MarDon FreshNews – Dec 15, 2017

MarDon Fresh News – December 15, 2017

The water level has come up .45 this past week on the Potholes Reservoir bring it to an elevation of 1040.80. The water temperature on the main lake is right around 40 degrees with lower temperatures back in the sand dunes.  

Fishing: We have had several reports of walleye being caught on the humps towards the face of the sand dunes on Blade Baits. Best bet is to blade bait the humps in 30-40 feet of water, or troll crawler harnesses on a 2-oz. bottom walker. The face of the dam is still producing walleye, smallmouth and trout. Swimbaits, dropshot baits, and football heads with skirted hula grubs and blade baits are the top baits on the dam. Fish 25-35 feet of water next to the dam. Several walleye are being caught off the MarDon dock on Blade Baits and Acme Hyper Glides.

Hunting: The duck hunting has been hit or miss this past week. The birds are here – but it has been extremely calm and overcast the whole week. We hope the coming weather change will get the birds moving. Goose hunting has been good over the past week with numerous limits being reported.

Call the MarDon Store for the latest hunting and fishing info at 509-346-2651

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife held a Commission Meeting on December 8^th and 9^th in Olympia. Much of the meeting was focused on Rule Simplification regarding fishing regulations. One of the Rule Simplifications on the agenda has a direct affect on our local waters. The WDFW is proposing the elimination of all Panfish special regulations on select waters. The Potholes Reservoir, Moses Lake and Banks Lake will be affected if this proposal is passed. The proposal will remove all size and number limits on Perch, Crappie, and Bluegill in the above-mentioned lakes. The public was able to comment online on the WDFW website and as of November 21, 2017, 301 comments had been submitted on the Panfish issue alone. Out of the 301 comments, 273 opposed the proposal with only 28 supporting the rule change. Furthermore, the public was given the opportunity to testify at the meeting.

Mike Meseberg and Pete Fisher of MarDon Resort, Ron Sawyer of Cascade Marina, Joel Nania, and others made the trip to Olympia to testify against lifting the current Panfish regulations. There were many others that attended and showed support in numbers against this proposal. This proposal, if passed, could have a tremendous negative affect on not only the Panfish in these waters, but on the bass and walleye fishing as well.

The public comment on the WDFW site, the Save Our Limits Facebook campaign, as well as the testimony provided by the public at the meeting opposing this the Elimination of Special Regulations on Panfish appears to have made a difference and it got the attention of the Commission. We hope our message was heard and will be considered in the decision. The WDFW Commission will decide on this issue during the January 19-20, 2018 meeting. The approved rule changes will go into effect in July of 2018.

The Brock Strickland party form Marysville, WA after a successful guided goose hunt with Levi Meseberg of MarDon Resort!

Barb Brady of Othello, WA fished braved the cold with her husband Steve Brady and got into some nice Potholes Reservoir walleye fishing Blade Baits on the mid-lake humps!