The future for kokanee in Lake Pend Oreille looks better today than it did a year ago.

Efforts to reduce predators, however, must be sustained to restore the popular kokanee and rainbow trout fisheries, Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials say.

“We finally have some encouraging news in the battle to save Lake Pend Oreille , but we are not out of the woods yet,” said Ned Horner, regional fisheries manager with Fish and Game.

Recent analysis of Lake Pend Oreille population data by Mike Hansen, a University of Wisconsin professor and lake trout expert, demonstrates that between the use of angler incentives and trap nets, the mortality rate of lake trout has been dramatically increased. This effort must be continued to be successful, but taking a bite out of the predator population is affecting the lake’s kokanee.

Anglers took 10,800 lake trout and 5,800 rainbow trout through an angler incentive program. Another 4,800 lake trout have been taken through a netting program.

Adding natural mortality, about 35,800 lake trout have been removed from Lake Pend Oreille for a 59.5 percent annual mortality rate. Rainbow trout are not targeted by the netting program, so the mortality rate of rainbow trout is substantially lower.

“We believe the mortality rates of lake trout that we are seeing are likely high enough to offset recruitment,” Horner said. “Now it is essential that we sustain the effort to have long term success.”

Angler cooperation has been essential to the gains made to date. Anglers receive a monetary reward for catching lake trout or rainbow trout from the lake. Daily bag limits on both species have been suspended.

“The multiple methods of angling and netting are aiding in the suppression of predator numbers, giving kokanee a chance to rebound,” Horner said.

The initial incentive of $10 per fish was increased to $15 per fish on December 1 to encourage anglers at a time of year when fishing activity typically declines.

Horner is encouraged.
“There are good numbers of kokanee fry in the lake, and fairly good numbers of one year old fish. [Fish and Game] has collected nearly 12 million kokanee eggs to rear at the Cabinet Gorge Hatchery for release in [Lake Pend Oreille] in 2007. With the continued help of concerned anglers taking the hungry mouths of predators out of the lake, it appears we can still pull out of this unbalanced condition,” he said.

Kokanee season in Lake Pend Oreille is catch-and-release only.

Lake Pend Oreille will be in the news a lot this year with a major effort to bring predator populations (rainbow and lake trout) in balance with a rapidly collapsing kokanee population. Quite simply, anglers need to harvest the rainbow and lake trout they catch to prevent kokanee from collapsing. There will be more details on specific harvest levels anglers need to achieve, but the bottom line is that anglers need to change their mind set from catch and release to catch and keep. The Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club K&K Derby on April 29-May 7 will kick off a season of incentive awards to encourage anglers to harvest kokanee predators. A LPO Fishery Recovery Task Force is currently working on a variety of different ideas to encourage harvest.

Right now, lake trout anglers have been successful using a variety of techniques. If you haven't already seen a copy of "Reliable methods of catching lake trout on Lake Pend Oreille" by commercial rod-and-reel angler Ron Sharp, this is an excellent 45 minute "how to" video/DVD. You can check out a loaner copy from area libraries in Coeur d'Alene, Sandpoint and Priest River, or order your own copy from oakeysmokes@hotmail.com. Lake trout anglers generally are trolling or jigging just off the bottom using the same techniques as described for Priest Lake mackinaw below. Lake Pend Oreille is so deep that areas of suitable depth are limited to the flats in the north end of the lake around the islands, off the mouth of the Clark Fork River, along the Green Monarchs, Garfield Bay, Whiskey Rock and in the south end around Cape Horn and off the Eagle Boat Ramp in Idlewilde Bay.

When water temperatures are cold and uniform top to bottom, a variety of lure types can be effective on rainbow trout. Many rainbow trout anglers like to fish with planner boards 50-100 ft. off the side of the boat and then troll surface flies another 150-200 ft. behind the board. The board slicing through the chop creates a real erratic movement. The 3-4 inch long flies need to be tuned so they troll upright, rather than tilted to one side or the other. Other anglers like to troll Rapala, Rebel, Lyman or Apex type plugs near the surface or at depths to 50 feet.

Bull trout are fairly numerous in Lake Pend Oreille, but they are closed to harvest. Make sure you can tell the difference between a lake trout and bull trout before you harvest a fish. Westslope cutthroat trout are limited in number in the Pend Oreille system, so harvest is restricted to 2 fish over 16 inches. Lake whitefish are very abundant in Lake Pend Oreille and their distribution overlaps that of lake trout (mackinaw) very closely. They eat primarily Mysis shrimp, so they are difficult to catch. The few angler that do catch lake whitefish carefully anchor over concentrated schools and then fish with relatively light line and small glow hooks baited with a single maggot. Lake whitefish have relatively small mouths, so a small hook and minimal sized bait is recommended.

Gill Net/Trap Net Update:

We have been gill netting since February 12, 2006 to get a better picture of lake trout and lake whitefish abundance and distribution in LPO. The trap nets could only be fished in certain parts of the lake and they were only effective on lake trout over 20.5 inches. We have completed over 100 sets and are starting on the second set of 100 randomly selected sets to sample all types of potential lake trout habitat. As expected, the most numerous species in the catch has been lake whitefish (Table 1). Predator wise, northern pikeminnow have been the most numerous species caught. However, examination of their stomachs indicate that their diet this time of year is primarily crayfish, sculpin, perch and other non-kokanee type fish. Walleye have also been showing up in increasing numbers this year. We had captured nearly 375 lake trout with 14 recaptures to date. The preliminary population estimate was between 20,000-30,000 lake trout over 20 inches. This is substantially more than the trap net estimate of 10,000 fish. What this means is that population estimates made by the trap nets and anglers in 2003 and 2005 were likely sub-sampling the lake trout population due to where they fished, not that the lake trout population has doubled in just a few months. Bull trout catch and mortalities have been higher than what we saw with the trap nets, but we are still well below the 150 fish "take" limit of our USFWS permit. Gill netting will continue for a few more weeks until the population estimate can be refined. Currently the Sheepherder and Thompson trapnets have been reopened and are now fishing again. We are setting additional trapnets in the north end of the lake to help capture lake trout for pit tagging for the upcoming angler incentive program that will encourage anglers to harvest lake trout. Watch for the orange buoys and avoid trolling with downriggers in the vicinity of trapnets. Table 1. Species, number captured and mortality rates for each fish species captured in gill nets as of March 27, 2006 in Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho.

Species Total Caught - Mortality Rate - # of Morts

Lake Trout ----------374 =-----100% -------374
Lake Whitefish --- 4,618 ------8.9%------- 411
Bull Trout---------- 141 -------36% --------51
Rainbow Trout--------- 3 ------100% ---------3
Brown Trout -----------5 ------100% ---------5
Suckers -------------213 --------0% ---------0
Peamouth ------------641 -------37% ------ 237
N. Pikeminnow -------561 ------100% -------561
Cutthroat Trout -------1 --------0% ---------0
Pumpkinseed -----------1 --------0% ---------0
Walleye --------------10 ------100% --------10
Smallmouth Bass -------2 --------0% ---------0


"As the water warms and becomes uniform in temperature, lake trout can be caught near the surface on light spinning tackle pulling spoons or plugs early in the morning or in the evening. The most consistent method however is bottom trolling with downriggers or leaded line. Try trolling slowly just off the bottom using big spoons, Flatfish, Kwikfish, Litefish, Apex, Rapala, Rebel, or Lyman type plugs or dodgers with hootchies or flies on a short leader. A small strip of fresh cut bait or night crawler will greatly improve your chances of a hook-up. Natural color combinations of black or blue over silver or white are good choices for lures, as are lighter colored, fluorescent and glow-in-the-dark colors. Jigging with baited lead headed jigs, spoons and buzz baits over rocky out crops and drop-offs is also a proven technique for catching mackinaw if you find concentrated fish. Use low or non-stretch line because many of the fish are holding in 140+ feet of water and it is difficult to detect a bite and set a hook with monofilament line. Reel fish up slowly from those depths to prevent bloating."

It was interesting in recent months to hear comments from a couple of sources saying there was confusion about what is happening with the kokanee population in Lake Pend Oreille. Yes, there have been both good and bad news concerning this fish in recent times. We tend to work hard trying to see some ray of hope that all of our work is benefiting the population, and good news is often hard to come by. And so, even small improvements are at times taken as triumphs. Perhaps what is needed is to be openly blunt about where we are and what we are likely to see, to clear up any possible misconceptions.

First, kokanee have collapsed in Lake Pend Oreille. “Collapse” is a strong word, and not a term that we used lightly. A definition of a collapse that is often used is an 80% decline in harvest or an 80% decline in a fish population. Harvest of kokanee from 1952 to 1966 averaged a million kokanee per year; now the lake is closed to harvest. Adult kokanee were thought to average 3 to 5 million fish, now there are a few hundred thousand. By any stretch of the term, both the kokanee population, and the kokanee fishery, has collapsed. Hopefully that should clear up any confusion.

But what of all the work done on the lake, hasn’t any of it helped restore kokanee? A tremendous amount of action has taken place on this lake. We have the world’s largest kokanee hatchery, run by some of the Department’s best and brightest. We closed the kokanee fishery; worked with other agencies and the public to change the winter-time lake levels; and promoted the harvest of predators through enhanced fishing derbies, changed fishing regulations, and commercial harvest. Some of these actions have received strong support, others less so, but one thing is clear – people care about the fishery. There was a seemingly endless parade of meetings by an alphabet soup of participants with acronyms like NWPPC (which changed to the NPCC), BPA, CAC, ISRP, USFWS, NOAA, and CBFWA. Each action, each change, each study, and each new effort was viewed optimistically in the effort to restore kokanee, and in fact some efforts have addressed specific problems quite well (eg, lake level management). It is no wonder people tend to think that kokanee must be doing better. And yet, the last generation of kokanee adults has been the lowest ever recorded. The total pounds of kokanee in Lake Pend Oreille are still at a very low point. So, no, fishable numbers of kokanee have not been restored. That may be blunt, but it is the reality of the current situation.

So now you know where we are. It is not complex, nor confusing. The kokanee population is in real trouble. They are not close to providing a fishery, but they are providing forage for the lake’s bull trout, rainbow trout and lake trout. Hopefully, you are not too depressed yet, because not everything about the kokanee population is gloom and doom. The bright spot, that shows a real hope for the future, is in the numbers of small kokanee. This year we have near record high numbers of fry in the lake. Estimates based on echosounding, that were backed up by fry netting, which were in turn backed up by mid-water trawling (very little left to chance here), showed 12 million fry about 2 inches long. That equates to 220 fry/acre of lake- a strong number to get the next generation going. This is more kokanee fry per acre than we see in Spirit Lake; a lake known for its abundance of kokanee. To put this in perspective, in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s we estimated Lake Pend Oreille contained 2 to 4 million fry, and fishermen were catching around 200,000 adult kokanee. So this year we have 3 to 6 times as many kokanee fry as we had then. These fry are a product of high hatchery stocking, and good lake level management that provided an abundance of high quality spawning habitat for wild kokanee. The hatchery was at full capacity last season and stocked 16 million fry this spring. Also, on-going experiments with lake levels show that we have 2.4 times higher survival of wild-spawn kokanee eggs during winters when the lake is held up, compared to years with a full draw down. This means we get 2.4 times as many kokanee out of the same number of eggs laid on the shoreline.

The considerable efforts to increase the abundance of small kokanee have been a resounding success, and numbers of fry have been on the increase. These successes are often discussed, and are truly a good first step in kokanee recovery. But rest assured, the real measure of success will be recovery of the kokanee fishery, and this has not been happening. Too many of the kokanee are getting eaten as they grow up. Previous good year classes of kokanee have dwindled in number during the 5 years it takes them to become adults, and there is little reason to think this generation will be much different.

So here is the apparent source for some confusion. On the one hand we have record high numbers of small kokanee that have produced literally millions of one year olds. It warms the heart to see these small fish jumping on the surface on a calm summers evening. Unfortunately, the prognosis for how many adults they will produce is not good. Survival of kokanee in Lake Pend Oreille is now only a fraction of what it was back in the heyday. The reason: predation – with rainbow trout the most serious short-term threat and lake trout a serious long-term threat.

This year we have only 200,000 adult kokanee expected to spawn; barely enough to produce eggs for the next generation, and not enough to reopen the kokanee fishery. A lot of young fish but just a few spawners may seem confusing, but it’s really quite simple. Lake level management and hatchery stocking has increased the number of small kokanee, but predators are eating up the improvements at an even greater rate. Kokanee just are not surviving to adults the way they once did in Lake Pend Oreille. I will not preach (well, maybe a little) about the need for anglers to keep the rainbows and lake trout they catch (especially the small ones). That has been said before. Short-term reductions in predators now could lead to a long-term recovery of the lake’s fisheries – both kokanee and trophy rainbow. The point of this article is to inform anglers of the current situation. It may seem contradictory, but it is really pretty straightforward. Kokanee have collapsed, and only reducing the number of predators right now will fix the problem.

Nearly 90 anglers attended the public meeting on Saturday, January 21st to hear an update on kokanee population status, trap net results from this fall and plans for gill net research this winter and spring. The kokanee population is at the brink of collapse with only three relatively strong year classes left (eggs in the gravel and hatchery, fry from last year, and age 1 fish). The age 2 and older kokanee are now very low and continuing to decline. Predation by rainbow and lake trout is the main reason for poor survival of older age classes of kokanee. The kokanee population will collapse if something isn't done immediately to reduce predation. This issue has been before anglers since fishing regulations were changed in 2000, but it has finally reached the crisis stage. A stakeholder group will be formed to discuss short and long term predator reduction strategies that have public support.

Deep set gill netting will begin in mid February to better define the lake trout and lake whitefish populations in LPO. The nets are 9x900 feet and between one and nine nets may be set per night. (generally 2-3 per night). Nets will be set on the bottom in 50-200 feet of water in an effort to recapture tagged lake trout and whitefish. All lake trout and whitefish captured will be killed and donated to area food banks. We are not expecting many rainbow trout to be caught in the deep sets, but rainbow trout will be sacrificed for age and growth information. Up to 150 bull trout mortalities are allowed under our USFWS "take" permit during the netting, although we do not anticipate coming close to that limit.

Population estimates from trap netting indicated a 50% increase in lake trout over 20 ½ inches in the last 2 years (from 6,400 in 2003 to 10,000 in 2005) and anglers are now catching a high percentage of lake trout under 20 inches (55% in the 2005 fall K&K derby). The gill net population estimate will better define how abundant all age classes of lake trout are. Lake whitefish are likely the most numerous species in LPO and the information gained in the gill net research is being used in a comprehensive graduate student study on lake whitefish life history, food habits and population abundance in LPO.

Stay tuned for more information on how you can become involved in fishery recovery efforts on Lake Pend Oreille. The main thing we need right now is for anglers to harvest the rainbow and lake trout they catch to reduce predation pressure on kokanee.