LAKE PEND OREILLE stretches nearly 50 lineal miles from Sandpoint to Idlewilde Bay at Farragut State Park, and carries a wide diversity of catchable species besides the kamloop, such as whitefish, kokanee, cutthrout and brown trout, bull trout and mackinaw, large and small mouth bass, crappie, pumpkin seed sunfish, perch and bullhead (catfish). The list goes on with peno, squawfish, tench, suckers, sculpin and a variety of smaller minnows.
      The kamloop trout is actually a gerrard rainbow, first stocked into the system in 1941. The gerrard is a long-living wild strain of rainbow native to the Lardeau River which flows into the Kootenay Lake in Canada, just north of the U.S. The Gerrard is well adapted to the cold waters of Pend Oreille and spawns successfully in the wild.
      Now and then a lucky angler will catch a hybrid "cutbow," a cross between a cutthroat and a rainbow. The largest cutbow taken in Idaho was a 24-pounder caught here in 1991 by Irwin Donart.
      In 1995, Jim Eversole caught the largest game fish ever taken from Lake Pend Oreille, a 43 lb. 6 oz. mackinaw also known as the lake trout.
      The lake also retains the world record for a rainbow trout, a 37-pounder caught in 1947 by Wes Hamlet.
      One reason these fish get so big is the abundance of kokanee, a small variety of landlocked sockeye salmon commonly called "bluebacks" or "silvers" that are the prey-base in their food chain. The typical sizes for kokanee on Lake Pend Oreille range from 8 to 12 inches.
      For dining purposes, the blueback is considered very tasty, and at one time the abundant kokanee fishery in Lake Pend Oreille - which numbered millions of fish - attracted anglers from far and wide with daily catch limits of 25 kokanee per person. However, those days are now gone; due to habitat problems and prey-predator imbalances in the lake, fishing for kokanee is currently banned.
      Many species can be caught from shore, including crappie, perch, pumpkinseed, bass, bullheads, brown trout, cutthroat and bull trout.
      Pend Oreille is one of the few lakes in the interior United States where it is still legal to catch "bull trout," the official name for the landlocked dolly varden.
      Pend Oreille holds the record for the bull trout with a whopping 32-pounder caught in 1949 by Nelson Higgins.  The bull trout is now a protected species due to a sharp decline in its population. For more information on the bull trout, contact the Fish and Game Department (263-5111).
      As for whitefish, Pend Oreille has two varieties, both very good for eating. The Rocky Mountain whitefish, the smaller of the two, is generally found in water less than 50 feet deep. In the winter, you'll find this variety west of the Long Bridge.
      The second variety is the Lake Superior whitefish, introduced here in the `30s. They are arguably the best tasting fish in these waters; superb eating, very meaty with few bones and firm flesh; but probably the least fished-for of all the lake's species. They swim in large schools and at depths between 80 to 200 feet. They range in weight from 2 to 7 pounds, and feed primarily on plankton and mysis shrimp (as do the kokanee).
      The lake also has a population of largemouth bass, often overlooked. You'll find them in the shallows around the mouth of Pack River and farther east in the waters around Denton Slough near the mouth of the Clark Fork.
      We also have smallmouth bass. They love rocky underwater ledges, and those who are in-the-know fish for them along the Green Monarchs. But no matter where you fish in Lake Pend Oreille, it's a good bet you'll have a great day on the water!