New limits boost CdA kokanee

Six is the number to remember on Lake Coeur d’Alene this year.

That’s the daily limit for any combination of kokanee and/or chinook until further notice.

The number was set to reduce harvest on kokanee and increase harvest on chinook to help the young kokanee rebound.

“In addition, we destroyed some chinook redds (spawning beds) last fall to reduce the number of chinook to help the kokanee,” said Mark Liter, Idaho Fish and Game Department biologist. “We’ll re-evaluate the kokanee population in August.”

Anglers can expect the kokanee to be of good size this year, with fishing generally picking up first in the southern portion of the lake around the mouth of the Coeur d’Alene River before moving north as the spring and summer progresses.

Almost overlooked in the Panhandle region is the excellent fishing for bluegills in nine lakes: Avondale, Bloom, Brush, Dawson, Jewel, Robinson, Rose, Shepherd, Smith.

“Some of these lakes have had bluegills only since 2000 and they’re doing great,” Liter said. “I did a survey two years ago and found 8- to 9-inch bluegills in some places.

“There’s nothing more fun than going out in spring and catching blugills on the surface with a rubber-leg spider or a dry fly.

People have caught on to the region’s crappie fishing in the chain lakes along the lower Coeur d’Alene River and Hauser Lake. Indeed, the intense pressure on Hayden Lake has led to a new regulation limiting anglers to six crappies a day with a 10-inch minimum size limit (the minimum used to be 15 inches).

“We’re trying to be proactive and keep that fishery from being loved to death,” Liter said.

Priest Lake has a robust mackinaw fishery for fish in the 2- to 5-pound range, with a few huge fish over 20 pounds. Smallmouth bass, illegally introduced to the lake, are flourishing along the shorelines.

“There’s no doubt that we’re going to have a problem with smallmouth bass overpopulating many of our North Idaho waters,” Liter said. “With climate change, just a slight increase in average water temperature is letting them go wild. Last week during netting surveys I picked up smallmouth bass from 1.5 to 4 pounds at Lake Pend Oreille.