Lake Pend Oreille Angler Incentive Program

This program offers rewards to anglers for harvest of lake trout and walleye.

Rewards are issued through the submission of fish heads at designated Fish and Game freezer stations, located throughout the region. Rules vary for each species, please review the following information before submitting fish heads.

Walleye

A number of walleye have been marked in the head with microscopic tags and released. Anglers will not be able to determine if fish are marked. All submitted heads will be scanned for these tags. A $1,000 reward will be issued for each tagged head that an angler harvests and submits to the program.
There will also be a random monthly drawing for ten $100 rewards. Each walleye head submitted during a single month provides the angler one change in this drawing (i.e. 5 heads = 5 chances).
Heads must be submitted during the same month they were harvested to be included in the drawings.
In the case that less than ten heads are submitted by all anglers during a particular month, the number of awards issued will be limited to the number of heads submitted.
Only lawfully caught walleye harvested in Idaho from Lake Pend Oreille, the Pend Oreille River upstream of Albeni Falls Dam, and their tributaries are eligible for this program. This includes the Clark Fork River downstream of Cabinet Gorge Dam and the Pend Oreille River tributaries upstream of Albeni Falls Dam, including the Priest River.
Walleye implanted with radio or acoustic transmitters or external tags are not considered marked for the purposes of the $1,000 reward but can be entered for the monthly drawings and the return of this equipment is appreciated.
Employees from Idaho Fish & Game, Hickey Brothers Research LLC, Avista Natural Resources, and Straight Arrow Tax and Accounting are not eligible to receive rewards from the walleye program.

Lake Trout

Only lawfully caught Lake Trout harvested in Idaho from Lake Pend Oreille and its tributaries, including the Clark Fork River downstream of Cabinet Gorge Dam, are eligible for this program.
A $15 reward will be issued to the angler for each lake trout head submitted to the program.

General Information

Please bag walleye and lake trout heads separately. Do not combine species in one bag.
The entire head along with a completed data slip (available at freezer locations) must be bagged and deposited into marked freezers for inclusion in the program
Multiple heads from the same species may be submitted in the same bag with one data slip as long as all fish were caught during the same month.
The number of fish harvested, by location, must be clearly recorded on the data slip. In the case where the number of fish reported on the data slip does not agree with the number of heads submitted, the number of actual heads in the bag will be used to determine the number of entries to the program.
Data slips must be completely filled out and signed to be valid.
Please use pencil when filling out slips, as ink will not adhere to the waterproof paper.
There is no bag limit on walleye or lake trout in Lake Pend Oreille.

Fish heads can be submitted at any of the following Fish and Game freezer locations:

MacDonald's Hudson Bay Resort, 17813 E Hudson Bay Rd, Bayview
Bayview Marina Main Office, 18354 Hwy. 54, Bayview
Garfield Bay Boat Launch, 61 W Garfield Bay Rd, Sagle
Sandpoint City Beach Maintenance Shop, Sandpoint (Seasonally available May-October)
North 40, 477181 N Hwy 95, Ponderay
Arnie's Conoco, 32131 Hwy 200, Kootenai
Holiday Shores Resort and Cafe, 46624 Hwy 200, Hope
Bonner Park West, 500 Railroad Ave, Priest River (freezer is removed on Nov.1 and returned on April 1)
Fish & Game Regional Office, 2885 W Kathleen Ave, Coeur d'Alene

Fish cleaning stations are not available at most freezer locations. Thank you to our local vendors for providing convenient drop-off points for the Angler Incentive Program.