Lake Pend Oreille Kokanee Salmon Fishing

Lake Pend Oreille holds millions of kokanee, and is a prime fishing destination for the salmon, and for other species of fish. Kokanee have been a staple of the lake since the early 1900’s and have created an incredible ecosystem for producing world class fish. Fishing Pend Oreille should be on every angler’s bucket list. This article takes a look at the history of kokanee, as well as a look at fishing reports and what gear anglers are reporting the most success with at Lake Pend Oreille.

About Lake Pend Oreille

Lake Pend Oreille is 1,110 feet deep and over 65 miles in length, making it one of the larger lakes in the state and the country. The elevation is 2,067 feet. Lake Pend Oreille is located in Bonner and Kootenai Counties, Idaho. This reservoir is a popular place for all sorts of outdoor activities, and the extreme depth means there are a lot of incredible fishing opportunities. The lake can see a lot of wake board boats and other similar water sporters, and there can be some crazy winds that can pick up, so if you’re kayak fishing for kokanee or using a small boat, you’ll want to be cautious and careful.

Where is Lake Pend Oreille

How to Fish for Kokanee in Lake Pend Oreille

The most popular way to fish for kokanee at Lake Pend Oreille is trolling with a downrigger. You’ll want to troll at 1.2-1.8 mph with a kokanee rig, and I list the most popular gear below for that. You can also jig for kokanee but trolling is definitely the more popular option. You need to find the kokanee, get on them, and then work that school of kokanee until they move on. Then you find them again.

Lake Pend Oreille is really big, and there are a lot more places where you can find kokanee, but these are the most commonly reported areas of success in the forums, social media groups, and fishing reports. If you’ve got a fish finder, you should be able to find schools of kokanee throughout the lake in deeper water, as long as you know what kokanee look like on a fish finder.

Most Common Depth for Finding Kokanee on Lake Pend Oreille

As it gets warmer, kokanee salmon go deeper. They can be hard to find, but depending on the water temperature, you can find Kokanee salmon from 30’ to 200’ with an average being around 60’, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to consistently find them at 60’. Electronics are very important, and especially at Lake Pend Oreille where the water is REALLY deep and kokanee depths can vary so drastically.

About Kokanee Salmon

Kokanee salmon are sockeye salmon that are landlocked in fresh water. They primarily feed on Zoo plankton and are generally found in larger lakes that can maintain a cool temperature, or have enough depth to maintain a cool temperature. Kokanee are native to many lakes in the western United States and Canada including Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Idaho in the United States and British Columbia and Yukon in Canada. Populations of kokanee salmon are also found in Japan and Russia. 

Additionally, kokanee have been introduced to many other lakes in the United States including in those states mentioned above as well as in Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico in the west, as well as in New England, New York and North Carolina in the east. Kokanee have also been introduced to lakes in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada.

History of Kokanee Salmon at Lake Pend Oreille

Kokanee are not originally native to lake Pend Oreille, but they’ve been there for so long, and taken to the lake so well, that most anglers consider them native, and they protect the fish as if it were. They were stocked into flathead lake in the early 1900s. By the early 1930s they had dispersed down, and they’ve been there since then. They do stock fish as well. The bulk of the population reproduction comes from wild fish, but they do supplement it. 

The kokanee in the lake are the primary prey for bull trout and rainbow trout, and the lake has produced world record fish of both species. They used to have the world record rainbow from there, and still have the world record bull trout, and that’s largely due to the kokanee. In the 2000s the kokanee were on the brink of collapse due to Lake Trout. The state has since been trying to suppress the lake trout, and their efforts have been successful. The kokanee population has been rebounding significantly since that time (see the charts towards the end of the article for kokanee population estimates by year). It’s been one of the more notable fishing recovery. They’re back in the mode of- its a good kokanee fisheries, and they’re turning out more rainbows over 20 lbs. Just recently they turned out a 32lb rainbow and a 31 lb bull trout weighed in at some fishing derbies.

Commercial Fishery for Kokanee Salmon in Lake Pend Oreille

People in the area learned quickly to smoke and fish the kokanee, and they began selling their catch. In the 40’s and continuing on into the 60’s, there was a commercial fishery, based out of the Sandpoint area. They were canning and smoking kokanee. The commercial fishery was focusing on kokanee and mountain whitefish. It was not a gillnet fishery. They were a rod and reel and handline operation, but Pend Oreille allowed for ahigh level of harvest at that time. Currently there are no commercial kokanee fisheries at Lake Pend Oreille.

Most Popular Kokanee Salmon Rig for Fishing Lake Pend Oreille

I combed through several forums, fishing reports, and social media groups to figure out what most people were reporting having success with. Your most common kokanee trolling setups will probably work, but a little refinement and knowledge from locals never hurts. This is what people are reporting success with.

Most Popular Lure at Lake Pend Oreille

Wedding ring lures are pretty popular. Pink was by far the most popular lure color on the water, with green and orange as secondary choices. Most of you kokanee lures will work. I personally prefer the double hook kokanee lures, as kokanee strike out of aggression, and the two hooks provides twice the opportunity to hook into a kokanee. I’ve had a lot of luck with the Double Whammy lures from Mack’s Lure. They’re simple, but they get the job done.

Most Popular Dodger at Lake Pend Oreille

There were several popular kokanee dodger colors according to the forums. According to the forums and groups, a pink dodger is the way to go. I put that to the test and found it to be true. I have a number of pink dodgers, but I had the best luck with the Double D Dodger at Pend.

Most Popular Bait for Kokanee At Lake Pend Oreille

The most popular bait to tip the hooks with at the end of your lure or hoochie is overwhelmingly shoe peg corn. Shoe peg corn is a more firm and resilient type of corn that can stay on the hook better and longer than regular sweet corn. The corn can also absorb scent and flavor, and it provides a kokanee something soft to bite into. If they aren’t hit on the first strike, they’re more likely to strike again. I’m a fan of fire corn, which is a dyed and scented corn.

Most Popular Scent at Lake Pend Oreille

Kokanee are extremely sensitive to scents, so many anglers use a scent spray or gel to help both cover the human scent, and attract the kokanee. Gulp maggots or scented shoepeg corn can help cover that scent, but others like adding a gel as well. I haven’t fished Lake Pend Oreille enough to test all my scents to say what worked the best. When I have fished there though, I’ve had good luck with Pro-Cure’s Bloody Tuna scents.

Lake Pend Oreille Kokanee Counts

Lake Pend Oreille has between 6 and 20 million kokanee salmon at any given time. The latest estimation I saw from state biologists were around 12 million kokanee. The successful efforts to get the invasive lake trout population under control has led to numbers rising above 10 million consistently again. This has proved fortunate for other fish populations in the lake as well. According to state biologists, kokanee are the cornerstone of the entire fishery system at Lake Pend Oreille. Every 2 million kokanee added to the lake led to an increase of 1/2″ in size for rainbow trout. A recent derby winning 7 year old fish weighed in at 32 lbs, which illustrates both a healthy kokanee population, and a healthy rainbow population.

Kokanee Fry Number Estimations at Lake Pend Oreille

Kokanee Ages 1-5 Population Estimates at Lake Pend Oreille

Video of Kokanee Fishing on Lake Pend Oreille

This video showcases a good snapshot of the sizes of kokanee on Lake Pend Oreille, as well as how hot the fishing can be on the water.

Other Fish You Can Catch Trolling for Kokanee at Lake Pend Oreille

The state has done some surveys on what anglers are coming to the lake to target. Kokanee fishing makes up about 40%, rainbows are 40%, and 20% is split between a bunch of species. 

Rainbow Trout

Fishing for the rainbows in Lake Pend Oreille is about as popular as kokanee fishing, and there’s a chance you’ll hook into one when fishing for kokanee. If you’re looking for table fare, I personally like the taste of kokanee vs rainbow trout, but they’re both a lot of fun to catch. The rainbows at Pend Oreille might actually be more fun just because they grow to be HUGE here.

Bull Trout

Lake Pend Oreille is a world class bull trout fishery. In fact, the world record bull trout was caught here back in 1949. It’s another fish species that really benefits from a booming kokanee population.

Lake Pend Oreille Bag Limits:

• Kokanee 15
• Chinook 1
• Cutthroat 0 No harvest permitted
• Lake Trout No Limit
• Rainbow Trout 2, but only 1 can be 20″ or longer
• Bull Trout 0, catch and release only

Lake Pend Oreille Kokanee Fishing Specific Regulations

If you are fishing with bait, any kokanee that is within legal size limits that you catch is counted as part of your daily bag limit, whether you keep it or release it.

There is no limit on the number of rods you can use when fishing from a boat.
Make sure you check the current regulations to stay up to date on any changes before hitting the water.

Local Fishing Regulations

Any lake specific regulations? Is it state specific regulations? (Utah pretty much all has the same rules, and I already have it written. If you just wrote- Utah regulations, I could drop it in in 5 seconds)

In accordance with Idaho law you must be 14yrs or older to fish with a current fishing license. The limit to Kokanee fishing is 25.

Frequently Asked Questions