Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Ross Outdoor Adventures
Well, I got an opportunity to fish Potholes again, just for an afternoon, and wasn't going to pass that up. After a long drive I got there just before noon and the lake was socked in with a dense fog.
Since I'm only in a 12' boat with an 8 hp engine, I figured I'd stick to the Linde Coulee and so launched at the mouth. As I was crossing to the north shore the fog was already breaking up over that part of the lake. I trolled east in about 20' of water to almost the first narrowing without getting a tug or seeing anything on the fish finder.
With a larger blue patch of sky, I headed to the south end of Medicare beach and trolled north in about 15' of water. Again no bites and nothing on the fish finder. After about 30 minutes I again motored north and stopped to troll for another 20 minutes. Same results, but by now, the fog was all gone and I could see some boats south of the dunes.
I took off NW and got to the west side of the opening to Crab Creek, the eastern edge of the half dozen or so boats. After about 10 minutes I managed to get a 17" walleye. Not bad! Roughly 20' of water with a yellow/green smile blade, bead, slow death hook rig I'd made. About 15 minutes later, another at 16". At this rate I might get close to a limit before I had to leave for the day! But then nothing for an hour or more. The juices got going a few times after that, but the next was a catfish, and then a perch too small to keep. I got another catfish, also returned and then a 10" walleye. Where were the good ones? My last catch I thought was a huge walleye but it turns out I'd caught a 6" walleye, that I hadn't noticed and he in turn caught me a 17" largemouth bass!
The sun was getting low, and knowing how long the drive back would be, I took off. Back at the launch the mosquitos were in full force so I was glad I could pack up with the sun on the horizon and not in the dark. The green algae that was really thick in September was now packing it in, but was still prominent.
All in all a nice day on the water. Wind was minimal and I was fine in just a T-shirt. One guy at the launch at the end of the day said had similar luck, though I don't know where he was fishing. Based on Mike Carey's report, maybe I was fishing a little too shallow this time. If only I'd read that before I started! Good luck all!