake Rivers is underway for 2011, offering cash to anglers who catch the predatory fish.

Some anglers take this seriously, earning thousands of dollars by the season's end in September.

The top earner banked more than $80,000 last year.

The program also pays registered anglers $4 to $8 per fish, nine inches or longer. Once again, state fish and wildlife workers have specially tagged and released about 1,000 northern pikeminnow into the rivers worth $500 each.

 Click here for information on the program, how to sign up and tips on the best techniques  for catching the species, which owes the bounty on its head to it's voracious appetite to salmon and steelhead smolts.  

A free pikeminnow fishing clinic will be offered at 6 p.m. on June 9, at the Tri-Cities Wholesale Sports Store, 6603 W. Canal Dr. in Kennewick; telephone (509) 736-2200
 

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