Potholes Qualifier

By Ben Hanes, Writer

Northwest Bass Pro Staff

A cold front is defined as the transition zone where a cold air mass replaces a warmer air mass. Cold fronts generally move from northwest to southeast, and the air behind a cold front is noticeably colder and drier than the air ahead of it. When a front passes through, temperatures can drop more than 15 degrees within the first hour… Comparatively speaking, fishing success drops significantly more.

Many Northwest Bass anglers experienced these precise conditions during practice for the Potholes Qualifier.  And, on the morning of the tournament, a number of teams underwent something akin to pre-fishing déjà vu. 

On a very difficult day of fishing, local knowledge and an ability to adjust to the conditions were among the central attributes of the top competitors. If an angler couldn’t read the water, their tournament was finished before they even began fishing. The winners, Mike Wolsky and Dave Hendrickson, read the fish like a book.

1^st   Hendrickson & Wolsky Win With Huts & Willows

            After an intense ordeal of practice, Dave Hendrickson and Mike Wolsky from Kent, Washington had finally solved the Potholes riddle:  cover water, fish hard, and then cover the same water more thoroughly, and fish even harder!           

            Of course, it wasn’t that simple, but by focusing on ten different, solid areas, and working them over twice, the team was able to secure a solid victory with twenty pounds of largemouth bass. 

They relied principally on Stanley 3/8-ounce black and blue jigs to do all of the dirty work.  With seven foot St. Croix and OrDella rods, coupled with hefty twenty-pound CXX P-Line, the current Anglers of the Year were able to flip their lures deep into heavy brush, and convince even the most cautious fish into biting.            

            “We covered a lot of water by making hundreds of short pitches toward promising structure,” said Mike Wolsky.  “It was worth it for us to cover the same areas twice, because we caught several of our bigger fish later in the day, on the second pass through.”                       

            Indeed, with the cold front the night before, and the cool winds that persisted into the late morning, the team adjusted to the conditions by making an intense number of casts in particular areas that included deeper willow lines and beaver huts.  They felt that with this approach, they were able to place their jigs into even the smallest strike zones. 

            “It was more like power fishing and getting reaction bites rather than finesse fishing,” added Mike Wolsky. 

            With the Potholes Qualifier win, the pair took over in the Anglers of the Year race and received a check for $3,850, along with two sets of Solar Bat Sunglasses.  They lead Joel Grafe and Rob Eckstrom by a marginal thirteen points.

2^nd   Lynch Gets Leverage with the 8’0” Lamiglas

            “Pre-fishing was terrible,” said Charlie Lynch, the 23-year tournament veteran out of Hayden, Idaho.   “We got five bites in three days of fishing, and everything was random.”  It was at this point that Charlie Lynch decided he would work with his primary strength: power-fishing.  By covering a ton of water with short, accurate pitches, the lone angler was able to amass an 18.96-pound bag of largemouth bass. 

            Fishing without his teammate, Jeremy Tripp, Lynch caught nearly all of his fish on a Texas-rigged, 3/16-ounce, watermelon-colored Sweet Beaver.  He would methodically pitch his lure into the water, let it sink to the bottom, and then hop it three or four times, before moving onto the next piece of structure.  “I covered a lot of water and spent plenty of time with the trolling motor on high.”  

            His primary pattern involved fishing willow rows, and concentrating on the points of individual dunes.  The most productive points were in deeper water, and like most other competitors, even Charlie Lynch went through a period where he doubted his own pattern.  “At one point in the morning, I went two and a half hours without getting a single bite.  I was beginning to lose confidence, until about 12:30 p.m., when the fish seemed like they were starting to bite again.  It was then that I realized I was doing the right thing.”

            With an eight-foot Lamiglas flipping stick and twenty-pound CXX P-Line, Lynch was able to compensate for the lack of a netter by hoisting the big bucketmouths directly into his Skeeter boat.  He did not lose a single fish all day, which helped to secure a 2^nd place finish and a $2,560.00 check.

3^rd   Walters & Christensen Cover Crab Creek

            Like other top competitors, Brian Walters and Coleton Christensen found it useful to break apart every piece of structure within the areas they fished.  However, the pair caught the majority of their fish by slowing down rather than covering water.  They spent the bulk of the tournament methodically working over a quarter-mile area in the northern section of the Crab Creek Channel within Potholes Reservoir. 

            Beaver huts, or “houses,” as some anglers like to call them, were among the key pieces of structure that Walters and Christensen targeted.  By making long casts, and working their baits ever so slowly, the team was able to successfully land eight fish from a single hut.  “Several of the huts we fished were barely exposed or completely underwater,” said Brian Walters.  The pair also caught numerous fish on the deep sides of sand dunes near the Crab Creek channel.  Most of their fish came off of wood—standing trees, lay-downs, and beaver hut branches. 

            To persuade the ‘green fish’ to bite, Walters and Christensen relied on an assortment of baits.  Among them were Sweet and Smallie Beavers, black and blue Outlaw Git-R Tubes, and watermelon Tiki Sticks.  They would focus on letting their baits pulsate on the bottom for at least fifteen seconds, before giving their rod tips a slight twitch.  If neither angler received a bite, they would quickly reel in, and repeat the process all over again.  Overall, the team landed at least seventeen keeper largemouth, with their best five weighing in at 18.80-pounds.  On an extremely difficult day of fishing, their success was enough for a 3^rd place finish and $3,000.00 extra in the bank account.

            “I would just like to thank my sponsors, and particularly my wife, because there is no way I could spend the necessary time on the water without their support,” Brian Walters concluded.          

Big Bass

            “The fish was wrapped around the tree three times, and I figured there was no way I was going to land it,” said Brian Walters, referring to the 5.20-pound largemouth that nearly got away.  In a desperate effort to pull the fish away from the line-breaking structure, Walters made the critical decision to thumb his Okuma reel and simply pull. With ten-pound test, it was a frantic feat that nearly ended in disaster.  Thankfully, after a long battle, the team of Brian Walters and Coleton Christensen from Sultan, Washington landed the big bass of the tournament. 

            Like several other fish they caught that day, their largest fish was coaxed into biting a Texas-rigged, brass and glass, Reaction Innovation Sweet Beaver in the ‘Magic Crawswirl’ color.  After pitching to a small maple tree three different times, they finally felt the revealing ‘thump’ of a solid fish.  In the end, that single fish earned them an extra $600.00 in option money, $200.00 from Sniper Lures, and a Lamiglas Rod certificate.              

Northwest Bass is the largest fishing circuit in the Northwest, and in the 2007 year, will feature 5 qualifying tournaments.  All of these tournaments lead up to the Northwest Bass Challenge Circuit Championship, with the top prize being a fully-rigged, tournament level Triton TR-196/200 HP Mercury boat package sponsored by Nixon’s Marine.

Northwest Bass is sponsored by Nixon’s Marine, Inc., Mercury, Triton Boats, Lamiglas Rods, Tony Lind Paving, White’s Boots, Solar Bat Sunglasses, VIP Studios, Princess Pickled Foods, and Clearwater Custom Tackle.

Angler’s Sponsors

• Mike Wolsky is sponsored by Auburn Sports and St. Croix Rods.  Dave Hendricksen is sponsored by OrDella Rods.

• Charlie Lynch is sponsored by Skeeter Boats and is on the Pro Staff for Nixon’s Marine

• Brian Walters and Coleton Christensen are sponsored by Okuma, Fethastyx Rods, Outlaw Baits, Gamakatzu, Three Rivers Marine, Wave Worms, Oakley, Sniper Lures, and SMP Design.

~Ben Hanes, the author, currently lives in the Tri-Cities area.  Ben is an avid bass fisherman, and has been tournament fishing for 10 years.  He is currently sponsored by McCurley Integrity Dealerships, Columbia River Bank, Cascade Sign and Design, and writes articles for Northwest Bass and Nixon’s Marine.