Walleye are on the move throughout Lake Pend Oreille and the adjoining rivers.
Although walleye are still concentrated near the Sandpoint-area bridges, Oden Bay, Kootenai Bay and around Fisherman’s Island, the most obvious change since the late-August blog is the increasing number of walleye moving to the Clark Fork delta and up the Clark Fork River.
You’ll likely need a jetboat or sled to get very far upstream in the Clark Fork River above the lower Clark Fork bridges, especially with the lake level dropping, but there are good numbers of tagged walleye all the way up to the Cabinet Gorge Dam.
If you’re considering fishing the Clark Fork River, you can launch at the Johnson Creek or the Clark Fork Driftyard access sites operated by Fish and Game, or at the Avista access site off of Highway 200. Locations of the launches can be found by looking at the boat icons on this map.
Movement of walleye into the Clark Fork River from late-summer into fall is something Fish and Game fisheries staff noticed last year as well. Last year most of the walleye moved back out of the Clark Fork River and into the delta by November.
Walleye also continue to be spread throughout the Pend Oreille River, with several tagged fish located downstream as far as the Priest River area. Similar to the Clark Fork River, most of the walleye in the Pend Oreille River moved upstream and back to the main lake by November.
Not many northern pike are tagged right now, but those that are tagged have been spending time in the Clark Fork delta and the mouth of Denton Slough over the past few weeks.
The lake trout spawning season is here, and tagged lake trout are frequenting the Evans Landing spawning area. Windy Point, Elliot Point, Sheepherder Point and Grouse Point are also seeing some use by these fish.
The table below provides locations of walleye, northern pike and lake trout located throughout Lake Pend Oreille. To view the latest map of walleye locations for late-September click here.
Biologists track acoustic-tagged walleye to learn more about walleye movements and to help anglers effectively target walleye and participate in the Lake Pend Oreille angler incentive program.
Reminder that there are plenty of $1,000 reward-tagged walleyes still swimming in the waters of the Lake Pend Oreille system. To learn more about it and try your hand at becoming a big winner, click here.
If you’re interested in learning more about walleye fishing in Lake Pend Oreille, the angler incentive program and general information about walleye in the lake, Fish and Game has plenty of resources to help.
- Learn more about the Angler Incentive Program for walleye and locations of freezers where you can turn in walleye heads.
- Learn more about how walleye fit into the fisheries make-up of Lake Pend Oreille.
- Learn more about the Clark Fork Settlement Agreement through Avista that funds the angler incentive program.
Check out our “Lake Pend Oreille fisheries” webpage and watch the 2021 State of the Lake Virtual Meeting to learn more about the world-class fisheries in Lake Pend Oreille.
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 us on the Panhandle Region Facebook page for regular news and updates.