FRESH NEWS: Walleye, channel cats strong at Potholes

MARDON — The weather may be cooling off, but the fishing isn’t. Reports from anglers over the weekend told us that bass and pan fish are still feeding heavily. Multiple anglers landed their personal bests before the wind turned up on the reservoir. 

This week Potholes Reservoir has risen from 1,032 feet to 1032.26 feet for a gain of just 3 inches. Water temperature was 57.2 degrees Monday afternoon. With the cooler daytime temps and cloud cover expect the water temps to drop quickly.

Walleye: Anglers are picking up good-sized eaters in 15-25 feet of water. To target these eaters throw 1/2-ounce or 5/8-ounce Blade baits or No. 7 Jigging Raps along Perch Point and the mouth of Crab Creek and around Goose Island. 

Crappie and bluegill: Anglers are still reporting large schools of hungry slabs around the habitat boxes. For the last few weeks, the best way to land these slabs is to use your sonar and contour map to locate the structure holding the school. Once the school has been found use a slip bobber rig tipped with brown trout magnet or 1-inch chunk of night crawler.

Channel catfish: Large channels are still being found in good numbers. This week should provide good weather to keep this bite on. If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand on reeling in a monster channel, now is the time.

Ducks and geese: It’s snowing! Snow geese, that is. A large flock of snows has found its way back to the reservoir. Duck hunting has remained fair last week with hunters competing with skittish local birds and higher than average temps. Hopefully, new birds will arrive with lower temps and storms in Alberta and British Columbia.

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. Call the MarDon Resort Tackle store for current conditions and fishing information at 509-346-2651.

    Wyatt Smith holds a smallmouth bass.