Lake Pend Oreille Anchorages

Over the years, I have anchored in many nice places all along the shores of Lake Pend Oreille.  Many people think that the water is too deep... but, there are lots of places to set the hook - - whether for lunch or for overnight.  Here are a couple photos of some of the nice places.

This is Whiskey Rock - about 8 miles north of Bayview on the East side of the lake.  There are free public docks as well as mooring "balls".  AND, the bottom is excellent for anchoring too.  Just be aware that storms can come up in the night from the north and the northwest.  The anchorage is completely unprotected in this case.

Here is the beautiful Clark Fork River estuary.  There is excellent shallow holding ground all around this scenic place.  This is a good anchorage with many favorable places to tuck in to to avoid the weather.  There is also a nice free public dock.

This is the anchorage along the south shore of Ellisport Bay - home of Kramers Marina and Pend Oreille Shores condos and the Floating Restaurant.  Hope is at the west end of Ellisport Bay on the north shore.  I usually anchor along this south shore in ~20 feet of water.  Good holding... but lots of seaweed comes up with the anchor in August.  You only need to be concerned about weather from the west (directly from Sandpoint).

Here is Bottle Bay.  Kathy and I have anchored at the south end of the bay near a slough.  I generally anchor in about 10 feet of water as this anchorage is really protected from all but a direct north storm.  The Bottle Bay Marina is about a quarter mile away along the west shore and they usually have overnight moorage.

At the south end of Lake Pend Oreille is ButtonHook Cove.  This is a true "hurricane hole" that is completely protected from all sides.  When anchoring, I usually try to tuck in close to the west shore in about 15 feet of water.  And, there are three nice public docks in ButtonHook too.
There are lots of other places to anchor too around the lake.  Some of the other places (check out your chart # 18554) where Kathy and I have anchored are:
Lakeview
Maiden Rock
Garfield Bay
Camp Bay
Fisherman's Island
near the railroad bridge at Sandpoint; and also at the south end of the railroad bridge
and the Pack River estuary...

Let me know if you have any questions.

509 993 3214
BarnacleBillHolcomb@gmail.com

Brief Winter Maintenance

Hi all,

This winter – so far – has been pretty snowy.  I’ve been out to Snickerdoodle a few times already to remove the snow that has accumulated during each winter storm that has blown through.

Snow – even though it looks and feels light and fluffy when it falls – is actually pretty heavy.  My brother Bob sent me the following photo of a friend’s 30-foot boat after several inches of snow had been removed.  Notice the ice-balls that are frozen to where the waterline was and how much the boat has risen out of the water after the snow was removed.

The weather forecast for the next seven days indicates a warm-up with temperatures near 40F and the possibility of rain.  Remember that 40-degree temp is the high.  It’ll take all day to get to that high and shortly thereafter, the sun goes down and so does the temp.  Those temps will melt a little of the snow off your boat… but not much.  The rain though will add a lot of weight as it is collected in the snow and subsequently freezes as night-time temps fall below freezing.

So, I’d say it would be a great time (if you haven’t already) to head out to your boat and sweep her off before the rain comes.  That way the rain will flow off instead of freezing in the accumulated snow.  While you are at your boat, be sure to check inside too.  Water has a wonderful tendency to seep into any open container it can find – including the unsuspecting boat.  And, there is all kinds of problems that water inside your boat over the winter can cause. 

See you at the lake…..