Coeur d’Alene kokanee 14–18 inches; Clearwater confluence Chinook and steelhead pick up

Lake Coeur d’Alene’s kokanee troll put fish in the box this week. Alan Liere’s Sept. 17, 2026 hunting and fishing report in the Spokesman-Review says friends who ran with a Fins and Feathers guide kept 22 kokanee, mostly 14 to 18 inches, all taken at 50 feet on downriggers. They also released a few of the smaller fish that will make next year’s bite.

The Snake–Clearwater confluence has picked up for fall Chinook and steelhead after a poor first week, according to anglers who stuck with it. One jigged a hatchery hen Chinook while drifting a Crippled Herring, then watched other boats get fish while a 360 flasher and Brad’s Cut Plug with tuna did nothing in surface weeds. Switching to a bobber and pink shrimp produced a hatchery B-run steelhead hen. Friends who stayed on bobbers and shrimp went home with a hatchery steelhead and two hatchery Chinook. A few steelhead have also shown on the Clearwater; Liere still calls it early for the Snake and Grande Ronde.

This is a field-report update on the lake and the confluence, not the statewide bag-limit emergency order already on this desk. Confirm current IDFG Chinook and steelhead tables before you keep a fish. Cooler nights have also improved trout on the North Fork Coeur d’Alene and the St. Joe (mahogany duns, October caddis, smaller hoppers and ants), and Hoodoo Pass is now a route into the upper North Fork Clearwater and Kelly Creek.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Spokesman-Review — Alan Liere’s hunting and fishing report for Sept. 17, 2026 (Alan Liere, Sept. 17, 2026).