Glennthen Loc: Sandpoint, ID

Season's Greetings fellow anglers
Up here in the Idaho Panhandle we are suffering through torrential rain and flood warnings. My wife and I went on flood chase and saw much of it for ourselves. One of the tribs to LPO is Lightning Creek and she was at 70 CFPS five days ago and then overnight spiked all the way up to 10,000 CFPS.. So, that gives you kind of an idea how bad it is up here. Lots of raining hitting that high elevation snow. Needles to say the fishing in the tribs is not gonna happen for a while.
As far as LPO, she has had an active fall with nice sized Kamloops being caught. Most of the big fish are breaking the 20 pound mark and the biggest I verified was 31 pounds. He was a big ol'buck. Also, a monster mackinaw was caught earlier this year and tipped the scales around 32 pounds. Both of those lunkers were caught on the surface with bucktail flies.
Walleye have settled down but a buddy had a 28 fish day 2 weeks ago with most of them around the 20 inch range but up to 28". He was throwing blade baits...that's all he told me. I presume he wants to keep that info close to his chest.
Ice fishing, of course, hasn't started yet, but if last year is any indication, solid water will be around late December to mid January. LPO bays freeze up enough for you to catch pike, walleye and perch. The LPO perch have gotten bigger this year. I was trolling for walleye last summer and ended up hooking into several in the 15-17" range. Nice jumbos. I hope these big perch are trending. Perch are great fighter and, we all know, some of the best table fare there is.
The smaller lakes have hungry fish and the stockies are very active. Good family lakes like Round, Jewel and Mirror Lakes will produce limits pretty quickly.

Ya'll have a safe and fun holiday season
Cheers and tight lines

Gordon Loc: Charleston South Carolina

Thanks for a great post Glenn. Good luck when the ice fishing season comes in.

Glennthen Loc: Sandpoint, ID

Thanks Gordon
Hoping to get me some of those jumbo perch.
Merry Christmas!

Graywulff Loc: Cortez,Co.

Great report. Thanks Glenn. It seems as though there is a lot of variety for fishing there. I have a cousin in Sandpoint so if I get to visit this year coming perhaps I can get him to take me out. I hope the floods recede before serious damage is done.

bapabear Loc: Blaine, Washington

Great report. I am glad to hear walleye,pike and lake trout are still in the creel counts in spite of the attempts to remove them. I just cant get into trolling 12 rods off the same little boat for maybe one or two fish. Though I have never caught a walleye there, I sure had fun with pike and lake trout, thanks to supportive info from a stager in Hope. I also had some good perch meals.

ricky risteen

Back in 1960 I was ten yrs old and I tied into a 19 pound kamaloop.also the blue backs were hitting on
Maggots handline them.so after that we moved to sitka ak. I have not been back. Its on my bucket list. Ricky Sitka

bapabear Loc: Blaine, Washington

Stay in sitka. You will be disappointed when you get to LPO. It is not the same place it was in the 60's If you are longing for fresh water type fishing, just do it in the salt. A light spinning rod and 1/4 oz. jig with grub and 3 inch curly tail, soft keitech swim impact bait 3.5" or 4" sinko cast weightless into surface bull kelp beds will totally rejuvenate your love for the salt. Greenling, lings, rockfish and salmon will all hit bass lures in waters as shallow as 6 feet. Just don't get to focused or you will find yourself sitting on a flat through the next tide. you can also target lings, bass, rockfish and salmon with a fly rod. If the salmon are breaking the surface, then they are shallow enough to target with a floating line and streamer. Silvers will hit flies that are making a wake on the surface. Just don't be surprised if you end up with other species hitting your fly. As for hand lining, you will both laugh and cry hand lining for halibut and lings. Just wear gloves as the fish encountered will pull a lot harder than bluebacks. I can not be more specific, as to location as most of my Alaskan activity was in Prince William Sound. But fish are fish. You will not catch as many fish as jigging the bottom or trolling, but if you are like me and fished Alaska regularly, you will still have way more fish than you could ever eat and have way more fun catching them.

Glennthen Loc: Sandpoint, ID

Stay in sitka. You will be disappointed when you get to LPO. It is not the same place it was in the 60's If you are longing for fresh water type fishing, just do it in the salt. A light spinning rod and 1/4 oz. jig with grub and 3 inch curly tail, soft keitech swim impact bait 3.5" or 4" sinko cast weightless into surface bull kelp beds will totally rejuvenate your love for the salt. Greenling, lings, rockfish and salmon will all hit bass lures in waters as shallow as 6 feet. Just don't get to focused or you will find yourself sitting on a flat through the next tide. you can also target lings, bass, rockfish and salmon with a fly rod. If the salmon are breaking the surface, then they are shallow enough to target with a floating line and streamer. Silvers will hit flies that are making a wake on the surface. Just don't be surprised if you end up with other species hitting your fly. As for hand lining, you will both laugh and cry hand lining for halibut and lings. Just wear gloves as the fish encountered will pull a lot harder than bluebacks. I can not be more specific, as to location as most of my Alaskan activity was in Prince William Sound. But fish are fish. You will not catch as many fish as jigging the bottom or trolling, but if you are like me and fished Alaska regularly, you will still have way more fish than you could ever eat and have way more fun catching them.[/quote]


HA! A buddy and I caught 5 fish over 10 pounds in four hours with 8 rods in the water...those were the Kamloops. Two days later we caught enough walleye to feed two families. LPO isn't dead, in the least, and the fishing is the best it's been in decades.

Pike are thriving. There are smallies everywhere and catching 2 pound crappies isn't uncommon.

Of course Alaska is great for fishing but to compare it to LPO is way off the mark. Different fish, different styles and different approaches. Disappointed my arse. If you know how to fish LPO you will find success. Honestly you don't even have to be that good of an angler to pick up 4 to 5 pound smallmouth on the reg.

bapabear Loc: Blaine, Washington

HA! A buddy and I caught 5 fish over 10 pounds in four hours with 8 rods in the water...those were the Kamloops. Two days later we caught enough walleye to feed two families. LPO isn't dead, in the least, and the fishing is the best it's been in decades.

Pike are thriving. There are smallies everywhere and catching 2 pound crappies isn't uncommon.

Of course Alaska is great for fishing but to compare it to LPO is way off the mark. Different fish, different styles and different approaches. Disappointed my arse. If you know how to fish LPO you will find success. Honestly you don't even have to be that good of an angler to pick up 4 to 5 pound smallmouth on the reg.[/quote]

Glad to hear you do so well. Our main catch there was bass and perch. We did get some pike, but I would not call the pike fishing thriving. Do you fish by Sandy Point? We always fished near Hope as we had a condo access there. I must say we caught more and more fish over the last 4 years of the learning curve, but nothing hot except small mouth bass. If we go back, we will be RV camping, so it doesn't matter where we launch on the lake.
Note: it is tough to justify the several hours of extra driving when we can get outstanding perch, bass, walleye, white fish and crappie fishing at Potholes and Banks plus save $100 each on out of state licenses and boat tags. I do miss the pike though. I guess I am spoiled on trout having guided for trout, fly fishing at the Brooks and Neknek Rivers in Katmai. I hate trolling of any kind unless the action is constant. Again, I am spoiled. You have a Great Holliday Season.

Glennthen Loc: Sandpoint, ID

I live in Sandpoint and work at a tackle shop. The pike fishing IS thriving and for beginner anglers the easiest fish to catch from shore while soaking dead bait. People are pulling in nice fish off the city pier in downtown Sandpoint regularly. Smallmouth are probably the most numerous and you are more likely to catch those then the perch.
I too lived in AK and was born in Anchorage. I spent most of my time on Prince of Wales and fished all over the state. Definitely a different environment to fish in than the lower 48, but LPO is my home water and absolutely love the variety of fish we have. From kokanee to browns to Gerards and macks, there is always a fish biting somewhere.

Glennthen Loc: Sandpoint, ID

*the easiest BIG fish to catch

bapabear Loc: Blaine, Washington

Thanks for the reply. It sound like fishing closer to Sandy Point might be our next trip that way. As for Alaska, I guided all over the state for 15 years, from Brooks in Katmai to Sportsman's Cove on Prince of Wales. I owned Whittier Charters for eight years and lived and worked in Anchorage and Eagle River for the seven years prior to that. My first year there was in Prudhoe Bay. My kids are Alaskan born. I would not be surprised if we did not cross paths during that time.

Smellsfishy Loc: ID

Thanks Glen