Fresh News Report from MarDon Resort

The water level has risen slightly on the Potholes Reservoir bring it to an elevation of 1,040.80 feet. The water temperature on the main lake is right around 40 degrees with lower temperatures back in the sand dunes.

We have had several reports of walleye being caught on the humps toward the face of the sand dunes. Best bet is to fish with Blade Baits in 30-40 feet of water, or troll crawler harnesses on a 2-oz. Bottom walker. The face of the dam is still producing walleye, smallmouth and trout. Swimbaits, drop-shot baits, and football heads with skirted hula grubs and blade baits are the top baits on the dam. Fish in 25-35 feet of water next to the dam. Several walleye are being caught off the MarDon dock on Blade Baits and Acme Hyper Glides.

Hunting

The duck hunting has been hit or miss. The birds are here — but it has been extremely calm and overcast. We hope the coming weather change will get the birds moving. Goose hunting has been good over with numerous limits being reported.

Call the MarDon Store for the latest hunting and fishing info at (509) 346-2651.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife held a Commission Meeting on December 8 and 9 in Olympia. Much of the meeting was focused on rule simplification regarding fishing regulations. One of the items on the agenda has a direct affect on our local waters. The WDFW is proposing the elimination of all Panfish special regulations on select waters. The Potholes Reservoir, Moses Lake and Banks Lake will be affected if this proposal is passed.

The proposal will remove all size and number limits on Perch, Crappie, and Bluegill in the above-mentioned lakes. The public was able to comment online on the WDFW website and as of Nov. 21, there were 301 comments submitted on the Panfish issue alone, of which 273 opposed the proposal.

Public comment was welcomed at the meet, so Mike Meseberg and I representing MarDon Resort, Ron Sawyer of Cascade Marina, Joel Nania and others made the trip to Olympia to testify against lifting the current Panfish regulations. There were many others that attended and showed support in numbers against this proposal. The proposal, if passed, could have a tremendous negative affect on not only the Panfish in the aforementioned waters, but on the bass and walleye fishing as well.

The public comment on the WDFW site, the Save Our Limits Facebook campaign, as well as the testimony provided by the public at the meeting opposing this the Elimination of Special Regulations on Panfish appears to have made a difference and it got the attention of the Commission. We hope our message was heard and will be considered in the decision. The WDFW Commission will decide on this issue during the Jan. 19-20, 2018 meeting. The approved rule changes will go into effect in July of 2018.