Commercial fishing once thrived in area

(Today, Ron Chaney, in his own words, tells about commercial fishing on Lake Pend Oreille.)

“I am not sure of my facts regarding dates; but, I believe it was in the ’40s when kokanee, we called them bluebacks, first showed up in Lake Pend Oreille.

“I remember the first time we started catching the bluebacks. My dad and mom were fishing commercially for white fish, near Whiskey Rock, at the southern end of the lake. As was our custom, I joined them on weekends. We were filling our washtubs with whitefish when these strange looking trout started taking our bait. We placed them in our container, along with the targeted whitefish, and took them to market.

“Our primary fish buyer was Evan’s Fishery on Pine Street in Sandpoint. Evan’s mostly smoked the fish and sold them to retail outlets. It was not long before Evans paid a premium for the tasty new fish as they proved to be a delicacy both fresh and smoked. Of course, the fishermen very quickly began concentrating on catching bluebacks.

“My dad was a logger and in those days, they didn’t ‘log’ during the winter months or during spring break up; so money from commercial fishing placed food on the table. The same as most of the other fishermen, my family had a small open wooden boat. We didn’t use a fishing pole or reel, only a hand line. The trick was to duplicate the appearance of the fish’s sought after favorite food. The bait was always the same — maggots (insect larva) on a red florescent hook and with a nylon line. The movement of the bait through the water was critical. Jigging the line several times, then giving just the right jerk to set the hook as the fish nibbled the bait.

“We would ‘jig’ at different depths and speeds until someone found just the right formula. Then as soon as the fish started hitting the bait fast and furiously, we would tell our ‘partners’ where they were and ‘what they were taking.’ Some folks used multiple hooks on their lines; however, we found it was more productive to use only one hook per line as then the fish would glide up through the water faster and more smoothly which reduced the retrieval time from bite to boat.

“Soon after the first of the year, we would start ‘looking’ for blueback at the south end of the lake near Bayview out in the really deep water, often more than 1,000 feet deep. At this time of the year, normally we would find the fish at about 120 feet deep. Of course, we couldn’t anchor in water that deep so we would steady the boat’s movement with oars. As the season progressed, the fish would move north toward the islands in large schools. We would move with them.

“The fishermen became very good at keeping track of the fish’s movement; but there was very little cooperation among the professionals — they would ‘dummy up’ when another fisherman went by ‘on the tramp’ looking for fish. As the schools of bluebacks moved north, they remained quite close to the shore, mostly in water around 200 feet deep and they were at this time about 30 feet down. The quality of fishing would start to diminish in the spring, as the schools would break up. At this time, out would come the trolling motors and the sport fishermen.

“In the early days there was no limit on the number of bluebacks we could catch; but, later on they placed a limit of 200 fish on our commercial license and 50 on our ‘sport’ license. Fish caught on the sport license were not to be sold; and of course, we were very careful not to mix them up. Most days we would catch our limits. By now, my dad had learned how to smoke blueback and we developed our own smoked blueback market. We sold three-and-a-half to four fish per pound, we received 60 cents per pound for them fresh, and substantially more for them smoked.

“ ‘Bluebacking’ was a wonderful part of our family life and it saddens me that this fishery no longer exists in Lake Pend Oreille. What caused the collapse of the blueback population? Was it over fishing? The Dams? Introduction of predator fish? Mysis shrimp? It was probably a combination of all of the above. However, the more important question is: Can we bring them back?”