Northwest Fishing Reports

A few years ago the WDFW was asked about the low numbers of Panfish in Moses and Potholes.
The blaim had been put on predation mostly by Walleye.
Now we are seeing a boom in at least the Perch population.
Perch are showing up were they had not been seen in years.
Reports of 12 and 13 inch fish are coming in every other day or so.

What does anyone think may be going on?

They are breeding...

Mardon resort organized the building and installation of habitat boxes that added structure back to Potholes Lake. I beleave about 1000 of them . After many years all the trees sagebrush and natural structure rotted away and there was little or no cover for the small fish to hide. Yes there are the willows along the shore but no open water structure. Also they do not draw the lake down as far as they once did. Better habita, water management and regulations are bringing back the panfish. I have not looked at their web site for a while but if you google Mardon Resort they used to have information about the project.

http://m.spokesman.com/stories/2005/sep ... -to-boost/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If this link works it is information on the habita restoration efforts of Potholes Res.

Jerry H wrote:Mardon resort organized the building and installation of habitat boxes that added structure back to Potholes Lake. I beleave about 1000 of them . After many years all the trees sagebrush and natural structure rotted away and there was little or no cover for the small fish to hide. Yes there are the willows along the shore but no open water structure. Also they do not draw the lake down as far as they once did. Better habita, water management and regulations are bringing back the panfish. I have not looked at their web site for a while but if you google Mardon Resort they used to have information about the project.

I believe it's this and also the effects of the Mt St Helens blow is diminishing and there are more spawning areas for perch and sunfish.

In a year or two there will be a bunch of boxes in Moses Lake also. The walleye club is working on them. Last big thing the walleye club did was build a fishing dock that was dedicated last month. Next will be the boxes and funding for that. I think each box costs about $250.

Cover is king. Back east they had many many many older reservoirs that were aging, loosing the wood that was functioning as cover when they were new. The fishing was declining fast.

Then came Milfoil, that dreaded and hated Milfoil. Now the declining reservoirs are recovering fast, often with fishing that reviles they peak fishing days of excellent recruitment.

Often, in weed free lakes and reservoirs, a super high water year gets the water into the cover so the spawn survive. I watched a BASS fishing show that mentioned just that about an older lake in Arkansas (Beaver Lake).

Now compare that to Moses Lake and Potholes. Both have lots of carp, therefore much fewer weeds. Both have much less wood and not all that much chunk rock.

I believe that the cover boxes discussed are probably the most important thing that has happened, and could happen. JMHO

I am going to say the number of preditors seems to be down.
I have a friend that fishes Moses alot and he is catching more big Perch this year than in the past.
He is catching Smallmouth but very few over 12 inches.
He is catching a few Walleye but no size.
My wife and I got out last week.
We boated around 50 fish, Smallmouth and Walleye.
I think we had one Smallmouth that was to big to keep, all the others were to small to get a fillet.
The Walleyes we caught were cigars, nothing to them.
The number of Cormorants seems to be down as well but the Pelicans are still here.
I think who ever came up with the idea to keep more water in Potholes should get a gold star.
The cover boxes were not all that popular when they put them in Havasu, so I will hold off on them for now.

I am not sure what is making the differance in Potholes but I like it.
We anchord up in 20 feet of water yesterday and never moved.