Sandpoint man wins $1,000 in walleye lottery

SANDPOINT — Another Idaho angler has won $1,000 in the Lake Pend Oreille walleye lottery.

Doug Lambrecht of Sandpoint caught his reward-tagged walleye while fishing shallow weed beds along the northern lakeshore during mid-July. The winning fish was tagged in February 2020 near Fisherman’s Island, according to Kiira Siitari, regional communications manager for Idaho Department of Fish and Game

Lambrecht is the fifth winner to reel in a $1,000 walleye since the program began in 2019. Up to 95 reward-tagged walleye are still available, Siitari said.

Lambrecht guessed his winning fish was in the two to three pound range.

“He was happy to report his daughter reeled in a much bigger walleye in the same month, despite not having a $1,000 tag,” Siitari said.

Anglers are unable to tell if a walleye has a nearly-microscopic reward tag implanted in the fish’s snout. In order to win, anglers submit walleye heads to Fish & Game freezers located throughout the region. Biologists then scan for winning heads at the end of each month. Untagged heads are worth a chance at ten $100 monthly prizes.

Lambert’s walleye catch follows those by a trio of Idaho anglers who caught their own reward-tagged fish earlier this summer as part of a Fish & Game harvest incentive program launched in March 2019.

Mike Gordon of Sandpoint caught his winning fish in the Clark Fork River while fishing for smallmouth bass.

Gordon’s walleye was tagged by biologists in May 2019 off Kootenai Point. Tony Butler of Hope caught his wining walleye in northern Lake Pend Oreille. Butler’s winning fish was tagged in 2018 in Martin Bay near Sagle. The third angler, from Idaho Falls, wished to remain anonymous. The walleye was also caught in the northern part of the lake and was around 20 inches in length, similar in size to Gordon and Butler’s fish. It was tagged in May 2020.

In order to win, anglers submit walleye heads to Fish & Game freezers located throughout the region. Tiny tags are implanted in the snouts of winning fish. There’s no way for anglers to tell if a fish has a reward tag without submitting the head for biologists to scan.

Up to 97 tagged walleye are still available for anglers to catch. In 2018 and 2019, 50 walleye worth $1,000 apiece were tagged in Lake Pend Oreille and the Pend Oreille and Clark Fork Rivers. In May 2020, an additional 50 walleye were tagged.

Biologists tagged fish from different size classes and locations in order to distribute the chances of winning across the basin. Eligible walleye can be caught anywhere in the Pend Oreille system in Idaho, including tributaries like Priest River.

Tagged fish aren’t the only way to win prize money in the walleye lottery. All anglers who submit heads are also entered in to monthly drawings for ten $100 prizes. Each untagged walleye submission counts as one entry in to the drawing. As of June, just under $10,000 had been distributed to anglers in the monthly drawings.

The walleye lottery is designed to encourage angler harvest of walleye in Lake Pend Oreille. In addition, it helps fisheries managers understand what role anglers play in controlling this non-native population. Keeping the walleye population low is important for sustaining other fish populations in the lake, such as kokanee, rainbow trout and bull trout. The walleye lottery is funded by Avista through the Clark Fork Settlement Agreement.

Walleye are believed to have been illegally introduced in Montana’s Noxon Reservoir in 1991. They are of concern to Idaho wildlife biologists because they are voracious predators known for explosive population growth.