Who Needs Work? Go Fishin!

by Chace Johanson
(Castle Rock, WA, United States)

Me, my brother, and my grandpa were fishing one day in the Columbia River, just like always, for pikeminnow (also known as squawfish) in hopes of making a little money. The bite was pretty good and the weather was perfect. We were having a great time.

My bro hooked a fish and as a joke I said, "it's tagged," as I do quite often. He got it up and I had a heart attack... it was actually tagged! We were hooting and hollering in celebration.

For those unfamiliar to the pikeminnow program, a tagged squawfish is worth 500 dollars!

We kept on fishing, and a few fish later I reel one up to see that big yellow wire tag sticking out of my fish' back. I didn't say anything... I was kinda shocked. I lifted it into the boat and just held it up for my crew to see. They went nuts!

In about 30 minutes and from 2 fish we made a thousand dollars! On our way in I thought to myself,... "who needs work when they could just go fishing?"