09-24 REELLIFE digital - Flipbook - Page 11
fishing
FALL FISHING AT POTHOLES RESERVOIR by
John Kruse
September and October
are my favorite times
of year and one of my
favorite places to recreate
is at Potholes Reservoir,
located between Moses
Lake and Othello in Eastern
Washington. This is a large
irrigation reservoir fed by
Crab Creek, Lind Coulee
as well as Winchester and
Frenchman’s Wasteway.
At full pool, the lake has
28,000 surface acres of
water but after a long
summer of dropping water
the lake definitely “fishes
smaller”.
While there is not as much
water to fish, particularly
back in the sand dunes area
and Crab Creek, there is still
plenty of lake to fish and
at this time of year, the fish
are biting as they beef up
for the long winter ahead.
Let’s run through some of
the species you can fish for
here and some effective
ways to catch them:
BASS:
Bassmaster Magazine
ranked Potholes Reservoir
as the ninth-best bass
fishing destination in
the Western United
States this year and for
good reason. There is a
healthy population of
both largemouth and
smallmouth bass in
several age classes. The
largemouth tend to be
bigger, averaging two
pounds and getting up to
7-plus pounds. At a typical
bass tournament, you’ll
need to have a five-fish
bag weighing over twenty
pounds for a chance to
win. The smallmouth
run a bit smaller, with
one-pound fish being
abundant. But I caught
a 5.4-pound smallmouth
here during September so
big smallmouth are around.
At this time of year, the
baitfish have moved out
into the main lake, and so
have the gamefish that are
after them. Pete Fisher at
the Mardon Resort Tackle
Shop and the owner of
Fisher Brothers Baits says
fishing in front of the dunes
on the main lake is the
best place to go. The fish
will be suspended around
sandy humps and Pete says
fishing a football head jig
with a hula grub trailer is an
effective way to catch these
fish, which are primarily
