Check Your Trout or Salmon, Tag Could Be Worth $100

If you are an avid fisherman and you catch either trout or salmon, make sure to check the fish for a tag, it could be worth $100.

It has always been my dream to get paid to fish and hunt but the odds of that becoming a full time job are not in my favor, but some part time cash maybe possible the next time a bag a trout or a salmon. My son and I will be doing our annual float down the Muskegon River at the end of May to do some trout fishing, hopefully a fish winds up paying for our trip.

According to the Department of Natural Resources, anglers need to check for a clip on the adipose fin, it is the small, fleshy fin that is behind the dorsal fin.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Great Lakes states that includes Michigan, research game fish to study their movements, life expectancy, breeding, over all health and that is why they tag the fish. Fish like Atlantic salmon, brown trout, Chinook salmon and lake trout.

There is something else to look for if you catch most trout and salmon that do have a clip by their adipose fin. There is also a coded wire in their snout. This is a very small tag and a lab tech needs to be the one to remove it. So what you do is remove the clip by the adipose fin and bring it along with the fish head to a drop off location in Michigan so they can check the data.

Turning in these marked fish is essential to the work of maintaining these fish so it is important that when an angler gets one, he or she turns it in.

Get your fish tags turned in by November 1, 2021 and you will be eligible for rewards that are worth $100 each. These rewards are sponsored by Captain Chuck's II in Ludington, Moonshine Lures, Jay's Sporting Goods, Blood Run Tackle and Collins Design and Build.

If you want more information on how to spot tagged fish and what to do with them when you catch them, click here.