$50,000 is swimming in Lake Pend Oreille

Walleye anglers on Lake Pend Oreille and surrounding waters could catch more than just the tasty fish starting March 1.

Idaho Fish and Game, in partnership with Avista, will offer cash rewards totaling $50,000.

Fifty walleye in Lake Pend Oreille, the Clark Fork River and the Pend Oreille River have been injected in the snout with a tiny, internal tag. These tags are invisible to anglers, but turning in heads from legally caught walleye offers anglers a chance at two types of cash rewards.

Anglers will receive $1,000 for a head that is turned in from a tagged walleye. Additionally, every walleye head turned in enters anglers in the monthly drawing for 10 cash prizes of $100 each, according to an IDFG news release.

The experimental research program is an effort for IDFG to better understand the predatory fish. Surging walleye populations in the lake and river could threaten kokanee populations, which lake managers spent years recovering after the kokanee were decimated by lake trout.