Panhandle Region Fishing Information

Weekly Fishing Report Updated: July 2, 2009 This report highlights a few of the best places to fish, what anglers are using and what they are catching. The information is compiled from regional Fish and Game fishery managers, local tackle shops and anglers. View the Panhandle Region June/July Fish Stocking Schedule [PDF, 47 KB] The Coeur d'Alene River is down for this time of year but 845 cfs at Enaville means the river is open across the board. There has been a lot of pressure on the fish, but that should be changing soon with other area rivers coming back into shape. Golden stones have been out in force with green drakes, yellow sallys, pmds and caddis rounding out the menu. If they don't seem to be rising or are being picky try dropping a pheasant tail or copper john off the back of an attractor fly. On the Chain Lakes, the creel survey crew has noted that anglers have been doing well and have picked up several pike in the past week or so. Anglers have also been targeting the crappies and perch and doing well with those. They’ve also seen an increase of anglers on Chatcolat and Benewah lakes in the past week or two. Fishing on Coeur d'Alene Lake has increased, but the catching has stayed about the same. The creel crew reported about 150 kokanee caught last week with about 300 hours of fishing time. It seems like the anglers are either getting several or none at all. The Chinook fishing has been pretty slow in the past month. The LCAA Members Derby last weekend only produced 6 fish with the biggest being 12.3lbs. Bass fishing is picking up as well, for both largemouth and smallmouth. People are usually catching about 3-4 a day. The St. Joe River is running 3100 cfs at Calder which is still a little high for wading, but really well for floating. Try using nymphs to get surface action and then think big attractors. With the Fourth of July weekend coming up you might want to get your family out on some of the great lakes, rivers and ponds in the Panhandle Region; 14 are designated "Family Fishing Waters" and have simplified fishing rules . . . limit of six trout and six bass, no limit on other species, no length limits and standard fishing gear can be used. Family fishing waters are spread around the Panhandle from near the border with Canada to the Spokane River area and over to spots near the Montana border. The list is on page 20 of the 2008-2009 Fishing Rules brochure and in the Family Fishing Waters section. See the links below. Don't forget that you can report any tagged fish that you catch on our website. And you can earn some money while helping to "Save the Lake Pend Oreille Fishery" - every lake trout of any size and rainbow trout more than 13 inches long harvested from Lake Pend Oreille through March, 2010, pays $15.00! Look for details here. Check out our Family Fishing Waters section with family-oriented fishing opportunities and simplified rules. Anglers must have a valid 2009 license and are reminded to check the fishing rules brochure for any restrictions and limits.

General Regional Information - Summer 2009

The following provides an overview of fishing in the Panhandle Region. It is not intended to be a real time report of current conditions.

Early summer is a time when warming water and spawning activity makes for lots of great fishing opportunities. Beginning in May, warmater fish, such as bluegill, crappie and bass move into shallow areas near the shoreline to spawn and are generally quite aggressive. Trout fishing is also at its finest in late spring and early summer. Many of the smaller lakes are stocked with catchable size rainbow trout beginning in mid-April. Trout that have lived in the lakes through the winter begin feeding very actively in the spring, as water temperatures are become optimal for trout. This report will give you some ideas on fishing opportunities during the summer.

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The Angler Incentive Program (AIP) will continue in 2009. Many anglers are taking advantage of the $15/fish bounty on lake trout and rainbow over 12 inches. Anglers and the commercial netting effort are definitely having an impact on the lake trout population, but it's important to continue those efforts to reduce predation on kokanee. Though we ultimately want to manage the lake for a trophy Kamloops (rainbow) fishery, we need anglers to reduce the rainbow population in the near term as well.

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.

In early summer, rainbow trout anglers will find fish on the surface all the way to 100 feet. Anglers who fish near the surface generally use planer boards 50-100 ft. off the side of the boat with flies, plugs and/or apex lures, another 150-200 ft. behind the board. The board slicing through the chop creates a real erratic movement that entices fish to strike. Targetting deeper fish usually involves downriggers with flashers and flies, or Rapala, Rebel, Lyman or Apex type plugs.

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. If you catch a fish with pink or salmon colored spots on its side, it's a bull trout!

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Fishing for mackinaw (lake trout) on Priest Lake tends to be fairly predictable. Successful anglers either know how to fish with downriggers, or they know where to go jigging when the weather conditions allow. Try trolling slowly just off the bottom using big spoons, Flatfish, Kwikfish, Litefish, Apex, Rapala, Rebel, or Lyman type plugs or dodgers with hootchies or flies on a short leader. A small strip of fresh cut bait or night crawler will greatly improve your chances of a hook-up. Natural color combinations of black or blue over silver or white are good choices for lures, as are lighter colored, fluorescent and glow-in-the-dark colors. Use the zoom feature on your fish graph to locate fish near the bottom. Jigging with baited lead headed jigs, spoons and buzz baits over rocky out crops and drop-offs is also a proven technique for catching mackinaw (lake trout) if you find concentrated fish. Drop-shotting is very effective and becoming a favorite technique or many jiggers. Use low or non-stretch line because many of the fish are holding in 140+ feet of water and it is difficult to detect a bite and set a hook with monofilament line. Reel fish up slowly from those depths to prevent bloating.

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Coeur d'Alene Lake provides a diverse fishery for both cold and warmwater species. The kokanee population continues to recover from low numbers the past three years, so there is some harvest allowed. For 2009 a combined limit of 6 kokanee and chinook is in effect to continue to reduce harvest on kokanee and increase harvest on Chinook until the kokanee population is fully recovered. Fall chinook salmon will move to deeper depths, typically 30-70 feet, as the water warms. Chinook anglers like to use a variety of techniques including flashers and flies or hootchies, herring in a helmet and Lyman and Rapala type plugs.

Warmwater anglers enjoy some of the best northern pike fishing in the region in the Coeur d'Alene Lake/Lateral Lake system. Look for curly leaf pond weed beds in the bays at depths of 4-18 feet. The water has now warmed to the point where northern pike are actively hitting lures. Spoons, plugs, spinner baits and jerk baits are all effective on pike. Coeur d'Alene Lake has perch and crappie, but few anglers fish for them. Seek out structure in bays for the best opportunity. The Coeur d'Alene system hosts numerous bass tournaments for both smallmouth and largemouth bass each year. Both species are found throughout Coeur d'Alene Lake. Smallmouth bass are most numerous along rocky shorelines of the lake. Largemouth bass are most numerous in the weedy bays.

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Trout stocking will continue through June, or until the water surface temperature warms to 70 degrees. All lowland lakes receiving trout have been stocked numerous times and you can look up the stocking history of any lake on the IDFG website. All the trout that are stocked in north Idaho are raised at southern Idaho hatcheries and they need to be hauled here in the state's two tanker trucks. Most lakes receive catchable rainbow trout, although we do stock fingerling cutthroat, rainbow trout and kokanee fry in some lakes. We also maintain fisheries by stocking channel catfish and tiger muskie in certain lowland lakes.

Warmwater fishing is excellent in June, but will slow down as the summer progresses. Crappie and perch fishing is generally very productive early in the summer. Try a small crappie jig baited with a maggot and fished next to structure (dock, weed bed, brush pile). Northern pike can be found in Fernan, Twin, Spirit and Hayden lakes. Bass will be spawning soon and many lakes don't open to harvest until July 1 to protect spawning bass. Check the regulations of the lake you are fishing.

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Flows from May through June are unpredictable as snow melts and air temperatures fluctuate. Once flows have peaked and begin to stabilized in late June, river fishing is excellent. Cutthroat densities in the St. Joe and Coeur d'Alene rivers are some of the highest on record, so fishing should be very good throughout the season this year. Anglers may also want to try the Moyie River located in the far northern part of the Panhandle Region, or the Little North Fork of the Clearwater River in the far southern part of the region.