FRESH NEWS: Catfish hot at Potholes Reservoir

MARDON — Over this week Potholes Reservoir has risen from 1028.55 feet to 1029.9 feet for a gain of 1.35 feet. Water temperature was 61.4 Monday afternoon. With the shorter days and the cooler temps, the fish are transitioning into their fall feeding pattern. Also with the cooler temps and shorter days comes hunting season. Opening day for both waterfowl and modern firearm deer seasons is Oct. 12. 

The channel catfish fishing is hot! Over the weekend over a dozen channels over 20 pounds were caught, with the largest weighing in at 25.63 pounds. To catch these monsters, troll cut bait on a standard 1.5-ounce egg sinker rig to 30-pound fluorocarbon leader to a 3/0 circle hook at 0.5 mph around the habit boxes that you’ve marked bluegill around.

Bass, bass, and more bass: The largemouth bite continues to be good to great with the water temps dropping. Fish points and drops from 5 to 15 feet of water with your favorite creature-style baits on jigs or Texas-rigged. Crankbaits have been producing good numbers as well. The smallmouth fishing has slowed this week. A few anglers have brought in some good smallmouth over 3.5 pounds fishing deep-diving jerk baits early and then transitioning to finesse gear, i.e. Ned-rigged craws, TRDs or even drop shot rigs as the sun gets higher in the sky. 

Crappie and bluegill limits are coming easy. Lots of reports of limits and bluegill over 10.5 inches came in this last week. Use your sonar to locate the schools around the habitat boxes, of which there are over 4,000 now in the reservoir. Once you have located the school use a slip bobber set up with a 1/32-ounce jig tipped with a Bobby Garland Baby Shad in Blue Ice or a Berkley Gulp Alive 1.5-inch Black Shad colored minnow.  

Finicky eyes: The walleye have not turned on yet, but anglers are picking up a few. Best results have come from trolling Slow Death worm harnesses with a single black bead in 8-15 feet of water. Blade baits and Jigging Raps should start to shine in the coming week.

And as always for more info or help choosing tackle, stop into our fully-stocked tackle shop. We also carry ammo, boating and hunting accessories and are open seven days a week all year. Or call the MarDon Resort tackle store for current conditions and fishing information at 509-346-2651.