COEUR d'ALENE - From the Pend Oreille River to Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Fish and Game biologists roamed the Panhandle last year, catching, tracking and analyzing a wide variety of fish species.

Released this month, the department's 2010 Annual Fisheries Report highlighted a number of IDFG activities and accomplishments.

The threatened bull trout was monitored, and landlocked chinook salmon were evaluated. Hayden Lake was studiously surveyed. Crews netted lake trout, assessed kokanee populations and captured sturgeon on the Kootenai River.

There was always work to be done.

"It's a big region, there's a lot of variety," said Jim Fredericks, IDFG regional fishery manager for the Panhandle Region.

Up on Lake Pend Oreille, Fish and Game's lake trout campaign is starting to pay dividends. Commercial netting operations and anglers removed 26,000 lake trout from Pend Oreille in 2010, the fisheries report said. Fishermen caught a number of rainbow trout and reeled in a few major trophies.

Most importantly down the road, the kokanee population appears to be growing.

"We're all real excited and happy with where we're at right now," Fredericks said.

Lake trout, he explained, pose a serious threat to the Lake Pend Oreille fishery. As they've done at Priest Lake and Flathead Lake in northwest Montana, they can quickly overpopulate and destroy the forage base.

"(Lake trout) have unlimited spawning and rearing habitat," Fredericks said. "They spawn in the lake itself, on the shoreline of the lake."

They eat Mysis shrimp as juveniles, but then switch to small fish. If left unchecked, the ravenous lake trout could potentially destroy the kokanee, rainbow and bull trout populations.

About five years ago, IDFG implemented a lake trout control program that utilized both commercial gill netting and recreational fishermen. The netting was difficult at first, but crews learned from experience, eventually ironing out the logistical problems. They now target lake trout in spawning and nursery areas, to great effect.

There is also a $15 bounty on lake trout, an added incentive for anglers.

The department's goal is to reduce the lake trout numbers, increase the kokanee population and ultimately improve the rainbow fishing.

Known as Kamloops rainbows or "Kams," the rainbow trout in Pend Oreille can grow to enormous sizes - up to 25 or 30 pounds, in rare instances. They're a popular sport fish among serious anglers.

"We've definitely been seeing some encouraging signs," said Andy Dux, a principal fishery research biologist and supervisor of the Pend Oreille program. "We're starting to see some of the positive signs we've been hoping to. We're not there yet, but we think we're getting closer."

The lake's entire fishery centers on kokanee, he said, the small salmon that provide forage for rainbows and bull trout. For now, IDFG wants to harvest as many Kams as it can, "Just to give kokanee every possible opportunity to increase in abundance," Dux said.

That's why the department has placed a $15 bounty on rainbows as well as lakers.

With two weapons at its disposal - netting and incentivized angling - IDFG is working to control the lake trout numbers and stabilize the Lake Pend Oreille fishery.

"Having both of those tools has been very effective," Dux said.

Farther south, IDFG surveyed the fish populations in Hayden Lake. A very diverse fishery, the lake is home to large and smallmouth bass, northern pike, crappie and some trout species.

During the 2010 survey, "Anglers were interviewed on the water and at public launches to obtain information such as hours fished, equipment used, species caught and the number of fish harvested," the fisheries report said.

IDFG was concerned that the Hayden Lake trout were in decline.

"We knew that the trout fishery wasn't what it used to be, but it's definitely suspect," Fredericks said. "It needs improvement."

According to the survey, fishermen caught 147 trout during the 2010 season. In 1994-95, anglers brought in 4,528 trout.

The lake is stocked with more than 225,000 rainbow trout fingerlings annually, the report said. The fingerlings are about 4 to 6 inches long. However, the young trout won't contribute to the fishery until two or three years after they're stocked.

"Clearly, what we've been using isn't working all that well," Fredericks said.

Predation from warm-water species like bass and pike is contributing to the problem, the report noted. Pike were introduced illegally, but IDFG began stocking smallmouth bass in 1983. The population exploded, and in 2010 anglers hooked almost 34,000 smallies, according to the survey.

To improve the trout fishing in Hayden, IDFG has moved the rainbow stocking location to the south end of the lake, where there are fewer predators. Biologists are also considering factors like food density, time of planting and the strain of trout being stocked, the fisheries report detailed.

"Although the trout fishery of the 1940s and '50s is a thing of the past, we believe we can restore the fishery to the quality anglers enjoyed in the 1970s and '80s," the report said.

Aside from surveys and population control programs, IDFG also conducts outreach events. On June 19, 2010, the department hosted a Kid's Bluegill Fishing Clinic on Rose Lake. Sixty youngsters ages 4-16 were introduced to sportfishing.

"They loved it," said IDFG Regional Fisheries Biologist Mark Liter. "They all caught fish. Every single kid caught fish. That's the beauty of bluegills."

The Panhandle Bass Anglers co-sponsored the event, bringing along their shiny bass boats and taking the kids out on the lake. Cabela's in Post Falls outfitted every youngster with a rod and reel.

At lunchtime, the crew munched on 12 pounds of tasty bluegill fillets.

"There's no shortage of bluegills in Rose Lake, and in June they're very willing to bite. So it worked out well," Liter said. "It's something that the whole family can do - an inexpensive outdoor outing."

IDFG plans to host another bluegill clinic this summer, and possibly an ice fishing event next winter.

The most exciting day of the 2010 fishing season came on Aug. 6, when two Idaho state records were broken. Kim Fleming hauled in a 40-pound, 2-ounce northern pike at Lower Twin Lake, and Dale Hoffmann caught a Lake Pend Oreille whitefish that weighed 6 pounds, 8 ounces.

Fleming's pike fell for a wedding ring spinner on 6-pound test, while Hoffman was trolling for lake trout when his record whitefish hit. Both men are now in the Idaho record books.

"It was really a neat year over the past year for big fish," Fredericks said. "That's something really special. And it kind of speaks to the variety, and what a unique part of the state this is."