Lake Pend Oreille: Idaho's Deepest Lake and the Recreation System That Surrounds It

Most lake guides tell you where to rent a pontoon boat and which beach has the cleanest restrooms. This one tells you what Tuesday in October looks like.

Lake Pend Oreille isn't a vacation destination you plan around. For residents of Sandpoint, Samuels, Sagle, and the surrounding communities, it's the baseline — the body of water that structures your calendar, determines your weekend plans, and explains why you live where you live. The lake is visible from the highway for miles. It's the first thing visitors mention and the last thing residents stop appreciating.

The name comes from French-Canadian fur traders — Pend d'Oreille, "earring," after the shell ornaments worn by the Kalispel people who lived along its shores. The pronunciation settles most debates about whether you're local: Pond-oh-RAY.

This guide covers on-water recreation, fishing, wildlife, history, events, conservation, and what it means to live near Lake Pend Oreille year-round — not the tourism board version, but the one informed by decades of boating, fishing, floating, and watching seasons turn from the same stretch of shoreline. For mountain recreation, see our Schweitzer Mountain guide. For river recreation, see our Pack River guide.

The Lake by the Numbers

Lake Pend Oreille operates at a scale that surprises people seeing it for the first time. The stats place it alongside lakes most Americans know by name:

• 43 miles long — the drive from Sandpoint to Clark Fork at the lake's eastern end takes 45 minutes
• 148 square miles of surface area (94,720 acres) — Idaho's largest lake by every measure
• 1,152 feet deep — fifth-deepest in the United States, deeper than Loch Ness
• 111 miles of shoreline across Bonner and Kootenai counties
• Elevation: 2,058 feet at normal pool
• 8 public boat launches with paved ramps and dock access
• 7+ charter fishing operators based out of Sandpoint, Bayview, and Hope

For context, the five deepest lakes in the United States: Crater Lake (1,949 ft), Lake Tahoe (1,645 ft), Lake Chelan (1,486 ft), Lake Superior (1,333 ft), and Lake Pend Oreille (1,152 ft). The difference is that Crater Lake sits inside a national park with restricted access. Tahoe's shoreline is wall-to-wall development. Pend Oreille has 111 miles of shoreline, much of it bordered by national forest, and a population density that leaves entire stretches of water empty on a weekday.

Lake Pend Oreille vs. Other Regional Lakes

Lake Pend Oreille dwarfs North Idaho's other major lakes. Here's how it compares to the regional options visitors and relocators evaluate:

Flathead Lake in Montana is the most common comparison. It's slightly smaller but has more shoreline and a warmer community vibe in Polson and Bigfork. Pend Oreille wins on depth, trophy fishing, and the combined recreation system — Schweitzer Mountain Resort is 20 minutes from the lake, and the Pack River corridor connects the backcountry directly. Coeur d'Alene offers more urban amenities but heavier shoreline development and smaller scale. Priest Lake is the most remote and undeveloped — gorgeous but limited in access and services.

On the Water: Boating, Kayaking, and Paddleboarding

Boat Launches and Access

Eight public launches provide access around the lake, each with a different character:

Garfield Bay, Hawkins Point, and Hope are among the Bonner County launches that remain accessible at low pool — which matters in fall when the Army Corps of Engineers draws the lake down to 2,051 feet beginning around September 22 to support kokanee spawning.

From Samuels: City Beach is a 20-minute drive south on Highway 95. Garfield Bay is roughly 40 minutes south through Sagle. Both are day-trip-close, which means you're not planning a lake day — you're just going to the lake.

Boat and Watercraft Rentals

Rental operators cluster around Sandpoint and the Long Bridge Marina area:

• PNW Boat Rentals (Long Bridge Marina, Sagle) — pontoon boats, Spacruzzi hot tub boats
• Sandpoint Watersports (Long Bridge Marina) — ski boats, pontoon boats, jet skis
• Work2Play Rentals (Sandpoint) — runabouts, towboats, pontoons, PWCs, SUPs, kayaks, electric surfboards
• Action Water Sports (120 E Lake St, downtown Sandpoint + Hope location) — kayak, SUP, jet ski rentals plus lessons
• MacDonald's Resort (Bayview) — boat rentals and cabins, family-owned since 1951

Scenic Cruises and Water Sports

Lake Pend Oreille Cruises operates scenic tours and sunset cruises from Sandpoint — a good option for visitors who want time on the water without renting a boat. The lake's size and sheltered bays also support wakeboarding and waterskiing from June through September, with tow boat rentals available from Long Bridge Marina operators.

Kayaking and Paddleboarding

The lake rewards paddlers who respect its scale. Calm mornings offer glass-flat conditions, but afternoon thermal winds build reliably and can turn exposed crossings dangerous. Locals know: paddle early, hug the shoreline, and watch the forecast.

Best paddling routes:

• City Beach to Sunnyside — sheltered near-shore route, 2–3 miles one way, beginner-friendly in calm conditions
• Clark Fork Delta — the lake's premier paddling destination, where the Clark Fork River enters through braided channels and wetlands. Put in at Johnson Creek, paddle the delta channels, watch for osprey and moose
• Green Monarchs shoreline — the lake's wildest stretch on the east side, where the Coeur d'Alene Mountains rise 3,000 feet directly from the waterline. Fire rings and a vault toilet mark the only camping. Access from Johnson Creek, paddle south along the shore
• Garfield Bay to Bottle Bay — west-shore route through quieter water, moderate distance

Full Spectrum Tours offers guided half-day, full-day, and multi-day kayak tours for those who want local route knowledge without the guesswork.

Kitesurfing and Windsurfing

When the north winds blow, City Beach becomes a launch point for Sandpoint's active kitesurfing and windsurfing community. The lake's open fetch and consistent thermal winds create conditions that draw riders from across the region. It's one of those scenes that surprises first-time visitors — kites arcing over the water against the backdrop of the Cabinet Mountains.

Swimming

Water temperatures dictate the swimming calendar. The lake reaches 70–72°F in August, with sheltered bays and shallow areas hitting 75°F. July and August are the swimming months. June is possible for the committed. September is for those who don't mind a sharp intake of breath.

City Beach in downtown Sandpoint is the primary swimming destination — supervised swim areas, playground, sand volleyball, snack bar, and panoramic views of the lake and Schweitzer Mountain. It gets crowded on weekends in July and August. Locals learn the Tuesday afternoon rhythm.

Below 100 feet, the lake maintains near-constant temperature year-round — one of the reasons the U.S. Navy chose it for acoustic testing.

Fishing: Species, Regulations, and Where to Find Them

Lake Pend Oreille is a trophy fishery managed by Idaho Fish and Game with aggressive species-specific strategies. The regulations reflect active management, not just conservation — IDFG wants certain species reduced and others protected. Understanding the current rules is non-negotiable before you fish.

Species Guide

All species are open year-round on both the lake and the entire Clark Fork River. An Idaho fishing license is required — non-resident licenses are available online through Idaho Fish and Game. No separate salmon/steelhead permit is needed for Lake Pend Oreille. Verify current season regulations before fishing — rules change annually based on population data.

The Gerrard Rainbow

The lake's signature fish. The Gerrard strain is a wild rainbow native to British Columbia's Lardeau River, first stocked into Lake Pend Oreille in 1941. These fish grow massive because of the abundant kokanee prey base. The world record for a non-genetically-engineered rainbow trout — 37 pounds, caught by Wes Hamlet in 1947 — came from this lake. That fish measured 40.5 inches with a 28-inch girth.

Charter captains target Gerrards from mid-October through November, when surface temperatures drop and the big fish move shallower. This is the trophy window.

Lake Trout: No Limit for a Reason

Idaho Fish and Game maintains no bag limit on lake trout because the population competes with native species. The agency actively manages lake trout numbers through gillnetting and the Angler Incentive Program, which rewards anglers for harvesting them. Lake trout sit at 100–200 feet year-round — jigging to the bottom with short, sharp rod movements is the standard technique. They almost always strike on the fall.

Where to Fish

Decades of local knowledge have mapped the lake's structure:

• Green Monarchs — smallmouth bass along the rocky east-shore structure
• Warren Island — bass around the island's perimeter
• Mouth of Pack River — bass staging where the Pack River enters the lake
• Long Bridge pilings — structure fishing for multiple species
• Garfield Bay — bass in the shallows, lake trout in the deep
• Sunnyside — mixed species, the northeast end's best producer
• Denton Slough and Ellisport Bay — largemouth in weedy cover

Charter Operators

Seven-plus charter operators work the lake, most based out of Sandpoint or Hope:

• Diamond Charters (208-265-2565) — trophy trout specialist
• Pend Oreille Charters (208-274-3263) — Gerrard rainbow trolling
• Eagle Charters Idaho (208-264-5274) — full and half-day, scenic tours
• Go Fish! Charters — custom trips, kokanee May–Sept, rainbow Oct–Nov
• Fins and Feathers — rainbow, lake trout, bass, pike, walleye, kokanee

Half-day and full-day trips are standard. Book early for the October–November trophy rainbow window — that's when the serious anglers show up.

The Clark Fork Delta: 60,000 Ducks and Counting

Where the Clark Fork River enters the lake's eastern end, it creates the largest contiguous floodplain wetland complex in the Upper Pend Oreille subbasin. This is not a scenic overlook. It's one of the most significant migratory bird habitats in the Pacific Flyway.

Idaho Fish and Game monitoring data:

• Up to 60,000 ducks during migration
• 15,000 Canada geese
• 2,000 tundra swans
• 20,000 redhead ducks wintering on the lake — a large portion of the Pacific Flyway's redhead population
• 93 bird species observed in 2021 monitoring alone
• Heron rookeries, osprey nests at the highest densities on the delta

The delta is also habitat for elk, deer, moose, bear, and furbearers. The Pend Oreille Wildlife Management Area manages public access for wildlife viewing and hunting.

Eagle watching at Trestle Creek: From November through January, bald eagles congregate in concentrations of hundreds along the lake's north shore near Trestle Creek (Highway 200, east of Hope). They come for the spawning kokanee — salmon that run up Trestle Creek from September through December. The viewing is roadside-accessible and free. Peak concentrations hit in November and December, making it one of the best eagle viewing sites in the northern Rockies.

For kayakers: The delta's braided channels offer the lake's most immersive paddling experience. Put in at Johnson Creek, paddle through the channels, and expect to see more wildlife than people. Mornings are best — quieter water, more active birds.

History Beneath the Surface

Farragut State Park: Where Idaho's Largest City Used to Be

The 4,000-acre state park on the lake's southern shore was WWII's second-largest naval training center in the world. Groundbreaking was March 1942. By September, the Farragut Naval Training Station had a population of 55,000 — making it the largest city in Idaho at the time.

Over 30 months of operation, Farragut processed 293,381 recruits for the U.S. Navy. Nearly 900 German prisoners of war worked the grounds as gardeners and maintenance staff. The last recruit graduated in March 1945, and the station was decommissioned in June 1946.

Today, Farragut State Park offers 223 campsites, 10 camping cabins, 7 group camps, the Eagle Launch (4-lane boat ramp with 3 courtesy docks), and miles of hiking and biking trails through the former training grounds. Entry is $5 per vehicle. The park sits at the lake's southern tip, surrounded by the Coeur d'Alene Mountains. For east-shore camping, Sam Owen Campground (USFS, near Hope) provides lakefront sites with direct water access — a quieter alternative to Farragut's busier loops.

The Navy's Submarine Lake

The U.S. Navy still operates the Acoustic Research Detachment (ARD) at Bayview — 25 acres of active military installation on the lake shore, 375 miles from the nearest ocean.

Lake Pend Oreille's depth (1,152 feet), flat muddy bottom, isothermal conditions below 100 feet, and the acoustic quiet provided by steep forested shores make it one of the few inland bodies of water suitable for submarine acoustic signature testing. The Navy tests sub-scale models of submarine and surface ship shapes here, measuring acoustic and propulsion signatures.

Two research vessels operate on the lake, both named after local fish: the USS Kamloops (70-foot research submarine, arrived 1967) and the USS Kokanee (90-foot research vessel, delivered by train to Dover, Idaho in 1987). The facility has saved an estimated $1 billion in development costs compared to full-scale ocean testing, and its first major contribution — the USS Sturgeon-class submarines in the 1960s — helped define Cold War undersea capability.

The ARD is the only active-duty remnant of the former Farragut Naval Training Center. Sixty years after the recruits left, the Navy's work on the lake continues.

Year-Round on the Lake: A Seasonal Calendar

Every lake guide lists summer activities. Residents live here twelve months. Here's what the calendar actually looks like:

The lake does not typically freeze over in its main body — the depth and thermal mass prevent it. Sheltered bays and shallow areas develop ice in cold winters, which is where the limited ice fishing happens. Most serious ice anglers target smaller nearby lakes.

Events

The Long Bridge Swim

The Long Bridge itself has history worth knowing. The original bridge, completed in 1910, was advertised as the longest wooden bridge in the world — nearly two miles of pilings across the lake. A WPA replacement followed in 1934, then a steel-and-concrete span in 1956, and the current vehicular bridge in 1981. The pedestrian bridge alongside it dates to the 1956 structure.

The signature lake event uses that crossing. Every first Saturday in August, swimmers cross 1.76 miles of open water from the south end of the Long Bridge to the north — City Beach to Sandpoint. Founded in 1995 by Eric Ridgway with 78 swimmers, the 30th annual Long Bridge Swim in 2025 drew 822 finishers, the most in event history. Ages range from 6 to 87. Proceeds fund free swim lessons for 700–1,000 local youth annually.

Waterlife Discovery Center

South of the Long Bridge, the Waterlife Discovery Center offers interpretive trails and fish habitat education along the lakeshore. It's a low-key stop for families — particularly useful for kids who want to understand what lives beneath the surface they've been swimming in all day.

Fishing Derbies

The Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club (LPOIC) — a volunteer nonprofit founded in the mid-1940s — hosts spring and fall fishing derbies. Revenue stays local, supporting habitat projects in partnership with IDFG and the U.S. Forest Service. These aren't tourist events — they're community-run conservation fundraisers with 80+ years of history.

Conservation and the Lake's Future

Lake Pend Oreille faces active management challenges that residents track closely:

Invasive species monitoring: Mandatory watercraft inspection stations operate at Albeni Falls, the Samuels weigh station on Highway 95 North, and Highway 200 in Clark Fork. All watercraft — motorized and non-motorized — must stop during operating hours (primarily Memorial Day through Labor Day). Quagga mussels were detected in the Snake River near Twin Falls in September 2023 but have not been found in Lake Pend Oreille. The inspection program exists to keep it that way.

Water quality: The Idaho Conservation League coordinates ~30 volunteers who monitor 15 locations across the lake from May through September, tracking trash, invasive weeds, algae, and shoreline development impacts.

Lake level management: The Army Corps of Engineers controls lake levels through Albeni Falls Dam (built 1955). The annual drawdown beginning in late September supports kokanee spawning habitat. This drawdown affects boat launch accessibility — Garfield Bay and Hope remain usable at low pool; others may not.

Fisheries management: IDFG's aggressive approach to lake trout and walleye removal — through gillnetting, the Angler Incentive Program, and no-limit harvest rules — reflects a long-term strategy to protect the lake's native and stocked trophy species. The Gerrard rainbow program depends on maintaining the kokanee prey base, which in turn depends on controlling predators.

Safety and Conditions to Know

Lake Pend Oreille is big water. It demands respect in ways that smaller lakes don't.

Afternoon thermal winds. Calm mornings give way to winds that build reliably by early afternoon, particularly in spring and fall. These thermals can generate 3–4 foot waves with little warning on the main lake body. Small craft — kayaks, canoes, SUPs — should plan morning paddling and avoid open crossings in the afternoon. The east shore and Green Monarchs stretch are particularly exposed.

Cold water shock. Outside July and August, surface temperatures stay below 60°F. Below the thermocline (16–46 feet), water remains near-freezing year-round. Capsizing in cold water triggers involuntary gasp reflex and rapid loss of motor function. Wear a life jacket at all times on the water — not stowed under a seat, but on your body.

Lake scale and distance. At 43 miles long and up to 6 miles wide, distances on Pend Oreille are deceptive. The east shore is remote — limited road access, no services, and no cell coverage along the Green Monarchs stretch. If your engine dies on the east side, you may be hours from help. Carry a VHF radio or satellite communicator.

Fall drawdown. Beginning around September 22, the Army Corps of Engineers draws the lake down to 2,051 feet to support kokanee spawning. This exposes shallow hazards at some launches and creates navigation risks in areas that were deep water all summer. Garfield Bay, Hawkins Point, and Hope remain usable at low pool; check conditions at other launches before trailering.

Invasive species compliance. All watercraft — motorized and non-motorized — must stop at mandatory inspection stations during operating hours (primarily Memorial Day through Labor Day). Stations operate at Albeni Falls, Highway 95 North near Samuels, and Highway 200 in Clark Fork. Failure to stop carries fines. This isn't optional — it's how the lake stays clean.

Living Near the Lake: What the Tourism Guides Don't Cover

The tourism board version of Lake Pend Oreille is accurate but incomplete. It covers the highlights — City Beach, boat rentals, charter fishing — without conveying what it means to have this lake as part of daily life rather than a vacation itinerary.

Drive times from Samuels to the lake:

• City Beach / downtown Sandpoint: 20 minutes
• Ponderay waterfront (Black Rock Beach & Trails): 15 minutes
• Hope Basin Boat Launch: 25 minutes
• Garfield Bay: ~40 minutes
• Farragut State Park: ~40 minutes

These aren't day-trip distances. They're errand-distance. You go to the lake the way other people go to a park — because it's there, because the evening light on the water is good, because you have an hour before dinner.

The combined recreation picture is what makes the area singular. Schweitzer Mountain sits 35 minutes from Samuels with 2,900 skiable acres. The Pack River corridor starts at your doorstep with 40 miles of river access from family float water to backcountry headwaters. And Lake Pend Oreille — 43 miles of water, 148 square miles, deeper than Loch Ness — is a 20-minute drive south.

No single amenity makes a place. The system does. And the system here — mountain, river, lake, forest — operates at a density that's difficult to find anywhere in the northern Rockies at this price point and this proximity.

Frequently Asked Questions