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Home › Waters › Idaho › Priest Lake
Lake · Bonner County, the deep glacial lake below the Selkirk Crest in the far northern Idaho Panhandle, twenty miles south of the Canadian border · Idaho

Priest Lake Fishing Guides

A deep, cold Selkirk lake famous for mackinaw, with a gauge at the Coolin outlet reading lake level and a fishery that runs hard through the ice-free months.

A canoe drawn up on the rocky shore of a northern forest lake
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Priest Lake

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 Priest Lake

Priest Lake sits under the Selkirk Crest in the far north of the Idaho Panhandle, nineteen miles long, deep and cold, with a smaller Upper Priest Lake joined to it by a navigable thoroughfare. It is the least developed of the Panhandle’s big lakes and the most obviously alpine, ringed by timber and rock with the Selkirks standing directly above the western shore. The water is clear enough that the depth of the lake is not obvious from the surface, and that clarity and depth together are what shape the fishery.

Lake trout are what the lake is known for. Mackinaw here run large, they hold deep for most of the open-water season, and they are fished with downriggers, lead core and jigging over structure in water that can exceed three hundred feet. Kokanee are the other main quarry and the two are connected, since kokanee are the forage that grows the lake trout. Native westslope cutthroat and bull trout are present, with bull trout protected and released, and mountain whitefish are common. The thoroughfare and Upper Priest hold their own smaller fishery.

The gauge at the outlet near Coolin reads lake stage. Priest is held at summer pool through the recreation season and drawn down for winter, and the reading matters most to boaters at the shoulders of the season, when ramp depth and the passability of the thoroughfare into Upper Priest both depend on it. Ice forms in hard winters and the lake can be inaccessible for weeks. Access is through state park ground at Indian Creek and Lionhead, forest service ramps and the small settlements along the eastern shore. The lake is remote by Panhandle standards, the nearest full services are half an hour away at Priest River, and anglers should arrive provisioned rather than expecting to buy tackle on the shore. Weather off the Selkirks can turn a calm morning into a hard chop by early afternoon.

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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

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.

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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.

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Posting to Priest Lake.

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

Coolin - the village at the southern outlet, nearest the gauge and the main road approach from Priest River. / Priest Lake State Park - Indian Creek and Lionhead units, the principal developed camping and ramp facilities. / Nordman - the northwestern settlement, the approach to the upper lake and the thoroughfare. / Upper Priest Lake - reached by boat through the thoroughfare or on foot, quieter water with its own fishery. / Hill's Resort - a long-established lakeside base with moorage and services. / Kalispell Bay - a west-shore forest service ramp and a common launch point. / Priest River - the town on US 2 where most anglers turn north, with fuel, groceries and tackle.

Seasons

Spring: lake trout move shallower after ice-out and are at their most accessible, and this is the best window for anglers without deep-water gear. / Summer: mackinaw and kokanee both hold deep and the fishing is a downrigger and sonar exercise, with smallmouth and perch along the shoreline. / Fall: kokanee stage and colour up, lake trout feed hard before winter, and the crowds thin considerably. / Winter: drawdown and ice limit access, with only limited fishing on the lake and most effort moving elsewhere.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Priest Lake?

Anglers target Bull Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Kokanee Salmon, Lake Trout, Mountain Whitefish, Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Yellow Perch on the Priest Lake in Idaho.

Are there fishing guides on the Priest Lake?

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

Where can you access the Priest Lake?

Coolin - the village at the southern outlet, nearest the gauge and the main road approach from Priest River. / Priest Lake State Park - Indian Creek and Lionhead units, the principal developed camping and ramp facilities. / Nordman - the northwestern settlement, the approach to the upper lake and the thoroughfare. / Upper Priest Lake - reached by boat through the thoroughfare or on foot, quieter water with its own fishery. / Hill's Resort - a long-established lakeside base with moorage and services. / Kalispell Bay - a west-shore forest service ramp and a common launch point. / Priest River -...

When is the best time to fish the Priest Lake?

Spring: lake trout move shallower after ice-out and are at their most accessible, and this is the best window for anglers without deep-water gear. / Summer: mackinaw and kokanee both hold deep and the fishing is a downrigger and sonar exercise, with smallmouth and perch along the shoreline. / Fall: kokanee stage and colour up, lake trout feed hard before winter, and the crowds thin considerably. / Winter: drawdown and ice limit access, with only limited fishing on the lake and most effort moving elsewhere.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Priest Lake?

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