Fall walleye are on the move in Lake Pend Oreille, and here’s where to find them

Fall is one of the best times of year to find walleye on the move in Lake Pend Oreille. Since 2019, Idaho Fish and Game biologists have followed more than 90 walleye fitted with acoustic tags, using underwater receivers placed around the lake and river to see where the fish go and when.

The map below shows where tagged walleye turned up in September and October from 2019 through 2026, with each circle marking a receiver. The warmer the color, the more individual tagged walleye were detected there.

Where to look this fall

Walleye cover more ground in early fall than at any other time of year. This behavior spreads them out, but it also means more fish may be moving past your boat. Even so, tagged fish generally keep turning up in the same handful of places year after year:

Clark Fork River: Outside of the spring spawning run, more tagged walleye show up in the Clark Fork in early fall than at any other time. This pattern has held in most years since 2019, and it lines up with the biggest monthly walleye harvest of the year in the Clark Fork area.

Long Bridge and the Dover–Sandpoint stretch: Many walleye that spend the summer in the Pend Oreille River head back upstream toward Sandpoint or into the main lake in fall. These movements funnel fish through the stretch between Dover and Sandpoint, including popular spots around the U.S. Highway 95 Long Bridge and the other bridges nearby.

North-end points and bays: Kootenai Point and the Fisherman’s Island area are among the spots with high numbers of tagged fish this time of year.

Southern basin: The south end of the lake sees more walleye in fall than in any other season. Up to one-third of tagged walleye move into the southern basin each year, and they’re often some of the biggest tagged fish in the lake.

Fish a little deeper as the season goes on. Depth-sensing tags show walleye move into deeper water through the fall, from an average of about 13 feet in September to more than 20 feet by December.

Want to dig into the data yourself? Check out the interactive walleye map, which includes a mobile-friendly version of this month’s map.

How’s the fishing?

Walleye fishing has stayed steady through the summer, with harvested fish in July and August averaging 19 to 20 inches. There are no size or bag limits on walleye in Lake Pend Oreille, so anglers willing to put in the time have plenty of opportunity to fill the freezer.

Keep your walleye, and turn in the heads

Fish and Game encourages anglers to keep every walleye they catch and turn in the heads through the Lake Pend Oreille Angler Incentive Program. Keeping walleye numbers low helps protect the lake’s kokanee, which are a key food source for bull trout and trophy rainbow trout.

Biologists tag walleye every year to keep about 60 fish carrying $1,000 reward tags in the Lake Pend Oreille system. So far this year, anglers have turned in six of them, putting $6,000 in anglers’ pockets. The tags can’t be seen from the outside, and they turn up in fish of all sizes, so the only way to know whether your walleye is worth $1,000 is to turn in the head.

Tagged or not, every head also counts as an entry in a monthly drawing for ten $100 prizes. Heads can be dropped off at the Panhandle Regional Office in Coeur d’Alene or at program freezers around the lake, from Bayview to Priest River. Find the full list of freezer locations on the Angler Incentive Program webpage.

The program only works when anglers take part. Every walleye you harvest and every head you turn in helps keep the population in check and protects the fishery that makes Lake Pend Oreille special.

Learn more

To learn more about walleye and Lake Pend Oreille’s world-class fisheries, visit the Lake Pend Oreille Fisheries webpage or watch the 2026 State of the Lake Meeting. For fishing opportunities across the state, check out the Idaho Fishing Planner.

For more information, contact the Panhandle Regional Office at 208-769-1414, and follow the Panhandle Region Facebook page for regular news and updates.