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Home › Waters › Idaho › Lake Pend Oreille
Lake · Northern Idaho, Bonner County, the Panhandle between Sandpoint, Hope and Bayview in the Purcell Trench · Idaho

Lake Pend Oreille Fishing Guides

Idaho's largest lake and one of the deepest in the country, draining twenty-two thousand square miles, with a trophy rainbow fishery, lake trout, kokanee and a growing northern pike population.

A canoe drawn up on the rocky shore of a northern forest lake

Map of the Lake Pend Oreille

41 numbered points: 23 access points, 8 campsites, 1 bait & fly shop, 5 parks and conservation areas, 3 agency offices, 1 USGS gauge. Tap a marker for details. Reviewed Sep 23, 2026.

Printable version →
  • Access / boat ramp (23)
  • Campsite (8)
  • Bait, tackle & fly shop (1)
  • Park / conservation area (5)
  • Agency / conservation office (3)
  • USGS gauge (1)
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Points are curated from OpenStreetMap and state agency sources; confirm access and hours before you go.

Print it. Bag it. Bring it.Phones die, screens crack, and most of this water has no signal. Print this map, fold it into a zip-top bag or dry bag with your license, and you have a backup your electronics can’t give you. Every marker is numbered so you can say exactly where you are.

Open the printable map
All 41 points on this map
#PointTypeLat, LonNotes
1Trestle Creek Recreation Area
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers		Park / conservation area48.28574, -116.34112Day-use ground and beach beside the Trestle Creek mouth on the north-east shore.
2Trestle Creek camping
Mapped in OpenStreetMap as a caravan site		Campsite48.28326, -116.35074
3USGS gauge - Lake Pend Oreille at Hope
USGS 12392500		USGS gauge48.27639, -116.34750Lake level. The same station is mapped in OpenStreetMap at this spot.
4Trestle Creek boat ramp
Idaho Parks & Recreation ramp inventory		Access / boat ramp48.27679, -116.34706OpenStreetMap maps an unnamed slipway at the same place.
5Hope Boat Basin
Idaho Parks & Recreation ramp inventory		Access / boat ramp48.25045, -116.31536Sheltered ramp and moorage basin at Hope.
6Kullyspell House Monument ParkPark / conservation area48.24347, -116.30127Small shoreline monument park east of Hope.
7Pringle Park - East Hope
IDFG - ramp and dock		Access / boat ramp48.23915, -116.29342Two unnamed OpenStreetMap slipways sit at the same place.
8Sam Owen
Idaho Parks & Recreation ramp inventory		Access / boat ramp48.21940, -116.29273Ramp on the Hope peninsula.
9David Thompson State Wildlife PreservePark / conservation area48.20382, -116.27212Named as mapped in OpenStreetMap.
10Denton Slough
IDFG access site - no boat ramp		Access / boat ramp48.19308, -116.24658Shallow slough at the head of the lake; bank and wildlife-viewing access only.
11Clark Fork Drift Yard
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - ramp, dock, camping		Access / boat ramp48.17359, -116.23183Ramp and campsites at the Clark Fork delta; OpenStreetMap maps the campground beside it.
12Johnson Creek
IDFG - ramp, dock and campground		Access / boat ramp48.13897, -116.22859The ramp and the campground share the site and are shown here as one point.
13Granite Creek
Idaho Parks & Recreation ramp inventory		Access / boat ramp48.08589, -116.42713Ramp on the steep west shore.
14Whiskey Rock Bay Boat LaunchAccess / boat ramp48.05180, -116.45401Boat-in bay on the south-east shore; a day-use ground sits beside the ramp.
15Whiskey Rock Bay CampgroundCampsite48.04817, -116.45477
16Cedar Creek
Idaho Parks & Recreation ramp inventory		Access / boat ramp48.01692, -116.45028
17Lakeview Landing
Idaho Parks & Recreation ramp inventory		Access / boat ramp47.97314, -116.45309Landing at the old townsite of Lakeview on the east shore.
18Farragut State Park Visitor Center
Idaho Parks & Recreation		Agency / conservation office47.95159, -116.60267
19Waldron Campground
Farragut State Park		Campsite47.95990, -116.58630
20Gilmore Campground
Farragut State Park		Campsite47.95871, -116.57728
21Buttonhook
Idaho Parks & Recreation ramp inventory		Access / boat ramp47.95448, -116.57054Buttonhook Bay, at the south end of the lake in Farragut State Park.
22Whitetail Campground
Farragut State Park		Campsite47.96632, -116.55550Mapped in OpenStreetMap as loops A and B; one point here.
23Snowberry Campground
Farragut State Park		Campsite47.96772, -116.55512
24Eagle Boat Launch - Farragut State Park
Paved, four lanes, dock (IDPR)		Access / boat ramp47.96497, -116.54590OpenStreetMap names the east and west ramps here Farragut Boat Launch.
25Bayview Public Boat LaunchAccess / boat ramp47.98077, -116.55843Public ramp at Bayview, at the south-west corner of the lake.
26Evans LandingAccess / boat ramp48.07546, -116.53159Named landing on the roadless west shore; reached by boat or trail.
27Talache Landing
Idaho Parks & Recreation ramp inventory		Access / boat ramp48.12853, -116.47880
28Garfield Bay
IDFG - ramp, dock and camping		Access / boat ramp48.18804, -116.43729Main developed access on the west shore.
29Green Bay CampgroundCampsite48.17662, -116.40567Boat-in and walk-in sites on Green Bay.
30Springy Point
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - ramp, campground, day use		Access / boat ramp48.23709, -116.58634On the Pend Oreille River arm just below Sandpoint.
31Sandpoint Ranger Station
Idaho Panhandle National Forests		Agency / conservation office48.26637, -116.57179
32City of Sandpoint RV Park
City of Sandpoint		Campsite48.27326, -116.54392At City Beach.
33Sandpoint Marina
Idaho Parks & Recreation ramp inventory		Access / boat ramp48.27188, -116.54141Three unnamed OpenStreetMap slipways sit at this place.
34Sandpoint LandingAccess / boat ramp48.27480, -116.54673
35Windbag MarinaAccess / boat ramp48.27457, -116.54009Marina and ramp at Sandpoint City Beach.
36Sandpoint Visitor InformationAgency / conservation office48.28434, -116.55238
37North 40 Outfitters - Ponderay
Farm and outdoor store carrying fishing tackle		Bait, tackle & fly shop48.31021, -116.54407
38Oden Bay Game Management Area
Idaho Department of Fish and Game		Park / conservation area48.31854, -116.44130
39Sunnyside
IDFG boat ramp		Access / boat ramp48.27982, -116.38333
40Hawkins Point - Pack River
IDFG - ramp and dock		Access / boat ramp48.28278, -116.37878At the Pack River mouth.
41Pend Oreille Wildlife Management Area
Idaho Department of Fish and Game		Park / conservation area48.29993, -116.37880

Guides on the Lake Pend Oreille

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Lake Pend Oreille

Lake Pend Oreille is the largest lake in Idaho and among the deepest in the United States, filling a glacially carved trench in the Panhandle with more than eleven hundred feet of water at its deepest point. It drains roughly twenty-two thousand square miles, taking in the Clark Fork River from Montana and discharging to the Pend Oreille River at its western end. The gauge near Hope reads lake stage, which on a regulated lake of this size is genuinely useful because the surface is drawn down substantially each autumn and refilled in spring.

Depth and volume define the fishing. The lake is cold, deep and clear, and the fishery is built on a kokanee forage base that supports predators to remarkable size. Structure is mountainous and abrupt, with steep shoreline drop-offs, submerged humps and a handful of large shallow bays that behave like different waters entirely. The main lake demands respect: weather builds fast, fetch is long, and conditions can turn dangerous for a small boat within minutes.

Lake Pend Oreille has a long reputation for enormous rainbow trout, and the Kamloops-strain fish here have historically reached extraordinary weights. Lake trout are abundant and a management concern because of their pressure on kokanee. Kokanee salmon themselves are both the forage base and a popular target. Bull trout are present and protected. Westslope cutthroat and mountain whitefish occupy the tributaries and shallows, and the warm bays hold smallmouth and largemouth bass, yellow perch and an expanding northern pike population. A first-time visitor is well served by hiring a guide, simply because the lake is large enough that finding fish without local knowledge can take days.

Regulations vary sharply by species here, with protections on some and incentives on others.

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Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

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5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

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Posting to Lake Pend Oreille.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Sandpoint - the main town on the lake, with ramps, marinas, lodging, tackle and guides.
Hope and East Hope - the gauge area on the north shore, with launches and moorage.
Bayview - the southern end, with marinas and access to the deep water.
Clark Fork - the river delta at the east end, a productive area and a public access point.
Farragut State Park - a large state park at the south end with camping and shoreline.
Pend Oreille River - the outflow west of Sandpoint, with its own distinct fishery.
Priest Lake - the neighbouring Panhandle lake, a short drive north.

Seasons

Spring: rainbow trout fishing is strongest as the lake warms slowly and fish work the upper water column.
Summer: kokanee fishing peaks, bass and perch fill the warm bays, and the deep water demands downriggers.
Fall: drawdown concentrates fish, lake trout move shallow to spawn and the big-rainbow fishery picks up again.
Winter: the main lake stays open and is fished hard for rainbow and lake trout, with the bays sometimes icing over.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Lake Pend Oreille?

Anglers target Bull Trout, Kokanee Salmon, Lake Trout, Largemouth Bass, Mountain Whitefish, Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Yellow Perch on the Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho.

Are there fishing guides on the Lake Pend Oreille?

GuidedFloats lists 1 guide and outfitters on the Lake Pend Oreille. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Lake Pend Oreille?

Sandpoint - the main town on the lake, with ramps, marinas, lodging, tackle and guides. Hope and East Hope - the gauge area on the north shore, with launches and moorage. Bayview - the southern end, with marinas and access to the deep water. Clark Fork - the river delta at the east end, a productive area and a public access point. Farragut State Park - a large state park at the south end with camping and shoreline. Pend Oreille River - the outflow west of Sandpoint, with its own distinct fishery. Priest Lake - the neighbouring Panhandle lake, a short drive north.

When is the best time to fish the Lake Pend Oreille?

Spring: rainbow trout fishing is strongest as the lake warms slowly and fish work the upper water column. Summer: kokanee fishing peaks, bass and perch fill the warm bays, and the deep water demands downriggers. Fall: drawdown concentrates fish, lake trout move shallow to spawn and the big-rainbow fishery picks up again. Winter: the main lake stays open and is fished hard for rainbow and lake trout, with the bays sometimes icing over.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Lake Pend Oreille?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Idaho agency site: https://idfg.idaho.gov/rules/fish