mike meseberg's weekly report on mardon.com makes fishing on potholes reservoir sound terrific, or something close to that. from the photos of fish caught, it sure seems like it MUST be great fishing for at least some fishermen.

but . . . . . my gut recollections tell me that i've experienced proportionately more fishless and bite-less days on potholes than any other large water.

yesterday in the strong wind was another example; many boats were fishing lind coulee and three that i spoke with had no bites, like me.

how do you feel about your potholes reservoir fishing experiences?

Big John-- While i haven't fished the Potholes in about six years, since moving to the wet side, I have no problems believing that I could go to the Potholes and do well after a day's re-orientation. The only time it gets frustrating is just after ice-out, but even then if you know where to go, it's still a pretty good chance that you can catch something.

Part of the reason I say that is that I'll fish for anything-- from perch to trout to bass to walleyes. If you go with the idea that you're going to catch walleyes, say, then you better be equipped to fish for something else as well. Something is always going on in the lake, but not always is the primary species you're after biting.

I know one of the reasons I did so well is that my buddy Skip Davis, formerly a guide on the reservoir, helped me a lot by showing me the wheres and whens and the hows. We fished together a lot in the early days of his guiding career, and the knowledge he gave me helped tremendously.

One of the big things, of course, is timing. If on your last trip you were chasing walleyes, then it would be tougher than in May as walleyes are getting close to spawning and that means that the larger females aren't biting, the males are ganged up, and most of the activity happens at night. Late March through April is tough for walleyes in the Potholes and elsewhere. But the trout should be going gangbusters as well as the perch. It's a bit early for the crappies and bluegills (although you can find some if you know where to look), and the bass will be few and far between. Having said that, I will say that it's a whole lot easier to catch fish in the Potholes now than it is at Banks, at least in my experience.

I don't know how familiar you are with the lake, but at this time of the year, a lot of the activity will be back in the Dunes. You need to learn the access channels and the side channels to get back in and out again, but with a full reservoir, it's fairly easy. The Dunes is a great place to go in the wind as is the face of the dam. The dam is pretty much a go-to at any time of the year. I've seldom done well in Lind Coulee as much of it has filled in with silt. When I was a kid, it was a great place to fish, however. There are still some fish that spawn in there, and certainly it holds fish year round, but it is probably one of the least productive areas in the lake.

I guess I could go on, but I want to keep some secrets for myself (JK)... If you have specific questions, shoot me an e-mail. I'd rather not advertise on the web.

Keith

I think a lot of fish are caught on paper. I was over the weekend before and only saw one other fish caught. Other than that, a lot of boats cruising the lake looking for fish. That was the big wind weekend.

Now... did see a moving stringer off of the gas dock, so the fish may have been in shallow.

What we caught was one trout.

potholes has always seemed to be a strange lake to me, as certain species of fish have their ups and downs over the years there. i haven't done any good on perch or sunfish in several years there, but the bass fishing is incredible. last time i was there(a year ago or so) a boat anchored about 100' from the dock brought in close to 30 trout(it was a loaded party barge) ranging from 14" to 10lbs.

i definitely agree to not limit your choices of species to target on this lake. i never really know what to expect there, so i'm ready to fish for anything. there's usually alway some kind of fish that's biting on potholes

that's an interesting point about lind coulee. 10-15 years ago the fishing was a lot better in there. used to be you could soak nightcrawlers off the beach and lay in the sun, and load up on just about everything that swims. now the fishing has gotten really slow there, you'll only pick up the occasional smallmouth or small perch.

i kind of wonder sometimes, is potholes(among other reservoirs) becoming no longer productive for spiny rays? 10 years ago the fishing was great, now it's nothing special. could it be the lake itself, or could be it be something to do with the rise of the walleye in the area?

Not only is Potholes no longer very productive for spiney rays, Moses lake and Banks lake have gone through a similar decline. In Moses lake they thought the Carp wallowing in the shallows during spawning of the spineys might be a factor. But a Carp exclusion net did not do much to bring them back.
The Walleye has definately contributed, but that doesen't explain it all.

Think of the word Panfish!! The take (of croppies especially) on these lakes in the heydays definately contributed. Lotta spawner size ended up in frypans.
In Banks Lake, they put out some artificial reefs here and there for croppie spawning and cover,but it hasn't seemed to do much so far.
Seems to me like once a species gets badly depleted, it's a long,hard road to bring it back unless ALL the factors leading to decline are removed at once
Probably ain'ta gonna happen.

Must of saw you Big John. Buddy and I fished, or should I say tried to fish Friday on O'Sullivan. Tough conditions, cold and very windy. We went down Linde Coulee to get out of the wind but trolling was tough to control even down there. We got one bite and that's it

We stayed at the County launch and tried out in front of Mardon also with no luck. We both joked that the Mardon reports must be reused ones from the 80's, back in the glory days.

Usually April is when things start to pick up for trout and walleye's but thought earlier spring this year might change something.

I would agree it's a tough place to fish. Perch and crappie isn't anything like it use to be. Trout fishing is good only because of the pen raised ones they let go every year.

Saturday morning with the wind still blowing went over to Burke to fish. Lot less wind there. Got into some 10-12" trout so at least we had some action

"We both joked that the Mardon reports must be reused ones from the 80's, back in the glory days."

ICF-- that's what we used to say back IN the '80s.

I can't say the Potholes is as good as it used to be because I haven't fished it in a long time (six years). I do know that there is a learning curve, and you can't visit there once or twice a year and expect to hit it big. It does take time to learn where the good fishing is and how to do it.

However, another guide friend of mine has fished it and remarked that the panfish are coming back. So if you're not catching them in the usual spots, I would start looking elsewhere.

Right now is a tough time to fish on any big body of water on the east side. It was a pretty cool winter, from what I understand, so the fish will not be as active at this time as they would during a warmer season. And one thing is a positive: at this time of the year when a low-pressure system moves in, you will have a tough time catching anything. Fish don't respond well with systems moving through.

I think I mentioned species considerations in that earlier post. At this time of the year, don't expect to catch bluegill, crappie or bass. Perch, walleyes and trout are it. You'll have to wait on the other species. Yes, you can catch them, but it's a longshot. Perch should be popping in three weeks or so, but you might not find them shallow. Walleyes will bite, but because they are more concerned with spawning, they'll be tough.

Trout are almost a slam dunk-- if the weather is decent. If it's not sunny, you could probably catch the stuffings out of trout by fishing shallow. Troll a Rapala minnow or a smallish Shad Rap-- say nothing larger than a #7. If it's sunny, you probably will have to go deeper. There are other considerations about trout as well that I won't go into here.

Don't put down the net pen trout as there is very little, if any, natural spawning to supply the lake.

All I can say is that all this talk makes me want to head over there this weekend...

Keith

Pretty much agree with you kj. The big problem early in the spring are having several days of good warm weather then "bam" get hit with a cold front like this past weekend.

I didn't mean to sound like I was putting down the net pens. The trout fishing from April through October has been great overall for 5 years now. Last year there was a bit of a drop but the fish sure get good size quick.

Interesting in 2001 the perch fishing was very good by Winchester and Frenchman Wasteways. I caught a lot of perch and saw others catch 'em that could rival the "old days". There was a drop last year in perch but Walleyes seamed to be fat and happy. Hmmm.

Large walleye have been the rule the last 2 years. Last year my mom and I took my dads ashes to the secret location on O'Sullivan. After a toast and a few words I put on my dads favorite double whammy and started trolling. 10 minutes later I get the walleye tap and a nice 6 pounder found it my boat. Was a sign from above as it was Father's Day and the weather was perfect.

I think others are correct the different species populations fluctuate. Big walleyes can eat a lot of perch and of course the fisherman do also. I think the 25 limit on perch at Potholes should help.

Can't wait for a little more stable weather to try again

Glad to hear the talk about Potholes, has been my favorite fishing area since I can remember

I used to fish the Potholes in bass derbies several years ago. A thousand casts and maybe a bass or two, tough fishing. The winners and those who did well had huge knowledge of the dunes. They knew every dune, every beaver hut, every willow tree. But the most important thing this time of year is finding water of a certain temperature. Warm water, hot fishing. That cold wind, rough water, and sore arm from fishing was brutal, but it was fun.

If you're not targeting bass, hit some seep lakes for lunker trout. It can be awesome.

Good luck!

it'd be nice to see some decent spiny ray fishing again. i remember the non stop action there used to be for perch and bluegill off the gas dock in the late 80s, and there was once good crappie fishing around the rockpiles by the islands

seems to me the perch have been the hardest to catch in recent years, and i'd like to put the blame on those lunker walleyes, but i know us fishermen have probably contributed quite a bit. there used to be some guys that would put 200 perch in the bucket on the mar don dock, that's like wiping out whole schools in one sitting. i think the bluegill have been about the same way, haven't caught anything over 4" out of there in ages

it kind of makes me wonder...could it be something with the water? most of the local lakes around there seem to have taken the same downturn, like moses. hopefully, it's just some kind of extreme fluctuation in the fish numbers...the walleye might eat too many panfish and their numbers will crash, the panfish will recover and so will the walleye and so on.

While I never really fished the reservour I fished alot of the Potholes in the Wildlife Refuge with good results in the late 1970's catching pan fish and small mouth bass.

I also had good results for trout at the washout north of Othello in the main Potholes Canal below Tagarres Dump from the bank. No one knew of that hole except a few of the locals and you could limit out there in no time.

I haven't fished the Potholes in years, but I immagine I could go back to some of my old fishing holes there and do rather well. Some of those little potholes were unbelieve in the quantity and quality of fish in them and most of them are very rarely fished.

I think the biggest fish tales are told in F&H News and the Mardon report. We have stayed there for the last few years . When you ask at the store where the fishing is good it's always off of there dock. I have yet to see a fish other than perch caught . I would venture out into some of the smaller lakes and do real well on trout. I would come back to the store at Mardon and they would be all over me and the Kids asking where we caught them. I would give them the name of a lake I had never been to and it would show up in there report as limits in lake so and so. They are all about selling triler spots and cabin rentals.

It seems like Potholes doesn't always produce the fish I'm expecting in the locations I'm expecting, but if I search a little it just about always produces something. We just about always get either walleyes or trout, and sometimes the walleyes can be excellent. But you have to be ready to make a circuit from the dunes, Crab creek, Goose Island, the dam, net pens, Frenchman Wasteway, and Lind Coulee... not necessarily in that order depending on the time of year and what you're targeting. This time of year I start off the mouth of Crab Creek, then Lind Coulee (for eyes) or Frenchman (for trout) but I'm sure there are a lot smarter folks out there than me.

Fishing the potholes is like any other lake. The fish move with the waters. Haven grown up on that lake I can tell you that fish can be had anytime of year. There has been a large decline in perch for some reason. Contrary to popular thought it is not the walleye. The Department does a walleye netting every year and checks the feed in the stomachs. perch does not appear to be the main diet for them. If it is SM Bass you are after you can plug along the dam with some deeper divers.. Shad raps work well. Winter walleye are a finiky fish. however they can be had. Jigging and Blades at slow speeds work well for them. Remeber the white eye is believed to be for low light visibility. i.e. Use Colors in dirty water. Orange Green are usually a safe bet. The warming waters will really put the LM Bass on the aggressive side. Fish the beaver huts in the dunes or explore Frenchmans for some deep holes (hint there is one very distinct one). These holes can produce all kinds of fish. Crab creek will begin to produce Some walleye very soon if it is not already.

Good luck and enjoy It will only be a few months till all the jetskis and airboats take the lake over..

I'm headed over to the potholes monday night for a couple of days since the wife is leaving town for 4 day's wonder if I can get my Jack Russell to net for me

Hi Big John,
I've read other people's responses and agree with some of what was said, but of the 3 or 4 times I've been to Potholes I've found the fishing to be above average. One person mentioned being willing to switch up tactics or chase different species of fish. Following that tactic has worked well for me.....some days I couldn't touch a bass, but did well on walleye. Other days I'd target walleye then switched over to trout with better success.

I've really only fished Potholes later in the season, but typically the fishing has been good.

i've noticed over the last 5 years or so the smallmouth fishing has been insane at potholes. we worked one stretch of the dam from about 1/2 mile from mar don back to the dock with jigs, 9 times out of 10 we would have fish on as soon as the jig hit the water, and i'm by no means exaggerating. most were 5-7" nibblers, but many were in the 10-13" range and i lost one that could have gone 4lbs.

i hear the wasteways are quite productive for perch this time of year, might have to try that eventually. i'm starting to think the potholes had such a big decline from the guys who would keep a cooler full from the dock, but it doesn't explain why i never catch big ones in lind coulee any more, unless they roam far and wide

and i really think those mar don reports are mostly hype. if you ever ask where the big fish are caught, it's always the dock, though there's typically only a few small bluegill, perch and the occasional trout later in the summer when i usually hit potholes