Howdy Epp,

Welcome to the site! Like Larry said, everyone talks about Potholes Reservoir (or Mardon Lake, as you like to call it ) because we have a tournament there almost every year. Although a lot of folks fish it, you can't beat the bass fishing there over the past couple of years. It took 10 fish weighing over 30 pounds to win our club tournament last year, and in other open tournaments it has been taking over 20 pounds for 5 fish to win. That's huge ANYWHERE!!! I also like the draw of the sand dunes area... it is so unique, and you just don't find it anywhere else.

But speaking of the small lakes in that area, I have done some fishing in them and especially enjoy the series of ponds formed by Coyote and Hays Creeks. Halfmoon and Shiner should be coming back from rehabilitation as well, and should be good for all the spiny fish.

Come check out one of our meetings someday! There are plenty of people to learn about bass fishing from!

Best fishes,
Chris

Larry:
No I havent fished Red Rock Lake. I wish I had a big boat though. LOL. I just now got use of a small boat, so I am going to be using it as much as I can, I think I can fish just as good from a little boat as from a big boat, so maybe someday I will be able to place in a tournament...you never know. Thanks for the info though, I thought there must be something magic in the water there or something, cause every site I go to everyone talks about the potholes but nobody fishes any of the lakes other then Mardon...

Welcome Epp., alot of us have the bigger boats but we do like the smaller lakes so look at some of the archived messages. I think we talk so much about the bigger water since we have our tourneys on them. Have you fished Red Rock lake near Royal City? I will have to get to some of the seep lakes near Potholes but since I traded out of my Tin Boat I have'nt been exploring as much as I should. Larry.

??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???
Hey guys, this is my first post, and really the reason I joined this site to begin with. I hear alot about the Potholes, but really people are only talkin about Mardon Lake, is there a reason for this? I do alot of fishin in Long Lake there at the potholes, and I catch plenty of big Walleyes, monster trout, and a number of small to medium small mouth bass. Do people not like this lake, or does everyone just hang out at the comercial lake mardon?
I am new to bass fishing, and I am really interested in fishing with people, so I can learn. If anyone knows anyone else who might be interested in teaching a 25 year old Disabled vet the ropes, I would be happy as hell.

See, I can always count on youse skys to help out!!  Something I like to do in keeping my diary of Potholes is to track what the elevations are every day for two weeks prior to a trip and the day of.  I have been doing this since 1994 and the data is very interesting in relationship to where I catch my fish.  Is it a "secret"?  Nah, just fun.

Kirk

Odd.  It worked great last night.  It appears to be a server issue on their end, so I'd try again later on today.

Has that link worked for you every time, Glenn? I always get a bad link page when I try it...

Chris

Here ya go!  http://www.cbpo.pn.usbr.gov/elevations.htm

The level for Tuesday (latest report) is 1042.14.  Also has Moses, Banks, Scootney....

Glenn is right... Except the Ephrata Bureau of "wreck"lamation office website from where the elevations come from is always changing. My old links don't work, and the ones that come up from Google don't work, either. I would recommend calling the Ephrata office from time to time. Those guys are always willing to talk your ear off. They'll even tell you what the future plans for the water levels are in the basin for the next week

I have a feeling that reservoir elevations are harder to find post 9/11 because of security issues.

I think this is the number: 509-754-0249

Good luck,
Chris

Mardons is a great chart, thanks, but I once had the real-time site from the web and I think that Glenn is on the money with BLM.  Thanks.

This might not be what you mean or need, but I believe Mardon's website has a regular water level report.

I understand Larry S. is an excellent depthfinder!   


...seriously, I don't have a website off the top of my head, so I'll have to do a little digging.  My first guess, though, would the Corpe of Engineers site.  Either that, or bureau of land management - Grant Co.

I understand that some folks have been on Potholes recently.  Water levels are lagging a bit behind from recent years, which is a bit of a bummer for me as I like to fish the Potholes Open and my favorite areas need the elevations to be around 1042.00 to 1044.00.  My question is do any of the techno guys (May, Seargent) have any sites avaialble that provide daily elevation data?  My research of available site data is not working out as it has in the past.  The gage may be down for maintenance or the domain has changed.  Got help??