Annual Lake Pend Oreille State of the Lake to be held in person, fishery remains in good shape

The annual Lake Pend Oreille State of the Lake meeting will be held in person on Thursday, the first time the meeting has been held in person since 2019 due to the pandemic.

The meeting, which has been held since 2004, updates the public on the health of Lake Pend Oreille.

“Lake Pend Oreille is our highest-profile fishery in the region and we have tremendous amount of effort that we expend managing that fishery,” said Andy Dux, Panhandle Region fisheries manager. “And so we’ve found it’s valuable to once a year have a formal public meeting just to share info so folks can stay informed. And provide and opportunity for us to engage with anglers.”

Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials, however, aren’t totally abandoning the virtual format. The meeting, which will be held at the Ponderay Events Center (401 Bonner Way, Ponderay) from 6 to 8:30 p.m., will also have a virtual component. The virtual state of the lakes has allowed more people to join in. Normal in-person meetings averaged about 100 people. In 2021, IDFG had more than 1,000 people tune in.

That just shows how important Lake Pend Oreille is regionally. The large North Idaho Lake is home to 13 sport fish species, including native bulltrout and westslope cutthroat.

That diversity is made more remarkable by the fact that in the 1990s the native kokanee population crashed after heavy predation from nonnative lake trout, leading to the complete closure of the kokanee fishery in 2000. IDFG targeted lake trout in hopes of giving kokanee some breathing room.

That effort was successful and in 2013 fishing for kokanees reopened. Since then the growth of the kokanee population has been steady – some 7.5 million in 2020.

During this year’s state of the lake, fishery managers will brief the public on the history of the fishery and give a species-by-species status update. Managers will then update the public on future plans, in addition to fielding questions and comments.

Overall, Dux said the fishery is in good shape, providing a lot of angling opportunity. Of particular interest to the angling public, Dux said IDFG biologists will be sharing results from a multiyear project looking at the diet of walleye fish.

In short, Dux said the study has confirmed that a substantial component of the walleye diet is kokanee.

Managers will also share the results from research looking at smallmouth bass angling catch and harvest rates. That study has shown that harvest rates remain relatively low

“The smallmouth fishery continues to have growing popularity but the harvest rate on those fish continues to be low but the quality of that fishery is very good right now,” Dux said.

“Overall, the fishery is in really good shape right now and providing a lot of outstanding angling opportunity.”