5 Reasons Why Potholes Reservoir Will Continue to Frustrate You
You Will Get Overwhelmed With The “Eye Candy”
Potholes is famous for inducing the “Potholes Wander” where you run around on your trolling motor, flailing away, since it all looks good.
You Won’t Embrace The Idea That Structure, Not Cover, Is The Key
Despite all that good looking cover, the real key to Potholes is understanding that the underlying structure (contours, transitions from deep to shallow, flats and corners) really determine where bass setup and habitat. Cover becomes a secondary consideration for your bait selection.
You Won’t Be Observant Enough
With all the cover to look at, it’s no wonder that many of us will ignore the signs that other wildlife are presenting to us. Grebes, Beavers, Carp
You Won’t Use Your GPS/Mapping Properly
Many anglers today have thousands of dollars wrapped up in GPS/Sonar units on their boats. Unfortunately, many simply turn them on and read water depth and water temperature off of them all day.
You Will Emphasis Baits and Tackle Over Locations and Positioning
It’s the old 80/20 rule…you spend 80% of your time and money on baits and tackle when 80% of your success is due to your location, position, angles and timing.
You could’t have said it any better. My first time out to Potholes was for a NWB derby. Coming from Texas the dunes looked like easy pickings. Wow was I wrong. I was able to put together by grinding hard 13 lbs for that day. Not good.
With this website and help. I have become more successful on Potholes using the following.
!) map study be it GE , Bing etc;
2) create way-points, tracks and trails
3) spend a day on the water and review the validity of your way points, tracks etc.
4) Create my own detail logs and maps with my electronics
5) revise what you found on the water and do 1, 2 and 3 again.
I have to agree with Kevin’s post. Potholes appears to be the bass fisherman’s dream “eye candy” everywhere just where do I toss my lure? GOA and the courses helped me maximize the time I spent on the water fishing the structure and not every piece of “eye candy” seen. From a learning standpoint, what’s better than someone actually giving you the Playbook on how to fish a body of water and be spot on?
Now if my boat had cooperated with me that would be another story…