Pend Oreille River / Coeurdalene Lake

[AJ's Dad]

I'm not trying to stir the old pike on the Pend Oreille River pot again, but I couldn't help but wonder a little when I was out fishing on Tuesday. I had intended to go to the POR for some pike fishing while there are still a few in there. My brother and I had a nice 20 fish day up there on the 9th of March and we only got to fish for 4 hours. I went back again a week later with Craig, but the water was murky, a little higher, and colder than the weekend before when we did so well.(well, and there were a lot of gill nets around on the second trip to) We got skunked. Not even one bite or one follow. After hearing that some pretty good fishermen were not only not doing well, they were getting skunked, I decided to go fish Coeurdalene instead. We didn't do too bad, we got 4 fish and all were nice and fat and in the 5 1/2 to 8 pound range. The weather was great and we even had to take our jackets off because we got too warm. AHHH spring is finally here. As we were moving from bay to bay in search of pike, and even while we were in some bays looking for and catching pike, we saw salmon fishermen trolling around. Some were fishing for Chinook, and some were possibly fishing for Kokanee (another salmon by the way). As I saw these happy salmon fishermen, I couldn't help but wonder how in the world salmon and pike can both thrive in the same water. We have been bombarded with statements that if pike reach the Columbia River, they will distroy the salmon and steelhead populations, yet right next door in Idaho we see a wonderful salmon fishery and an equally wonderful pike fishery right in the same body of water. Amazing. I wonder if it will stay that way. These two species of fish have been cohabitating for many years now and doing just fine. I just wonder if they will be left alone to continue doing so. One has to wonder. If the the right group of people heard about the millions of dollars being given away to kill pike in Washington, maybe they could figure out how to get there own millions to kill pike in Idaho to. Lord I hope not. Then I would have to drive all the way to Montana to catch pike.

For the life of me I can't figure out why this POR pike slaughter is bothering me so much. For cryin out loud, I live right on the Washington Idaho border. The Idaho pike are closer than the POR. I gotta get over this crap.

"Catch and release baby"
"Whether they like it or not"

[Natebg1]

Hey Mark,

Well, since I am so passionate about Pike on the same level as you I can't help but put my 2 cents into this. First of all your point about the Pike and Salmon living together with no problems in Idaho is exactly what Wisconsin and Michigan have figured out. Lake Michigan now has Chinook and Coho Salmon in them and the Northern Pike live perfectly fine alongside them with no issues. As a matter of fact reports are the fishery in Lake Michigan has never been better with the Salmon that are in the Lake even though the Northern Pike are living alongside them.
Here is a couple of reports of information that show these reports to prove what is happening in Lake Michigan. Really good reading that shows how the Salmon population is exploding and slowly carrying over into the other Great Lakes.

http://www.voicenews.com/articles/2012/ ... =fullstory" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf ... _inve.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tight Lines everyone, good luck this weekend hopefully the Gill Nets don't kill the tournament.

Nate

[herbmusky]

Nate and AJ's Dad,

Nate we met at last years MM pike tournament. We missed you this year. AJ's Dad, I know you were at this year’s tournament yesterday but we didn't meet up. I would of liked to talk to you but I was busier than a one arm paper hanger.
Any way having fished many lakes in Wisconsin I would have to strongly agree with you guys that Northern Pike can co -exist with other species and create a great fishery. Don't know why WDFW and the tribe can’t understand that. There are thousands of lakes in WI and Canada like this.

Yea the pike tournament was a surprise. I also fished the Tuesday before with my bud Don and both got skunked. It shook our confidence as fisherman. Gill nets all over the sloughs and no sign of pike life. I wonder if they are succeeding with there goal? I felt much better about my ability after seeing only three fish caught, locals that live on the river and seasoned fisherman getting skunked at our tournament. I don't know. I think the future of us having pike tournaments on that river are in jeopardy now.

Herb

[AJ's Dad]

It was great meeting a few new people at yesterday's tournament. The water conditions were not the best. Murky water, lower water temps than what I was hoping for, and really dark stained water in the slough I was sure would produce a winning bag for me. I'm more than a little disapointed in my outing, especially when the winnig fisherman told me he got his 2 fish in the same lill the slough that I had just come out of. Now if that didn't make me feel bad. It kind of shakes your confidence when a guy tells you that he went in and caught the 2 winning fish in a slough the size of half a football field and the water was probably still moving from when my boat pulled out of there. (LOL) /with the murky water conditions, we were throwing a lot of bright colored stuff. The winner was using a trout colored bait. Guess I should have switched up a little more.

As far as if they are reaching their goal with removing the pike. I would say they are. I believe that with that many good fishermen in the tournament and fishing the river in recent days with no success, that proves they are certainly wiping out the pike. They have been granted 10 million dollars over a ten year period. I can't imagine they have spent much of the first allotment yet and already they have completely distroyed this fishery, just as planned. Now all they have to do is try to maintain their lower level population. They will pretend that the money they have been granted isn't enough but from what I can see they have killed these fish very quickly. Now they have to figure out what to spend the rest of the money on.


"Catch and release baby"
"Whether they like it or not"

[Mark K]

They will pretend that the money they have been granted isn't enough but from what I can see they have killed thes fish very quickly. Now they have to figur out what to spend the rest of the money on.


"Catch and release baby"
"Whether they like it or not"

Maybe they can spend the money on restoring all the other species these net's are also wiping out. Just an idea...

[Boldasu]

I live in Seattle area an i plan to go first time pike fishing on Pend Oreille.Does anyone know of a good web page or map that I can look at that shows the actual name of each slough on the river? In posting information regarding exactly where It is or referencing a specific location it would be very useful, I also would just like to learn more detail about the Pend Oreille River.Is someone think that would be worth the trip since the WDFW reduce them significantly this spring?Is there some camping sites with boat lunch around?Thanks

[Mark K]

Go to Coeur D Alene. There are maps if you dig through the Pike forum on the river if you are dead set on the Pend Oreille but I would really consider Coeur D Alene or even Hayden.

[kevinb]

I've been fortunate to fish the POR for a few years and last summer alone I logged 7 trips to the river and North Idaho in large part to Mark K,hell of a fisherman and knows this river well. Whether or not your commute from Seattle to the river is going to produce positive results is rather unclear with what anglers are reporting,I know the nets don't help and the water probably isn't to great at the moment. I would certainly listen to people like Mark,AJ's Dad,Yankin Jaw and I'm sure their are a few others but these gents know the river much better than myself and can provide current information on the bite,size,numbers etc. With that being said,I feel comfortable in providing my opinion on CD'A. I make multiple trips from my home in Puyallup and its worth it in terms of quality. Certainly some big northerns reside here and more of them. The river has been getting most of the attention in the last few years but it was CD'A that was always my primary stop.
The lake is very large and every time I fish it,I'm always learning new spots but again,check with the local folks...they know it much better than I do. Also checkout the chain lakes,the fish seem to be a bit smaller(there are big ones but I never find them) but these lakes get a less pleasure boaters and perfect if you have young kids(IMO)
Again,the river is great but with the recent chatter/gillnets. I have to listen to what the locals are saying and it doesn't sound good but it really is beautiful country up there and I'm hoping to be back up there by the end of May.
Mark,have the spare hockey room ready!

[herbmusky]

Boldasu,

I don’t know where you can get a good map of the river but I do know if you are looking for a place to camp that's clean and has a good boat launch try looking up (Pioneer Park.) Its 10 minutes outside of Newport. I bring my kids every year and they have a quality boat launch. I park my boat at the site at night and the launch is 300 feet from the site. The river is more rocky that down river and it's full of smallies that thrill the kids including myself. I have also caught some impressive pike around there. I go down river because the Idaho boarder is not far up stream and I do not want to pay the big Idaho bucks for there license.

MuskyHerb

[AJ's Dad]

I have a very good map of the river with the names of all the sloughs, in pdf format that I got from Jason Conner with the tribe. If anyone needs it I can email it to you just contact me and I will gladly send it. I can't attach it here because it's file size is too large.

[River-haven]

I've been following your comments and wondering about your success during the recent Pend Oreille River Pike Tournament considering the ongoing gill net pike eradication program. It sounds like you encountered the effects of pike gill nets along the way. The Tribe is targeting the mouths of sloughs where the water warms up earliest. That's also where the big female spawners are most vulnerable. The Tribe's goal, according to the "The Spokesman Review," is to kill 5,700 (or 87%) of the pike this spring and it sounds like they're well on their way to doing just that. As a matter of fact, I just returned from John Campbell's Pend Oreille Sportman store and he told me the Tribe netted a 38 pound pike which John is going to mount for his store. That's a state record by about 4 pounds, although it was caught in a gill net (I'm not sure that counts?). What a shame!!! Additionally, John indicated to me that there were a couple of 30 pounders also caught in the nets. Unfortunately, none of the fish are being taken to the food banks, but are rather being turned into fertilizer because they say they contain mercury. Some of you have referred to other bodies of water (i.e. Lake Coeur d' Alene, Noxon Reservoir, the Great Lakes) where salmonids and pike coexist without wiping out either fishery. It seems to me, as long as you have diverse habitat (deep open water as well as shallow bays and sloughs) the two fish species can coexist. The other item needed is a diverse population of forage fish --and that we have. I'm not buying their argument that the pike will "eat themselves out of house and home." So, I guess the moral of the story is for you to get them now before the nets get them and say goodbye to what used to be a world class fishery!

[AJ's Dad]

riverhaven,
If the outcome of the tournament and the recent lack of success of pretty good fishermen fishing the river are any indication, it is already too late. I fished up there on March 9th and two of us released 20 pike. A week later two of us never had so much as a bite or follow. On that second trip we saw nets along the edges of the main river channel and across the mouth of some sloughs. If we had tried to go in to Tacoma Creek, we would have had to run a zig zag pattern to get in there. During the tournament I saw what looked like 5 or 6 nets inside Campbell slough. I can imagine there were more farther back in that I couldn't see. I'm sure there newly aquired millions of pike killing dollars bought a lot of nets. In the tournament there were somewhere around 20 fishermen and there were only 3 fish caught between all of us. The POR as you said was a wiorld class fishery. If you ask me, now it's a dead fishery. It's amazing to me how the opinions of the few seemed to outweigh the opinions of the many in this case. In the opinion of the WDFW and the Kalispel Tribal Fisheries department, the only good pike is a dead pike. Mr. Cambell can mount that fish and hang it in his store so he can show people what a great fishery the POR used to be. I hope he can stay in business now that the fisherman hours will be dwindeling down to next to nothing. Maybe he can get the BPA to help him out like they did the pike killers.

[YellowBear]

I do not like the idea of the Pike getting into the Columbia but this is just wrong.
To give the excuse that the fish have mercury in them to justify throwing them out strikes me as plain lazy and waistful.
I saw a goal number of 5,700 pike to be killed, I think we should also DEMAND! a count on all of the other species that are being killed off.

[River-haven]

That's a good point...how many other fish are being killed as a result of their pike eradication efforts? According to Jason Conner, the Kalispel Tribe's pike program manager, 18 other fish species were discovered in the nets. Of the fish netted 75% were pike and the other 25% were a mixed bag (The Spokesman Review, April 8). Based on those figures and their estimate of 5700 pike removed, that will mean 1900 fish other than pike will be netted during their efforts. I wonder how many of those fish are brown trout, rainbow trout, bull trout, and black bass? Yes, they need to be accountable to the fishing community and should publish not only the pike tally, but also the by-catch as a result of their efforts.
Finally, these efforts will certainly have a negative impact on the local economy which relies heavily on tourism and recreation. I've seen a marked increase in fishing activity on the river over the last 5-6 years largely because of the chance to catch a trophy size northern pike. The local restaurants, lodging and sporting goods stores will likely suffer from the loss of the pike fishery.

[AJ's Dad]

riverhaven,
Conner has stated in his interview with KHQ that and I qoute, "We recognize how important this fishery has become to the local economy, and to local fishermen" "However, that comes at a huge cost to every other species in the reservoir". I say those species are having survival issues unrelated to the pike population. The so called experts have repeatedly mentioned the decline of west slope cutthroat trout and bull trout. I would venture to say those two species wioll ultimately continue to decline in numbers due to the fact that the dams have slowed the water flow and average water temps are not conducive to a thriving population of either species.

They recognize the importance of this fishery to the local economy but they also recognize that if they continue to convince groups like the BPA that pike are a threat to the salmon population in the Columbia, they will be able to continue to line their pockets with power company dollars.

Talk about kicking an already down economy.

[YellowBear]

River-Haven , you posted that the dead fish are going to be used as Fertilizer.
Do you know who is processing these mercury tainted fish? or who might be putting these mercury tainted fish on there gardens?

My guess is when they get done netting the Pend Orellie we will see another Triploid fishery.

[River-haven]

AJs Dad....you're exactly right about the cutthroat and bull trout recovery program being irrelevant to this issue. But, if they keep coming up with excuses (i.e. northern pike predation) the money keeps coming in. The real threat to those species are the dams. Now, with the recent FERC relicensing of Box Canyon Dam, the PUD is looking into a fish ladder.
Yellow Bear....good question regarding the mercury in the fish and how they're going to use them "safely" in fertilizer -- I don't know? We were told this at the public meetings. Regarding the planting of triploids. It's probably not practical to use net pens considering the strong currents and excessive water level fluctuations (up to 14'). We once had a net pen in Ione but it has since disappeared for unkown reasons. However, I believe a stocking program could be effective (triploids, tiger muskie, tiger trout. Unfortunately, all they do is "take" fish and we get nothing in return. If they were sincere about the economy they'd try to give the fisherman and the local economy a boost by creating a good sport fishery to replace the one they're taking away.

[YJ Guide Service]

Go fish Idaho they Love Pike over their.......I think the reason the fishing is slow is the fish are spawning right now and the bite is slow cause of that and the lower water levels and temps. We need to obviously spend out money out of state if we want to fish for Pike...I wont even take anyone up there on a trip cause its so bad, wouldnt want to take someones money right now with fishing so bad. It will get better though, trust me. The numbers of fish in that river are alot higher than anyone thinks and 5800 fish really isnt that big considering how big the river is...

[Rosann G]

If any of you hear what fertilizer outfit got the pike, if any did, I would really like to know so I can avoid buying any of it for my garden. Thanks.

[Mark K]

I just bought my Idaho License today. I will be spending a LOT more time on CDA this year.