Monster Rainbows at Lake Pend Oreille

During fall Idaho's Lake Pend Oreille trolls up "no limit" big mackinaw (lake trout), cutthroat trout (none under 16") , Kamaloop trout (Gerrard Rainbows) and big brown trout. How big? Wes Hamlet caught the 37-pound world record inland rainbow here in 1947: Jim Eversole caught a 43-pound mackinaw here in 1995.

How come there's no limit on mackinaw? Simply, the kokanee population is too small. So predators like mackinaw and cutthroat over 16 inches long need to be thinned out before the kokanee numbers crash past the point of recovery. Take a lake that's often 1000 feet deep with 150 miles of surface and it's easy to see why trolling does the job.

TROLLING

Locals troll out of substantial craft on Pend Oreille with a whole rainbow of special trolling flies in addition to the usual big trout-finish plugs and a variety of spoons. Most use downriggers during the summer months when fish go deep. In April and May when surface temperatures permit, top line trolling with a 75 yard setback and/or sideplaners produces. The best way to learn how to do this without investing $10,000 in gear is simply hire a guide for a day or half-day trip.

I row a canoe to troll Lake Pend Oreille only in protected waters eight or ten times a year spring and fall on the Clark's Fork side around Hope and in the protected waters off Morton Slough and Johnson Creek. With an Idaho "two rod" license I drag a standard Maine-type 10X-trolling fly on one rod and the biggest rainbow trout finish shallow running plug I can find on the other. Rods are nine-foot steelhead sticks with conventional reels filled with 300 yards of 6-pound test to maximize lure spread. The big plug gets a 10" 12-pound test shock tippet.

I row from first light until the light is on the water and go out again in the evening. Most trips I pick up a mix of species on the fly. Largemouth and smallmouth bass move into the shallows in May and crappie, perch, and pumpkinseed school up in most bays, sloughs, and stream deltas or in the Pend Oreille River below the lake that's open all year. Note: the last can offer some amazing bass action on small plastics.

About every other trip I'll bag a rainbow or brown over five pounds on the plug. As an alternative, I'll drag the big plug along steep rocky points while casting flies or small spoons off shore cliffs. I'm too impatient to troll big plugs or deepwater flies. During the middle of the day I look for sheltered inshore spots, or if water conditions permit, switch to streams.

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