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Priest Lake Lakers: Part One Basics

© Louis Bignami

Part One: Priest Lake Basics

Priest Lake seems the Teddy Kennedy of North Idaho waters. It lurks in the shadow of its two larger brothers, Pend Oreille and Coeur d'Alene. I suspect the only reason it's written aboutis it's the only one of the three lakes some outdoor writers can spell! Priest does offer a singular fishery. Lake trout are it as catch and release regulations limit the scarce cutthroat and prohibit bull trout take.

Even with massive restocking, "blue backs" or kokanee haven't recovered from the introduction of the mysis shrimp introduction in the mid-1960's. So why the fuss about lake trout? It's mostly a matter of timing. Priest Lake lakers fill that uneasy gap between the end of steelhead season and the opening of stream trout action and, for those who don't mind going deep, they offer reliable action all summer.

Last trip with guide Rich Lindsey, who specializes in boat and stream fishing in the Idaho Panhandle, changed my opinion about lakers. When we lived near Lake Tahoe I didn't think much of these fish when we dredged them up with J-plugs from 200 to 250 feet of water on wire line. A fish a trip seemed average for six hours on the water and my largest laker, a 26-pound fish, was hardly a thrill and not much of a fight. So I moved to deep jigging with cod drails on windless days. Even so, fish brought up from deep water were kept. Conventional wisdom claimed the would die if released because their expanded swim bladders would not allow them to return to the deep. Lakers over eight pounds or so weren't much to shout about in the pan too.

When Rich offered to show me his improved methods on Priest, I almost turned him down. Still, the end of March in the Idaho Panhandle isn't exactly overflowing with fishing options so, why not. My wife and I stayed at the Gregory's McFarland House, one of the better bed and breakfast spots in the town of Coeur d'Alene. The town is easy to reach from Spokane via Interstate 90, and offers a convenient central location for the superb fishing in this area; so the drive up through Spirit Lake and Priest River only took Rich and me a bit under two hours.

My wife slept in before polishing off a huge breakfast to fuel up for the 200 antique shops in Coeur d'Alene. These, plus Coeur d'Alene's beach action, the theme park at Silverwood, water slides and dozens of other activities make the area a great family vacation destination.

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