The Idaho Department of Fish and Game Commission recently adopted a three-year fishing seasons and rules brochure.

For the first time since 1999, anglers will again be allowed to harvest kokanee in Lake Pend Oreille as a result of the success of the Lake Pend Oreille fishery recovery program. Anglers will be allowed to harvest six kokanee per day in Lake Pend Oreille in 2013.

In addition, the increase in kokanee has made it possible to move back toward trophy rainbow trout management. A size and bag limit will be reinstated for rainbows: six rainbow trout, only one more than 20 inches long; and the $15 per head angler incentive will no longer be in effect for rainbow trout. The $15 incentive remains in place for lake trout in Lake Pend Oreille.

Elsewhere in the Panhandle Region the limit on kokanee was lowered to six fish in Priest Lake and Upper Priest Lake. In Lake Pend Oreille anglers are allowed to harvest six kokanee and six rainbow trout - only one more than 20 inches long.

Clark Fork river and tributaries; Pack River and tributaries; and Grouse Creek and tributaries will be closed to trout harvest from Dec. 1 to the Friday before the Memorial Day weekend.

The rules would cover 2013 through 2015. The change is based on 11 months of public interaction and responses to an angler survey conducted in 2011, state fishery manager Jeff Dillon told commissioners.

These changes take effect Jan. 1. Anglers should consult the new 2013-2015 seasons and rules brochure, which will be available at all license vendors, IDFG offices and on the IDFG website before January.