FISHING -- For the first time since 1999, anglers will be allowed to harvest kokanee in Lake Pend Oreille starting in 2013 under a fishing regulations adopted Thursday by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission.

The popular fishery has rebounded enough under a fisheries recovery program to allow anglers to keep up to six kokanee a day.

The kokanee increase will allow a move back toward trophy rainbow trout management. A size and bag limit will be reinstated for rainbows: six rainbow trout, only one more than 20 inches long.

The $15 per rainbow angler incentive will no longer be in effect, but the $15 bounty remains in place for lake trout. 

The new rules will go into effec Jan. 1.

• But you don't have to wait that long to enjoy the annual fall spectacles kokanee provide for area wildlife enthusiasts.

Elsewhere in the Panhandle Region, the kokanee limit was lowered to six fish in Priest and Upper Priest lakes. In Lake Pend Oreille anglers are allowed to harvest six kokanee and six rainbow trout – only one more than 20 inches long.

Clark Fork river and tributaries; Pack River and tributaries; and Grouse Creek and tributaries will be closed to trout harvest from December 1 to the Friday before the Memorial Day weekend.