Lake Pend Oreille
The Lake
Lake Pend Oreille is the largest and deepest lake in Idaho. It is 43 miles long
and 6 miles wide. It has a surface area of 94,000 acres. The lake basin
is deep with steep sides and reaches depths of 1158 feet! The elevation
of this lake is 2050 feet.
The North Idaho town of Sandpoint sets on the Northern shores of
this natural glacially formed lake. Drive up Hwy 95 and you can't miss it.
The Fish
The native species of fish in Pend Oreille are Pygmy Whitefish, Mountain
Whitefish, Cutthroat Trout, and Bull Trout.
Other species that have migrated here or were introduced in one way or
another are: Gerrard Rainbow, Mackinaw Lake Trout, Kokanee, Channel Catfish,
Tiger Muskie, Bluegill, Brook Trout, Brown Trout,
Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike, Yellow Perch, Black Crappie,
Pumpkinseed, Bullhead, and Northern Pikeminnow. I don't think I have ever seen
a bigger list of fish in one lake!
There are two types of whitefish in Pend Oreille. The Lake Superior Whitefish
was introduced here in the 1930's. They swim in large schools at depths of 80 to 200 feet and
feed on plankton and mysis shrimp. At 2 to 7 lbs. in size they are reportedly
the best eating fish in the lake, and the most under fished. The Mountain Whitefish
swims in less than 50 feet of water.
The Gerrard Rainbow was introduced in 1941 with stocks from Kootenay Lake in
British Columbia, Canada. They are a long lived wild strain of Rainbow adapted
to cold water. They spawn successfully in the wild and can grow to tremendous
size. The world record Gerrard was landed from Pend Oreille in 1947 by
Wess Hamlet. It was 37 pounds.
The largest game fish taken from Pend Oreille is a 43 lb. 6 oz. Mackinaw
caught in 1995 by Jim Eversole.
Web Cam and Weather conditions at Pend Oreille
Fishing Reports for Lake Pend Oreille
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December 15, 2005
Name: Diamond Charters - Ed Dickson
Lake Lake Pend Oreille
Air Temp: 20
Water Temp: 37
Water Clarity and Color: Crystal Clear
Fishing Report: Since the surface temp has dropped with the cold
weather, most rainbow have gone back down to the 39.6 degree water.
Lake trout how ever are comming in stronge around the islands. Large 5.5
Apexs run tight to the bottom and Lyman plugs presented the same way should
produce large fish almost every effort. Seems larger fish(10-18lbs)are comming
on the peak of the solinar and 2-3lb in between.
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April
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2006 |
Lake Pend Oreille will be in the news a lot this year with a major effort to
bring predator populations (rainbow and lake trout) in balance with a rapidly
collapsing kokanee population. Quite simply, anglers need to harvest the rainbow
and lake trout they catch to prevent kokanee from collapsing. There will be more
details on specific harvest levels anglers need to achieve, but the bottom line
is that anglers need to change their mind set from catch and release to catch
and keep. The Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club K & K Derby on April 29-May 7 will
kick off a season of incentive awards to encourage anglers to harvest kokanee
predators. A LPO Fishery Recovery Task Force is currently working on a variety
of different ideas to encourage harvest.
Right now, lake trout anglers have been successful using a variety of techniques.
If you haven't already seen a copy of "Reliable methods of catching lake trout on
Lake Pend Oreille" by commercial rod-and-reel angler Ron Sharp, this is an excellent
45 minute "how to" video/DVD. You can check out a loaner copy from area libraries in
Coeur d'Alene, Sandpoint and Priest River, or order your own copy from
oakeysmokes@hotmail.com. Lake trout anglers generally are trolling or
jigging just off the bottom using the same techniques as described for
Priest Lake mackinaw below. Lake Pend Oreille is so deep that areas of
suitable depth are limited to the flats in the north end of the lake
around the islands, off the mouth of the Clark Fork River, along the Green
Monarchs, Garfield Bay, Whiskey Rock and in the south end around Cape Horn
and off the Eagle Boat Ramp in Idlewilde Bay.
When water temperatures are cold and uniform top to bottom, a variety of lure
types can be effective on rainbow trout. Many rainbow trout anglers like to
fish with planner boards 50-100 ft. off the side of the boat and then troll
surface flies another 150-200 ft. behind the board. The board slicing through
the chop creates a real erratic movement. The 3-4 inch long flies need to be
tuned so they troll upright, rather than tilted to one side or the other. Other
anglers like to troll Rapala, Rebel, Lyman or Apex type plugs near the surface
or at depths to 50 feet. Production of a "how to" DVD on rainbow trout fishing
techniques is currently in the works by and should be done by the end of May.
Bull trout are fairly numerous in Lake Pend Oreille, but they are closed to
harvest. Make sure you can tell the difference between a lake trout and bull
trout before you harvest a fish. Westslope cutthroat trout are limited in
number in the Pend Oreille system, so harvest is restricted to 2 fish over
16 inches. Lake whitefish are very abundant in Lake Pend Oreille and their
distribution overlaps that of lake trout (mackinaw) very closely. They eat
primarily Mysis shrimp, so they are difficult to catch. The few anglers
that do catch lake whitefish carefully anchor over concentrated schools
and then fish with relatively light line and small glow hooks baited with
a single maggot. Lake whitefish have relatively small mouths, so a small
hook and minimal sized bait is recommended.
Reported by : IDFG
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December 22
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2007 |
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Name: BIG DUDE
Water Temp: 38
Fishing Report: Just used a few spoons and We cant believe what happened.
Ran them at 33' down and we
caught several Lakes ranging from 33 lbs to 42 lbs. (What A Day)
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