Here's everything you need to know to fish for walleye in Lake Pend Oreille

Fishing for walleye in Lake Pend Oreille should be on your fishing to-do list this summer. With no size or bag limits, it’s a great opportunity to fill the freezer and enjoy fish fries all summer long. Recent surveys by Idaho Fish and Game show there is an abundant year class of 14-17 inch, “eater size” walleye.  Fish and Game is managing Lake Pend Oreille for a low-density walleye population to prevent excessive levels of predation on kokanee, so bringing home a cooler full of delicious fish while also helping to sustain Lake Pend Oreille’s fishery is a win-win!

Here are three tips to help you put walleye in your boat this summer.

Fish the Weed Edges

Some of the most consistent walleye angling happens along weed edges in the lake and Pend Oreille River. Predator fish like walleye often cruise this habitat or lay in wait to ambush smaller fish swimming past. You can most effectively target these fish by trolling crawler harnesses near the bottom. 

Harnesses with butterfly or smile blades in firetiger, chartreuse, pink and purple are all good colors to use this time of year. The weed flats in Oden Bay and Kootenai Bay at the north end of the lake provide the best opportunity for this fishing method. With the lake at full pool, begin your search for weed edges in 10-15 feet of water.

Casting swimbaits and paddle tail plastics over the tops of weeds or along the deep edges can also be an effective way to target walleye in the weeds, especially if you find a school of them. Blue and silver colors imitating kokanee can be good bets. 

Fish Low Light Periods

The early bird gets the worm, and so does the early walleye! A walleye’s large eyes help them feed well at night and during low light conditions. Targeting them when they are most aggressive at dawn and dusk can be both a good way to beat the heat, avoid the boat traffic and put more fish in the cooler. During the heat of summer when water temperatures are in the mid-70s, many fish also feed early in the day to avoid the stress of being active during the middle of the day. 

Follow the Fish Deeper

As water in the shallow bays around the lake warms, walleye tend to follow the edge of the cool water out to deeper habitats as summer goes on. By tracking tagged walleye with acoustic telemetry, Fish and Game has gained insight into walleye’s average depth preference on a monthly basis. During May, walleye spend most of their time in water less than 10 feet deep. During July and August walleye spend the bulk of their time between 14 and 20 feet deep. During fall and winter when surface waters cool, walleye continue to move even deeper. 

Walleye harvest in the Angler Incentive Program reached an all-time high in both May and June this year. July promises to provide hot action, with walleye harvest typically reaching its peak during this month in most years.

Since biologists began tracking walleye movements with acoustic tags in 2019, they have observed a similar distribution of fish during the months of May and June. Walleye locations displayed in this map represent the locations of 23 individual walleye from early-May to mid-June of 2025. Each colored circle represents the number of individual acoustic tagged walleye detected at a receiver during that time. 

Walleye are now moving to summertime locations with the greatest concentrations of acoustic-tagged fish present at the Highway 95 Long Bridge in Sandpoint, Kootenai Bay and Kootenai Point, Oden Bay near Fisherman’s Island and the mouth of the Clark Fork River. Walleye are widespread throughout the north end of Lake Pend Oreille and both the Clark Fork and Pend Oreille rivers.  

The Highway 95 Long Bridge and Railroad Bridge area near Sandpoint continue to be walleye hotspots. The bays and points at the north end of the main lake such as the Pack River delta, Kootenai Point, Kootenai Bay, Oden Bay, Sourdough Point and Fisherman’s Island also continue to hold a number of acoustic-tagged walleye. 

View the interactive walleye map and mobile friendly version by following this link. This information is provided to help anglers effectively target walleye and participate in the Lake Pend Oreille angler incentive program.

Fish and Game biologists tag walleye annually to keep about 100 fish with $1,000 reward-tags swimming in the waters of the Lake Pend Oreille system. This year, anglers have turned in five walleye heads tagged with $1,000 reward tags. These tags are in all sizes of fish, so any walleye you catch could be the next big winner! 

To learn more about walleye rewards and try your hand at becoming a big winner, check out the Lake Pend Oreille angler incentive program on the Fish and Game website.

If you’re interested in learning more about walleye and the world-class fisheries in Lake Pend Oreille, check out our “Lake Pend Oreille fisheries” webpage and watch the 2025 State of the Lake Meeting. 

You can also visit the Idaho Fishing Planner to get information about diverse fishing opportunities throughout the state. 

Please contact the Panhandle Regional office for more information at (208)-769-1414 and follow the Panhandle Region Facebook page for regular news and updates.