Can you believe it’s August already? I had a long list of places I wanted to fish this summer, and there are still many that I haven’t checked off. I had better get in gear and get out on the water. Before you know it, fall will be here!
I haven’t been to Potholes Reservoir for months, and I wanted to know if it would be worth a trip down there. So, I sent a text to Shelby Ross, of Ross Outdoor Adventures, and asked him how the walleye bite was there now. Whom ever came up with the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” got that right in this case. He just sent me a photo of a recent trip, showing a family of four with a stringer of fish that was amazing. On the stringer was almost a dozen very nice walleye, over 20 really good-sized crappie, some big bluegill and even a whopper perch. He didn’t have to say a word. This photo just said FUN, and lots of good eats. I am going to plan a trip to Potholes as soon as I can. We always pick up some big bluegill and some crappie when we are trolling for walleye, and if we want to get serious we look for one of the habitat boxes that are scattered throughout the reservoir. I think there is even a map that shows their locations. I bet the folks at the Mar Don tackle shop can tell you where to get one. We have found several boxes while trolling for walleye. When we do we switch to spinning rods with a hook, sinker and a chunk of worm and cast near them. What a blast!
My wife and I eat a lot of fish, and I often have enough in the freezer to give to family and neighbors. There are a couple of species that we tend to horde, because we like to eat them so much. One is walleye and the other is kokanee. I rarely go after trout anymore, because kokanee are so much better eating, and there are several lakes where they are abundant. Very close to our home in Leavenworth is Fish Lake, which added kokanee to the lake just a few years ago. You can usually count on catching kokanee on Lake Chelan, and just over the hill from Manson is Wapato Lake, which can produce some of the biggest kokanee in the region. Known for abundant numbers of smaller kokanee is Deep Lake, north of Soap Lake, above Park Lake. In the Spokane area there are several lakes that offer kokanee fishing. Badger Lake is probably the most popular, but anglers can also catch kokanee at Loon Lake and Clear Lake. East of Spokane in Idaho is Lake Coeur d’ Alene where kokanee are especially large this season and nearby Hayden Lake produces big kokanee as well.
I checked in with a couple of guide buddies to see what they were up to this summer. Nate Stully of Stully’s Guide Service said he was busy catching kokanee on Lake Chelan and catch and release sturgeon fishing on the Columbia River. Kevin Witte, of Up River Guide Service, said that he was still getting walleye in the Kettle Falls area on Lake Roosevelt. He goes when the smoke clears. It should be a pretty good year for walleye anglers on the big reservoir. Since 2002, the co-managers have conducted Fall Walleye Index Netting (FWIN) to monitor the walleye population. Monitoring enables managers to track the abundance, age, growth, condition, sex ratio, and age at maturity. WDFW reports that the walleye fishery has remained stable and resilient over time. Abundance of walleye decreased slightly in 2024 but was above the 20-year average. There were two large year classes detected for the 2025 fishery: age-2 fish that will be 12-14 inches and age-4 fish that will be 16-18 inches. Abundance of these age-4 fish was a record over the 23-year dataset, so anglers can expect better fishing for quality-size walleye than past years.
I am often asked where to take kids so they can catch fish easily and not get bored. There are many lakes throughout the region that offer good fishing for perch. Fishing for perch is not complicated. It just takes a hook and sinker and a piece nightcrawler to catch them. Sometimes you don’t even need a rod. My Dad took a bunch of us kids perch fishing when we were all about six to eight years old. He rented a boat at a local lake and when he was anchored, handed each of us a reel. Just a reel. He had a hook and sinker on the line and after baiting the hook lowered each line down to the bottom. He told us to jerk when something pulled on the line and bring it in hand over hand. He didn’t want a boat load of kids waving rods around, trying to cast, or playing swords when they didn’t get a bite right away. It worked great. He was busy unhooking perch and baiting the hooks and we wound up with a basket full of fat perch. He paid a penny a piece to get them filleted—what a deal! This week’s photo is of a happy youngster, Mabel Jima, with a nice perch.
I want to thank all of you that have subscribed to the FishingMagician.com Facebook page. It may not seem like much, but it really helps keep me on the road and afloat to do the reports that I do. You will soon be seeing information about fishing opportunities in north Idaho, in addition to the areas that I have been covering for years. All of this costs. The time and travel, fuel and licenses, etc. I also wanted to let you know that I have recently produced a series of videos that include reviews of some of my favorite products. These will be available to subscribers to the FishingMagician.com Facebook page. Things that I personally use when I am fishing for the different species available to us in this region. There are some tips and tricks that I share with subscribers as well. If you like what I do and want to learn more about what I use to catch fish and the products that I personally prefer, just click on the Subscriber button on my page. Thanks in advance!
