Priest Lake fishery continues to evolve
Fishing for Priest Lake mackinaw can be good just about any time of year if you find the fish, said Ned Horner, Idaho Fish and Game Department regional fisheries manager.
The trout are more likely to be in shallow water in spring or late fall when water temperatures are fairly uniform from top to bottom, he said. Otherwise, the smaller fish, at least, tend to be fairly deep.
While mackinaw spawn in October at Lake Pend Oreille, they tend to spawn in November at Priest Lake, he said. Priest Lake tends to be later in “turning over” — a natural seasonal phenomenon of mixing the cold deep water with the warmer surface water to equalize the lake’s temperature, he said.
The fish continue a post-spawning feeding behavior, coming into the shallows in low-light conditions into December.
“The fish will come up to feed 40-60 feet deep on benches where they can quickly bail off into deeper water,” he said.
Fishing can be very fast for lake trout running 15-17 inches when anglers find nursery areas 140-200 feet deep.
In 2002, the daily limit on mackinaw at Priest Lake was increased from two to six, partly to meet federal requirements to protect and restore the endangered native bull trout. Removing competition from lake trout was one of the strategies.
Surveys had indicated that anglers were exploiting only 10 percent or less of the lake trout fishery at Priest Lake.
A 2003 creel census indicated that anglers had increased their harvest, but not to levels that would hurt the lake trout fishery, Horner said. The average length of fish caught was 21 inches.
The lake still holds a few mackinaw in the 30-40 pound range, but their numbers have been reduced since the more liberal catch limits went into effect, he said.
“Last spring, we asked anglers if they wanted Priest Lake’s fishery managed differently,” Horner said. “Some said they wanted to catch more large mackinaw while others said they like the opportunity to catch a larger number of smaller macks. There was no consensus.”
Starting this year, however, Idaho Fish and Game has abandoned plans to restore the lake to a kokanee and cutthroat trout fishery.
Catch-and-release rules continue to apply to bull trout, cutthroats and kokanee.
“But our new fish plan for 2007-20012 calls for managing Priest as a lake trout fishery,” Horner said. “The kokanee fishery is too far gone. Too much of the habitat in the tributaries has been lost, and many are taken over by brook trout. It’s unrealistic to manage specifically for cutthroat.”
While kokanee appeared to be making a comeback in the past few years, they declined this year, he said.
“Even with favorable changes in lake level management, the number of spawning kokanee (in a survey area) declined from about 6,000 three years ago to about 4,000 last year and 3,000 this year,” he said.
“This suggests that mackinaw turn on to feeding on kokanee when the numbers grow to a certain level.”
The next surge in Priest Lake mackinaw fishing won’t come until spring, unless a cold snap forms a solid layer of ice on portions of the lake.
“Last year, we saw a surge of effort in Cavanaugh Bay and Indian Creek Bay when the lake froze,” Horner said. “It’s a low-tech fishery that appeals to a lot of people.”
Without the ice, boat anglers are discouraged by icy roads and difficult launching conditions.
“I’ve had good luck fishing off the shoreline in Cavanaugh Bay during winter, casting a spinnerbait with a cut-bait and letting it flutter down nice and slow with just a little action,” he said.