Lake Pend O'reille Report 4.4.16

With the recent week of warm weather, fisherman are beginning to gear up for the upcoming fishing season. Most anglers don't have a specific species in mind, they just want to feel the tug of a fish on the other end. I decided it was time to put together an updated list of where a few of our resident warm water species are in comparison to where they will be mid-summer. I am basing this list mostly from Lake Pend O'reille and other neighboring small lakes/reservoirs within 30 miles.

Smallmouth & Largemouth Bass - Bass are the #1 targeted fish in our region for most summer anglers. Many early anglers are hitting the lake in hopes of having a great day of fishing in 70 degree weather. The truth is that Lake Pend O'reille's water temperatures are still between 42-46 degrees. The bass are sluggish for the most part, and will remain sluggish until the water temperatures average around 50 degrees or higher. The good news is that anglers are still catching bass in cold water, but the numbers being caught aren't even close to what they will be in June. My advice to those looking to fish for bass over the next couple days is to fish dark colored large flies or plastics baits slowly.

Perch - Perch fishing has been pretty good with small red or white flies/jigs. They are in close to structure, and suspended around 6-10 feet from the surface. This means that large docks will be a great place to start. I haven't heard of any visible weed lines yet, which is expected considering it's only early April.

Pike - Fishing has been fair, but not great. I would expect Pike fishing to get great over the next couple weeks with the upcoming warm weather. Fly fisherman that have had success catching Pike have all had a very slow retrieve with Perch-like fly patterns. I expect these fish to be holding anywhere from 6-15 feet of water in flats with structure.

Walleye - I still haven't heard any good reports regarding Walleye, but I would expect them to be staging near the mouth of the Clark Fork.