Many anglers are choosing their fishing destinations by the amount of smoke that they expect at their favorite lakes or rivers. I have been checking my fire conditions app and I am seeing some good news for those who like to fish out of Grand Coulee on Banks Lake, Lake Roosevelt, Buffalo Lake and Rufus Woods. The Kaiser Canyon fire is now at 83 percent containment and skies are clearing.
My brother in law Tom Verschuren is a great fishing partner and really likes bass fishing. I told him that when I got the new Thunder Jet boat from Mike’s Marine, we would go. So, that’s what I did on Friday. Last year we had a great day on Moses Lake. He caught his biggest bass ever, and I wanted to take him to the same spot. We launched the boat at Lower Peninsula park and drove over to Gaileys Island. I deployed the Minn Kota, and we began working our way along the shore. The wind made it tough to control the boat so we ran around to the other side of the island, so I was trolling into the wind. We made a lot of casts and Tom got a couple of little smallmouth while I was getting zip. I finally switched to a smaller bait and got a couple of bites and landed a small one myself. We checked out a couple of other spots on the lake and tested the Garmin live Scope for the first time. Very cool. Fishing wasn’t good but we had a great time as usual.
Last year while shooting a video on Moses Lake with James Lebow, we found a good-sized fleet of anglers gathered on the down lake side of the I-90 Bridge. We wondered what they were up to, but I wanted to finish my project, and we decided to check it out on our way back. When we pulled into the area we found even more boats fishing here, and a bunch of guys on the shore. There was a good group of folks fishing from the bridge, too. It turned out that they were catching crappie, and lots of them. We just happened to have some gear on board and joined the fun. The hot ticket was a green jig and we had a few. A friend of James spotted us and came over to show us a couple of the larger crappie he was catching, and he even shared some of the baits that were working for him. Think about this though. Those crappie have had a year to grow!
Potholes Reservoir has a reputation for being a premier walleye lake. It is also known for producing very good catches of crappie and also has big bluegill, bass and perch. Although these species get most of the attention by anglers fishing Potholes, it also has a good population of rainbow trout. The reservoir is planted with rainbow fry and received about 70,000 of them this spring. The ones that are gobbled up by the smallmouth bass and other species grow fast. Those who like to catch Potholes trout in the fall, winter and spring, I got a recent report saying that the trout bite had been excellent recently. When I am specifically fishing for rainbow, I will troll from the State Park launch, down past the bay at Blythe and turn around when I reach the docks at Mar Don Resort. I find medium size Rapalas and Flicker Shads effective, and I run them flat lined out the back of the boat. I would vary my speed and often am trolling very fast to get the attention of the rainbow. Another good area on the reservoir to look for trout is where Frenchman Wasteway enters Potholes. There is a popular spot where anglers fish from the shore, too. It is on the eastern shore and is known as Medicare Beach.
Fall salmon are just beginning to pass over Bonneville Dam, and anglers are already gearing up for the season. The fall salmon fishery at Vernita is one of the most popular in the state. Hundreds of anglers participate, and the success rate is high, due to the fact that a very large number of the Chinook returning to the Hanford Reach are hatchery fish. There are significant changes to the launch sites above the Vernita Bridge. All overnight use being phased out in 2026. Camping will be allowed with the following conditions: There will be designated areas for overnight use and day use. A combination of eco-blocks and signage will identify those areas. Vehicles and trailers will be able to use the area but will be confined to designated areas to avoid habitat and other damage. Depending on peak use, some users may need to find alternate camping locations. Camping will be limited to 14 days per user within a 30-day period. When the fall chinook salmon season is closed, camping is prohibited and vehicle access is limited to a smaller day use area. The Vernita Bridge Access Area is patrolled by WDFW Enforcement officers for compliance with posted requirements.
The Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife has conducted Fall Walleye Index Netting Surveys (FWIN) on Banks Lake since 2002. The most recent survey occurred October 13–16, 2025. We set and retrieved 48 gill nets distributed across all major lake basins and depth strata to provide lake-wide coverage. We caught an average of 4 Walleye/net, which was nearly equal to the long-term average of 4.4 Walleye/net. The average length of Walleye caught was 16.3 inches with the largest fish being 26.2 inches. Most fish were between 12–16 inches (38.8%) and 16–20 inches (36.7%). More 16–20 inch fish were caught in 2025 than in 2022. This could mean that Walleye anglers might expect to catch more fish between 20–24 inches in 2026, as well as more fish in the 16–20 inch size class in 2027. This report has made me excited about fishing for walleye on Banks Lake. The month of August has treated my very well over the years.
