Planning the first trip to the big pond on Sunday, March 26th.  I know it is two weeks out, but I am so excited, I had too share.

How much planning goes into that long, treatcherous one hour-drive to Potholes?  ;) You lucky dog.

Good luck.

Kirk,

Lucky dog is right. Wish I could go.
Russ

Young son and me will be at Potholes Saturday the 1st April.  Will be staying over in Lind Coulee have only fished this area; what other spots would be good to fish?

P.S.  Hey Rob, I will change the picture if you can tell me how to insert one.

Hey Night basser,
 Besides Lind Coulee  if you head out to Goose Island, ( the big island in the middle by the dam)  and head straight for the dam from Goose Island, you will find a number of submerged and not so submerged rock piles.  Be very careful navigating around these rock piles.  But they do have a good number of Smallies! :D  Grubs, tubes, drop shot and carolina rigs in your standard green pumpkin, watermelon green, and brown colors will usually do the trick.

Mark

I believe they run from number 90 to 100ish on the dam wall. You will noticed numbers on the rail on the road above the dam. I think the islands fall into this slot if I'm not mistaken.

Actually, nightbasser, the fellas are once again, leading a new unsuspecting member towards flailing away a good day on the water.  Allow me to step in here and set the record straight for you.  No matter what they say, I do not like fishing Potholes.  I hate it and would not recommend it to anybody.  I only spend a day or two there each year.  There are not many fish there and those that are are skinny little smallies.  I would say your best bet is just staying in Lind Coulee.  It is the only location on Potholes that holds any fish over 2lbs.  Throw pike minnow imitations and you should get a bite or two.

Ok, Ok, I laid it on thick, but that is me.  Take a chance and head back into the dunes.  Look for deeper water and steep banks this time of the year.  If you get lots of sun, I would fish the south facing slopes of the dunes, as they warm up a bit, especially late in the day.  The rock piles are decent and hold lots of fish.  I prefer draggin a 4" texas rigged lizard over the rocks.  Prepare to lose lots of gear, but a five pounder is not unusual with this technique.  

My old avatar pic was a pair of 3.5lb + smallies caught along the rock wall, within 10 minutes of each other.  Even got good largemouth along the rock wall on the "potholes buzzbait"  I think theres fish all over, I love Potholes.  I never did well in the dunes, but once, although I was in a 9 foot boat with 3.3 hp.  I drove my boat back in the dunes for 30 minutes or more and I still had bass boats coming out from them on plane, I was like  :o

Hey, Thanks guys.  I fished Lind Coulee two years ago but, the wind blew the entire we :-[ :'(ekend. Hopefully this trip the weather will be better. Anyway Young Son is all excited. Nothing like camping in the back of the truck for three days with the old man. No Mom, baths ,eating healthy, or going to bed on time. Wow, that goes for me too!!! YEAH! NO Wife. Hope she does not see this or no trip. :-[ :'( :'( :'(                             See ya thursday at the meeting.

Update- Potholes temps in Lind Coulee Arm running 47-57%. Some fish are being seen cruising the shallows.

Moses Lake gates to be releasing water into Potholes starting on the 22nd of March. Lake is higher than it has ever been in a long time according to my inside source who fished it today.

Loooooooooking forward to it!!!!!!!!!!
Russ

Hi All.
Just thought I would give a report on PotHoles - I have fished it the last 3 days.
The reservoir is FULL.
I could take my boat all the way back to the Army Corp d**e - on plane.
The main lake temp is 43 degrees, Lind coulee was 44-45 and the Winchester is 45-46 degrees.
I found a decent Smallie population on the North and the West side of Goose Island in 27 - 35 ft. Most came off a 4" green pumpkin crawdad on the bottom of my dropshot. The others came off a 3" Aarons magic leech on the top hook of the dropshot.
I also found a good walleye bite in the same area and have 2 limits for my efforts. They were a little deeper (40-45 ft) and came off blade baits worked vertically.
I could not muster up any Lg mouth. I tried both Winchester and Crab - with no success.
BTW - the air temp has been awesome! 57-60 degrees and calm. I fished until 7 pm tonight and if i can make it up there from Kennewick for an afternoon bite tomorrow - I'M ALL IN!

Oh Yeah, the launch on the eastside of the spillway is getting a new dock.
I watched them installing the first portion on Monday. If you have ever used that launch - you know this will be a big help.

That's my 2 1/2 cents - hope it helps.

Mike

That new dock at the Lind Coulee launch will be a godsend, especially if it's functional at low water elevations.
Good report! :D

[glb]Smitty[/glb] ;)

Yeah,

That dock will be nice.
I saw that they had 3 sections together by yesterday.
Did you use that launch last year?
They had installed a long rail that extended quite a ways out - that actually help, a little.
It must have been part of the future dock.

Mike