I visited with several people at the boat launch on Potholes Reservoir, and they all said how much they love the fall weather. I have to agree. Fall is a wonderful time to be outdoors and, on the water, here in Central Washington. I try to do this as often as I can, knowing that winter comes early here in Leavenworth and other areas at higher elevations.
Want to catch some big crappie, perch and bluegill? Then you should plan a trip to Potholes Reservoir. I had heard a couple of reports of very good fishing for these spiny rays, so Tom Verschuren and I traveled to Potholes on Thursday to give it a try. This was my first trip to Potholes this year, and the first thing I noticed was how low the water was, and that I had to be careful when I left the launch, in the Bob Feil Boats and Motors Smoker Craft at the State Park to find deep water. I had to keep the Mercury 250 tilted high to avoid the silt bottom. When we were heading home, we passed by the Simpson Pit public access, and I saw they were doing more work at this site. I know people like to use this refurbished launch site, but it still puts you in shallow water at this time of year. The launch at Blythe also puts you in shallow water. I put my boat in here years ago here and had difficulty putting it back on the trailer due to the low water. The State Park is my first choice on Potholes right now. Once I was in deep enough water to look for fish, I deployed the Minn Kota. We got our rods set up and selected a couple of likely looking Flicker Shads. It didn’t take long to see a rod bent over with what turned out to be a crappie that was over 11 inches long. The action wasn’t exactly fast and furious, although I did see some nice groups of fish on the Garmin. We got crappie to 12 inches, and a foot long perch. Bluegill will also hit these Flicker Shads. You can expect to hook smallmouth bass and big rainbow trolling as well. This week’s photo is of a crappie that is close to a foot long that we landed on Potholes.
I first fished the Icicle River for coho in the fall of 2021, on the last day of September. It was a scouting mission really. I didn’t really expect to catch anything, being my first time and all. I noticed that I was the only person in the area below the hatchery. When I stepped off the bank just below the handicapped platform and made my first cast, I was shocked when the rod was almost jerked out of my hand. I managed to pull the fish into shallow water, slide my fingers under the gills and boost it up on the shore. Wow, now I knew why so many anglers fish for these coho. What a thrill. I got the fish up to my truck and laid it out on a black plastic bag and cut into the fish to see if was worth putting on the grill. I was amazed at the deep red flesh, even though there was a very distinct kype formed on its lower jaw. It doesn’t look like I will be able to duplicate this experience this season. Coho numbers are too low, and the water is very low and warm. Maybe next year. Speaking of disappointing fisheries, I got the final results of the number of sockeye taken at Lake Wenatchee this summer. According to the WDFW 6,879 sockeye were logged by the fish checkers in 2025, compared to about 18,000 in the 2024 season.
It looks like there will be a good fall fishing season for fans of fishing the Hanford Reach. A recent survey of angler effort by the Department of Fish and Wildlife shows that success has improved for anglers chasing fall Chinook. When I checked the fall Chinook counts over McNary Dam it indicates that there are fish moving up the Columbia now. There are enough fish in the Reach in the vicinity of the Vernita Bridge to make a trip worthwhile. I know a lot of anglers will be working the King Hole, near the Vernita Access Site, with flashers and Super Baits, while others will be back trolling plugs wrapped with sardines or eggs. Although messy, back trolling eggs this time of the season in this stretch of the river can be deadly. I have had very good success back trolling in the area across from Reactor B in the past and one of my favorite runs is right below Priest Rapids Dam. If you want to wrestle with some big fall Chinook, the Hanford Reach would be the place. I have looked at some images of Chinook being caught right now down there and they look great.
As we have moved into the month of October, I wanted to check on the steelhead counts over Priest Rapids Dam. Last year, the Methow River opened to fishing for hatchery steelhead on October 9th. Also, there was a point at which the upper Columbia main stem opened to fishing for steelhead, a little later on, from above Rocky Reach Dam to Wells and even further upstream, but not in the area of Bridgeport. As I recall, anglers had very good success the first week of the season on the Methow and then it dropped off sharply. Persistent anglers caught fish above the bridge in the mouth of the Methow and in a few spots downstream from Pateros. Looking at the numbers this year, it appears that the fish are behind schedule, but I am not giving up hope that we will be able to fish for steelhead in these same areas this season. I particularly wish that the area above the mouth of the Okanogan River would open so we could fish at Bridgeport. This is where my wife and I spent many days in years past fishing with bobbers and jigs. She absolutely loved it.
