Coeur d'Alene Lake rests at an elevation of 2128 feet. It receives most of its water from the Coeur d'Alene River, St Joe Wild and Scenic River and St Maries rivers. Its outlet is the Spokane River, a tributary of the Columbia.

The reservoir has 25,100 surface acres, is 25 miles long with 135 miles of shoreline and an average depth of 120 feet.

Largemouth and smallmouth bass fishing is the available to the angler. Also present in the lake are kokanee and chinook salmon, cutthroat trout, crappie, yellow perch and northern pike.

Coeur d'Alene, like many places in the Northern Region, received its name from French traders. They applied the term, meaning "sharp-hearted", to group of local Native Americans (who had their own name, Scheechu'umsh).

Fort Coeur d'Alene, later Fort Sherman, was erected in 1876. The city burgeoned around the stockade after the 1883 discovery of silver, lead and zinc, then the mining boom of 1884.

For more information: Coeur D'alene Lake Recreation Management Area, 1808 N. Third Street, Coeur d'Alene, ID, 83814, Phone: 208-769-5000 Or - Idaho Department of Fish and Game, P.O. Box 25, Boise, ID 83707 Phone (208)334-3700.

Special Notice - A 2001 Supreme Court decision has affirmed the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's ownership of roughly the southern 1/3 of the lake. Fishing on this portion of the lake is regulated exclusively by the Tribe for the most part. I would encourage any interested angler to contact the Tribe directly for specifics on license requirements, seasons, boating regulations, etc.
Please call if you would like any additional information.

Coeur d'Alene Tribe
Fish and Wildlife Programs
401 Annie Antelope Road
Plummer, Idaho 83851
208-686-5302