Due to work being just a F'n disaster I'm either going to string myself up or head out of town. So.. I'm going to head east to visit some friends and fish Coeur d'Alene.

They live in Post Falls on the outlet where we can catch smallies but was wondering about some of the fisheries on the lake. I don't care what I catch but wouldn't mind some easy action. Kokanee, trout, pike? Any suggestions as to where and how deep? Any other suggestions for the lake. I'll have a pretty good assortment of tackle and just want a decent chance to relieve some stress.

Thanks, DG

i was there a couple of years ago

the bass fishing was awesome, just work the docks and the lilly pads with softplastics and spinnerbaits

i saw alot of boats about 50 yards offshore trolling too, i asked a guy what they were fishing for and he said silver trout, so there must be a good koke fishery

and as far as kokes go you should be able to find how deep they are on the depth finder, just set your downrigger accordingly

Contact this guy through his website (and enjoy the monster trout photos)

http://www.trophytroutguide.com/

You might give Fins & Feathers a call in CDA (208) 667-9304 to see what is happening.
I stayed on the lake a few years ago while fishing some of the streams nearby. I saw some nice sized pike in the shallows. I decided my 4 wt and 5x tippet weren't the right weapons for battle.

Thanks. I found some schools of kokanee last summer but didn't fish for them. Really don't know what to drop down there other than flashers and a wedding ring.

I'm going to bite the bullet and use my cash for fuel..... Saving the stimulus package for a tall hot brunette who I haven't seen in a year.

There are chinook in there as well, guys troll the drop offs with spoons and even herring/anchovies but you want easy and I don't know if that is the way to go. Like said above, there are some nice pike in the shallows.

pike Dave, pike...
oh yeah, don't count out the largemouth up in the chain...
oh, there's smallies in there too???...;)

When I was in school at WSU in Pullman I had always heard of people catching these monster Cats in Coeur d-Alene, Priest Lake and Hayden Lake. Beautiful territory over there- went through on I-90 last fall and it was amazing (but also kind of $$$)!

Enjoy!

we used to go up the little coeur d alene river and fish the lakes for pike blue & swan had good pike the mouth of the river had more osprey than i had ever seen before. But that was twenty some years .

Any suggestions on trolling speed for these kokes? I've got the 4/0 dodger wedding ring and maggot thing going on but can't get a bite.

Sloooow....get the depth, use a longer leader, figure 8's thru schooling fish.
if your hooking up but losing fish add a rubber snubber...good luck

try corn you want to be going like 1.2-1.4 mph

While I have never fished CDA, I do know that virtually ever Koke seems to love a wedding ring with a piece of corn on the hook. You can catch them on the bottom too. But I think CDA is a little deep for that. If not then throw a garlic marshmellow on with a piece of corn and a worm. Shmorgasborg I call it. They seem to love that.

my biggest Koke was at Riffe with cocktail sized shrimp on the end. from then on, I rarely fish with white corn. they are cheap and might be worth the try if you aren't getting any... action.

Any suggestions on how far back to run it from the downrigger? Does it matter?
Thanks for the help. That is my last question. I caught a nice pike on a big bucktail spinner but want to get these kids some fish they can put the ol' wood shampoo to.

If there were only some flounder swimming these waters I'd be all over it

15-20 feet back