June 11, 2015
Fishing Time: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Rating: 10
Weather Conditions: Sunny with clear skies and high winds
Bait: Drop Shot with Strike King Green Pumpkin Drew Shot Worm and Quick Drop 1/4 ounce weight; Livingston Beauty Shad Howeller Dream Master Classic Crankbait; Storm Arashi Hot Blue Shad Silent Square Bill Crankbait
Rod: Megabass Orochi XX Drop Shot Rod; Abu Garcia Veritas Medium Heavy Spinning Rod; St. Croix Rage Medium Casting Rod
Reel: Shimano Sustain; Quantum Smoke; Shimano Curado I
Line: 7-pound Sunline Super Sniper FC; 10-pound Yo Zuri Hybrid; 12-pound Stern Monofilament
Total Bass Caught: 13
Final Weigh in Weight: 11.0 pounds
As the Potholes Reservoir is one of the premier bass fishing lakes in Washington State, I have been dying to get out and fish it for the first time this year. Fortunately, I found time in my schedule today and was able to make the long trek over to Eastern Washington. Heading into the Potholes, my plan was to target some trophy largemouth bass in the dunes, but when I got there the dunes were nowhere to be found. I motored all around the north end of the lake, but still didn’t spot any of the sandy dunes that I remembered from last year. After a while, I came to realize that the water was so high that most of the dunes were buried underwater. Following this realization, I decided to fish around the brushpiles where the dunes were buried. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing extremely hard and kept pushing me into the shallows, so I was forced to retreat and change up my game plan. I had heard a lot of good things about the O’Sullivan Dam area and the Mardon dock, so my first instinct was to head over there. I cast around the Mardon Dock with my drop shot for a while, but wasn’t able to get any interest. After fishing the dock for a while, I turned the corner and came to the start of the dam. It was extremely rocky, so I made the decision to go with the Livingston Dream Master Classic Crankbait because it does a great job of deflecting off of rocks. On my very first cast, I cast to the base of the rock wall and began retrieving my lure. I felt my lure deflect off of a rock and then my line felt extremely heavy. I set the hook and instantly felt a monster bass on the other end of the line. I turned my drag up to its maximum setting, but the bass was still yanking line. I fought with it for a good two minutes and was finally able to get it into the boat. After putting it on the scale and measuring it, it ended up being a 4 pound 21” inch smallmouth bass. This broke my previous smallmouth record of 3.5 pounds, making it the largest smallmouth I have ever caught. I was exhilarated and my hopes for the day were now through the roof. On my very next cast, I felt something absolutely hammer my lure. I set the hook and was able to land a nice 1 pound smallmouth. Two casts later, I landed a 0.5 pound smallmouth bass. That made for three bass in four casts, which was absolutely crazy. I continued my way along the rock dam and managed to land 4 more 0.5 pound smallmouth in a matter of minutes. I then came to a point that extended off of the rock dam. I spotted a steep drop off on my fish finder and casted over to it. As I was bringing it in, I felt a strong tug, so I set the hook and landed another 1 pound smallmouth. The bite then went cold for a few minutes, so I decided to switch over to the Arashi Silent Squarebill Crankbait to give the bass a different look. On the second cast that I made with the bait, I was able to land 0.5 pound smallmouth. I continued down the stretch of rock dam and yet another four 0.5 pound bass followed. That put me at a total of 12 bass in a two hour window, which was some of the best fishing that I have ever experienced. However, once the clock struck noon, the bass stopped biting. I continued down the dam walls for another hour or so, but didn’t even manage bite. Once I came to the end of the dam, I remembered that there was a small channel just across the way that I had caught a bass in last year, so I motored over there. I rotated between the Arashi and the Livingston, but didn’t have any luck. The channel was pretty well protected from the wind though, so I figured I would give my drop shot a try. I cast over to one of the rocky banks and before my weight even touched the ground I saw my line take off. I set the hook and landed another 0.5 pound bass. After that I decided that I had caught enough smallmouth for the day and would now try and go after some largemouth. I motored all the way back to the far south end of the lake and noticed a bridge running across one of the channels. The bridge provided a lot of shade and was in fairly deep water, so I was almost certain there would be bass in the area. Unfortunately, my instincts were wrong and there were no bass to be seen. However, there were plenty of carp, as I saw over 10 massive carp swimming around under the bridge. After fishing the bridge, I noticed that the rest of the shoreline was filled with fallen tree and logs, so I fished those shorelines up until 4:00 p.m. without any success. With no more areas to fish in the south end of the lake, I decide to head over to Goose Island and give it a try. However, as soon as I entered the main part of the lake, the wind began gusting and there were massive waves all over the place. With winds over 20 miles per hour, it was a struggle just to maneuver the boat, let alone fish, so I decided to call it a day and head in.
Observations: The water temperature ranged from 72-80 degrees of water, which was extremely surprising considering the sheer size of the Potholes. The bass were all hanging around rocks and drop offs that ran to about 20-25 feet. They were all very active and aggressive, which was a good sign. I went into the day thinking that the water would be murky, but it turned out to be really clear, which was a pleasant surprise. I do admit that I’m a little bummed I didn’t get a largemouth, but with over a dozen bass in the boat and a new personal best for smallmouth, I have to say that this was some of the best fishing that I’ve experienced in a long time.