Idaho panhandle lakes

SGIndigo · 04-16-2010, 11:44 PM

I was planning on going up to Eastern Washington to chase Pike in Pend O'Reille river in the next few weeks. I was wondering what the status is of the various lakes in the region for big trout in case the river isn't ready yet.

I know there's a $15 a head bounty on Macks and Rainbows in Pend O'Reille Lake and many of the big Macks have been caught/netted changing the size structure of the catch significantly (30,000 in the past few years!).

What about Priest Lake? I certainly enjoyed my few days on Crescent and would enjoy someplace similar or better up that way. I'm pretty much just after big fish to C&R. Even better if I don't have to go down 200' to get them. I have the option of staying near Sandpoint, ID or Springdale, WA (between Loon Lake and Roosevelt). I also hear there's Tiger Muskies up that way...

Thanks for any info!

dubl_t · 04-17-2010, 01:05 PM

sorry can't help you out, just didn't want you to think you're being ignored. There's a few ID guys on the flyfishing page, maybe you can pm them.

builder · 04-17-2010, 02:56 PM

I haven't spent much time fishing the Idaho pan handle so I can't help you out there. I do fish flathead lake in Montana almost every year and can tell you that lake is absolutely full of lake trout. Double digit fish days are common for us and there are some monster fish in there too. It's only about 3 hrs from Coeur d'Alene and in my opinion worth the extra drive.

Stowaway · 04-20-2010, 10:11 AM

Priest has huge fish! Only been there once but we released a 10+lbs rainbow and a 4lbs cuttie. The channel that connects the upper lake to the lower lake is not fishable(regs) but you can see the huge trout swimming through there.

TEC · 04-20-2010, 04:45 PM

If you are staying in Springdale, there are Tigers in Silver and Mac's in Loon and Deer lakes.
From Sandpoint there are Tigers in Newman and Hauser and Preist is good for the Mac's and has a few Tigers. Coeur D'Alene is good for Pike now down by Harrison and Chinook south of Arrow Point.
Lots of smaller lakes can be good too, just not enough time to fish them all.

SGIndigo · 04-20-2010, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TEC

If you are staying in Springdale, there are Tigers in Silver and Mac's in Loon and Deer lakes.
From Sandpoint there are Tigers in Newman and Hauser and Preist is good for the Mac's and has a few Tigers. Coeur D'Alene is good for Pike now down by Harrison and Chinook south of Arrow Point.
Lots of smaller lakes can be good too, just not enough time to fish them all.

Thanks for the help everyone. It's always hard to know where to go when I can't find the "ifish" of a particular state. I've got Oregon, Western Washington and Minnesota dialed in, but not Idaho.

I know there are certain types of fish in certain lakes, but I just don't know how plentiful they are or whether they're "in season". I'm pretty good at locating Tigers and Pike if there's decent numbers of them on the usual structure. CDA will probably prove to be a long learning curve, unless there's shallow, weedy bays and coves to make things obvious.

The more I have to downrig past 100 feet, the less interested I get in Macks, since I don't keep any and I don't have electrics. Same deal if the Macks are all smaller, like I fear Pend O'Reille has gotten. Priest sounds like it doesn't suffer from the latter issue.

I had no idea there were Tigers in Priest (I only keep close track of Washington's Tigers). I wonder if I can get closer to Curlew...

joloni · 04-25-2010, 07:14 AM

You'll be in gorgeous scenery wherever you end up. Grew up and lived in Sandpoint for 20 years, beautiful area. Personally, I'd shoot for Priest, it's neat up there, and a bit less crowded than Pend Orielle or CDA. You'll be fishing pretty deep in Pend Orielle, it's a deeeeep lake, but there are some big fish to be had in there still. Don't have anything good to say about CDA, the town or the lake, so I won't say anything at all.
Most of the smaller lakes are going to be electric motor only, but if you don't mind that there is some fantastic fishing to be had off the beaten path up there. If you're in to stream fishing at all, check out some of the rivers and streams north up toward Bonners Ferry, there are some big bulls and browns hidden away in those tiny streams.