Matt B

Don't bet on that, I've caught some nice bluegills, perch and crappie on 3" chartreuse Mr Twister grubs.

Just an update in case anybody is interested. I finally got back out to Potholes yesterday. I only fished for a few hours, from 1:00 to 4:30 or so. Not exactly prime fishing time, but I take what I can get. To start I headed down to Lind Coulee for a bit. Mostly I just threw a crawdad crankbait along some of the rocky shoreline, I managed one 10" smallie there. I didn't slow down and fish the points, there were too many ski boats/people back there for my taste. Next I headed over toward the dunes. I picked a couple spots nearest the main lake. Frankly I'm really clueless as to what to look for with cover here. The entire shoreline of most of these dunes are covered in weeds and bushes in shallow water. It's probably good fish cover, but there is so d**n much of it I didn't know where to begin. I tried to find anything that looked different from the rest of the shoreline, but it really all looked the same to me. I threw a jig for a bit, then a spinnerbait and finally a bluegill colored crank. I had one dink follow the crank, but no other signs of fish. The lake is going through an algae bloom and is really green and murky right now. To be fair, I didn't take much time to fish any spots really thoroughly as I didn't have a lot of time. I just didn't feel confident in the spots I was seeing, though. Glenn, I know you said to find submerged brush piles, but I don't have a depth finder other than a flasher unit (and I don't really know how to use it beyond seeing the depth.) and the water was too murky to see anything down there. So anyway, that's where my Potholes experience is at. I miss the springtime when you can just about throw an old boot out and catch a fish. I'll probably update this again as I fish this reservoir through the summer and into the fall, if nothing else to have my own little record of how I do out there. Maybe someone else might find it useful one day.

Second shot was perfect, but you didn't mention if the first shot was through someone's window or not. (Awesome shot!)

I guess I'm dense, but where are the +1 buttons? I'm not seeing them.

How does a carolina rig work in current? Does the bait just flutter downstream from the weight? I assume the presentation would have to be downstream or across, right?

I don't have any advice for you, but I'd love to hear how it goes. I've been wanting to head up there and try that stretch of water out.

Just as an update, I spent some time fishing a lipless crank yesterday. This was on a lake that I'd never been on and the wind was blowing enough to keep me from fishing anything slow. I kept the boat in around 15 feet of water and cast to a rocky shoreline with some weed beds here and there. I used a craw colored crank, hoping to pick up some smallies. Didn't seen any smallmouth, but I did land three small (14") walleye, though. This was in the mid-day heat, so maybe the bass were off in deeper waters. Not what I was expecting, but hey, at least I got rid of the no-fish curse on these things. and the walleye were big enough to get some small fillets from. Later on I was fishing a weedy flat next to some deep water and hooked a bass. It jumped and spit the hook, but judging how lightly colored it was, I'm pretty sure it was a largemouth, guessing in the 14 or 15" size or so. hatrix: I didn't see your post until just now, but I think I sort of figured out your technique for clearing weeds on my own yesterday by experimenting. First yank of the rod would usually pull weeds, then giving slack and a second jerk would often get the crank wobbling again. I look forward to giving these some more time on the water. I've got black/chrome and blue/chrome versions in the box to try when I get a chance. Do certain colors work better in certain situations?

Lipless cranks seem to be my arch nemesis. For as much as everyone loves them, I've never caught a fish on one. I realize that I'm probably not fishing it correctly or in the right places or something, but it makes it tough to tie one on. I think I just need to take the "Learn to fish jigs" approach. Go out for a day and don't bring anything but a box of lipless cranks. I know you're supposed to be ticking the weeds with these things, but how do you deal with the hooks getting clogged with gunk? Seems like whenever I do this I end up with long strands of weeds caught on the hook which completely stops the action of the bait. No more wiggling or rattling. Is there a technique to ripping these out of the weeds without bringing half the weedbed with it?

It may not be ideally suited for it, but I love throwing senkos on an UL rod. I just generally leave the hook point exposed so it's easier to hook the fish. I do miss fish, but I don't mind. Springtime on the local reservoir here and the 18-20" smallies eat those things up all day long. So much fun on the ultralight.

In a moment of interesting coincidence, my parents bought me the Berkely digital scale (I assume the same on mentioned just above) for my birthday last weekend. I was a bit worried about it working properly, so of course the first thing I do is grab a couple weight plates from the exercise room to test it out. First I hung the 2.5# plate from the scale. Reading: 3.1. Uhhhh....lets try the 5# plate. Reading: 6#. Well that sucks. As a test to make sure something wasn't goofy with the weights, I put them on my kitchen scale to check the weights. Verdict: My 2.5# plate actually weighs 3.2 and my 5# plate is more like 6#. The scale was actually within 1 oz in both cases. Good to know my weight set is so accurate! I'm not too concerned about perfect accuracy, I'd just like to be able to have a general idea what my bigger fish actually weigh. Within a few ounces is fine with me.

I can't believe you couldn't take time off from your iCast schedule to come and post on here, Glenn. Thanks for the tips, I'll stay up in the weeds. The other weekend I just wasn't finding a lot of likely looking spots, it seemed like the water had dropped down below all the brush and wood to where I saw mostly sandy beaches. I just need to explore some more, I'm sure the good stuff is there. I looked around for some beaver huts but didn't find any yet. For some reason I haven't yet ventured over to Lind Coulee yet, not sure why. The other day I was looking at it on google maps, though, I didn't realize it had all those little fingers of water poking into the shoreline. It's definitely on my list to explore. So much water, so little time...

Do you guys use the ones with the hook, or with the clamp, like the Boga grip uses? I never liked the idea of hooking through the fish's lip either, until I saw pics of people putting the hook under the gill instead of punching a hole through the lip. What are the chances of injuring the fish by hooking under the gills?

I know a ProCrafter, Glenn and a bunch of other Northwest folks spend a fair bit of time fishing Potholes and I'm hoping to pick your brains a little bit. I spent a good chunk of yesterday afternoon prowling Potholes looking for bass to no avail. Part of the problem is that I just don't know where I should be looking for them right about now. The water is still high, but dropping fast. The spots where I had found fish earlier in the spring are now mostly high and dry. I poked around in the dunes some, but couldn't find any great looking spots. I'm sure there is still a ton of area out there to explore, but my fear of getting lost keeps me from going too far in. I also briefly stopped at the rocky island out near goose island, but didn't see any smallmouth activity. I'm guessing that since the spawn is over and the weather is finally warming up the fish have begun moving deeper? Here's where I get lost, I've never really spent much time fishing away from the banks. At the moment the only depth finding capability on my boat is one of those nifty flashers mounted in the dash. I'm not to fluent in reading it, though. So do you Potholes fishing vets have any tips for someone still learning his way around? Did I simply catch the fish in an "in between period" and things will pick up more as the water drops further and the days get warmer? I can usually at least get into a few smaller fish, or maybe see some cruising around, but yesterday brought me nothin'. ~Matt

So how was the fishing? Wanted to get out, but had family in town for the weekend. I still haven't even had a chance to dewinterize my boat yet. Hopefully I can get it on the water next weekend.

Won't need to stay up there for the weekend (I'm only an hour away), but I may try to get up there to fish with you folks if I can. I'd love to get some pointers on how to properly fish that lake.

It's only a great thing if I win a rod.

Been using a net the last couple weekends as I've been smallmouth fishing with my ultralight setup. 3-5 pound smallies don't really lift right into the boat with a 7' spaghetti noodle, particularly with 4# test. I'd rather get them landed and released quickly than fumble around trying to grab them without something breaking on me. Plus it's a measure net, so I can just note the numbers as they lay in the net to see how big they are. No need to reach for a tape measure.

Kalin's 5" Lunker Grub: That big fat tail just wiggles like crazy when you retrieve it. Mostly I only use watermelon color, although I just bought some white ones to try out. This is how I rig them, just a standard round jighead. Also a good way to fish with my wife, just troll them along riprap with an ultralight rod and catch smallies all day long. I've also caught walleye with them, and the smaller ones are my go-to for bluegill and crappie as well.

A coworker and friend of my wife is going to buy the boat from us, I told him he could have it for $350. I think that's pretty dang cheap, and I could probably get another hundred or two from craigslist. I only paid $500 for it a few years ago, though, and I've gotten way more than $150 in value from it. Plus the license is due next month and I won't have to pay that. It's enough to pay for a nice 3 bank onboard charger for my Stratos at least.

Thanks for the tips! I definitely will start prowling that shoreline north of Howard Amon. I've fished from shore around that big concrete structure next to the Leslie Groves boat launch before, but never up or downstream from there. This weekend, however, it's off to Potholes for a few days. Last weekend I picked up a 19" smallie along the dam on my ultralight gear. What a ride!

For those of you familiar with the Eastern side of the state, any tips on fishing the Columbia/Snake? I'm in the Tri-Cities and just recently got my boat. I know nothing of fishing the rivers, aside from a spot or two that I've bank fished from. I've been out on Potholes reservoir a few times, but would like to get into some fish closer to home.

Kalins are the only ones I buy at that size any more. Nice and squishy, the smallies love em.

New guy from Pasco, WA!

Yet another "ditto" for the Clarus. Reasonable price and the lifetime warranty can't be beat. I somehow broke the tip off mine and walked into the local shop with and walked back out with a brand new one no questions asked. I recently picked up a baitcast version of the Clarus, now I'm just saving up for a Curado to mount on it. I have a St Croix Triumph 7' ultralight rod that I really love as well. Catching feisty smallmouth on that thing is a riot!

Since I have my Stratos now I don't really have much need (or space) for our little 12' aluminum boat. I have no idea what it might be worth. It's in fair shape, not great. Has one mounted seat on the front bench, the rear seat actually broke and bounced out of the boat as we were towing it home several years ago. It leaks a small amount around some of the rivets. After a day on the water I might have an inch of water in the back. That's with just me and most of the weight back there. With someone up front the water is distributed across the floor and barely noticeable. It has a trailer in good condition and I'm going to sell it with a 40# thrust minn kota and a battery. Just looking for suggestions on what a reasonable price might be for it.