Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Hammer Down Excursions
Lunched at Farragut around noon and fished the south end of the lake until about 4:00. It was a cool, overcast day and most of the other boats were also fishing, so that was nice. It can get awfully crowded down at that end of the lake on a busy summer weekend but the weather had kept most of the recreational boaters away.
I was targeting Kokanee but never found them. I maybe had one knocking on the door once. I say "maybe" because I lost it before I ever saw it, and I could tell it was a small fish.
I was marking right next to nothing all day and the only marks I saw were 75 feet down and deeper. Probably Macks. I was fishing in the top 50 feet.
After a couple hours and not really expecting anything to happen and preoccupied with changing the line on my outrigger reels, I heard a splash behind the boat. I looked back thinking "oh, a fish jumped". Then he jumped again and I saw something pink in his mouth. Looked at the rod and it had peeled out of the down rigger. Only then did it dawn on me that I was hooked up. He put up a great fight and tipped the scales at 4-1/2 lbs and 23 inches. Nice, nice fish.
A half hour later or so I got his little brother, at a tick under 20 inches. The rainbow limit on Pend Oreille is 2 fish, with only one over 20 inches, so I was done with Rainbows at that point.
Also in the same general area I hooked into a couple nice Bull trout, which I released without touching them or pulling them out of the water. They're wonderful fish and I live for the day when they've recovered enough that we have a sport fishery for them again.
I trolled slowly back toward the boat launch still hoping to hook up a Kokanee but there were none to be found. Don't know where they're hanging out at the moment. That's the way they are in this lake. If you can find them, you can catch a lot in a short period of time. But finding them is the trick.
The big 'bow came on a pink hoochie, as did both Bull trout. The smaller bow came on a pink needlefish. The suspected Koke bite came on a red & silver wedding ring. All tipped with shoepeg corn. Also fished an orange Arctic fly and a gold Thomas Cyclone with no takers.