Fall walleye are on the move in Lake Pend Oreille, and here’s where to find them

Where to look this fall

Walleye cover more ground in early fall than at any other time of year. This behavior spreads them out, but it also means more fish may be moving past your boat. Even so, tagged fish generally keep turning up in the same handful of places year after year:

Clark Fork River: Outside of the spring spawning run, more tagged walleye show up in the Clark Fork in early fall than at any other time. This pattern has held in most years since 2019, and it lines up with the biggest monthly walleye harvest of the year in the Clark Fork area.

Long Bridge and the Dover–Sandpoint stretch: Many walleye that spend the summer in the Pend Oreille River head back upstream toward Sandpoint or into the main lake in fall. These movements funnel fish through the stretch between Dover and Sandpoint, including popular spots around the U.S. Highway 95 Long Bridge and the other bridges nearby.

North-end points and bays: Kootenai Point and the Fisherman’s Island area are among the spots with high numbers of tagged fish this time of year.

Southern basin: The south end of the lake sees more walleye in fall than in any other season. Up to one-third of tagged walleye move into the southern basin each year, and they’re often some of the biggest tagged fish in the lake.

Fish a little deeper as the season goes on. Depth-sensing tags show walleye move into deeper water through the fall, from an average of about 13 feet in September to more than 20 feet by December.

Want to dig into the data yourself? Check out the interactive walleye map, which includes a mobile-friendly version of this month’s map.

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