Seeps Lakes

[beerman1981]

I have been wanting to fish the Seeps Lakes (just south of potholes) for a while now, but I don't know where to even begin. Looking at my gps map, I see there are at least a dozen of these small lakes. My main interest is smallmouth/ largemouth. I have no boat, so will be bank fishing. Does anyone have any advise as to which of these lakes will be more productive for a bank fisherman. Any advise would be greatly appreciate.

Thanks,

Beerman

[gpc]

Yeah its tough to find a starting point. But dozen or so...... try a hundred or so and probably closer to 200. There is even more ponds that are there for 1/2 the year and dry up later in the year, but these dont have much to offer other than carp. I heard that the seep lakes combined with all the ponds by Frenchman's waste way there are around 1,000 lakes, but if this is true I would only imagine about 200 or so actually have fish worth fishing for. But a good starting point is right at the beginning Soda lake, I fish here a lot and have caught some all right fish in it. Fish the lake and the canal. Hutchinson is also very popular and was just rehabbed. Long lake is pretty good, as well as the goose lakes, but from memorial day till labor day they shut down the gates because of the parties so you have to hike in. Another good place is the reservoir. Go right to Lind coulee and work your way up a lot of bank access and great fishing and its free. Also a must is the Mar Don resort dock. It will cost you $5, well worth it. The best times to fish the dock are 12am - 6am, then from about 7am - 12pm the dock is dead not even worth trying, starting at about 1pm - dusk the fishing is awesome then right after dusk till mid night its dead, but then the 12am bite starts up again. This isn't the best for bass, but you can still catch them, but this is the best pan fishing spot in my eyes and some HUGE trout a lot of trout in the 5lb range and all the trout average 2lb, but dont eat them during the summer time. Also the dam on the reservoir is awesome, I mean awesome. This is my very favorite fishing spot in the state. PM me for secrets.

[littleriver]

I think one of the best kept secrets about the seep lakes are Coyote and Bobcat creek ponds....


There's a parking area just west of the turn off to soda lake as you drive along McMannaman road (the one that runs from Othello along the southern portion of the wildlife area)... from this parking area you don't see any lake but there's a gated road just west of where you park... follow that road (it's a service road used by wdfw managers) about a mile or so and you come to a Y.. follow right at the Y and it's about 1/2 mile down to the best of the coyote creek ponds.....

There are scads of bluegill in these lakes and you will see them finning in the shallows... you might even see a few hispanics catching them for dinner.... but be not alarmed... don't be afraid to take your big plastics and throw them out into the middle of the pond... I've watched 5 pound class LMB's move up from the depths and swim right in with the bluegill schools.. it was almost as if they were just kind of checking out which one they were going to have for dinner......

There are also scads of smallmouth in the canal that runs from the soda lake outlet down through Long and crescent lakes and then further down into Scootenai Reservoir..... There are trails that parallel the canal and while the main canal is steep and the walls very high (which makes the water there unfishable from shore) if you just keep walking you will find wide places with shore access.... watch out for rattlesnakes and while I have never fished this area from shore (I used to always run up from long lake in my boat and the reason I know there are trails is I used to watch people walking along the shorelines on what appeared to be trails) I always did well with little rapalas and spinnerbaits.....

[beerman1981]

Thanks guys, this will help me to narrow my scope of which lakes to hit!

[bob johansen]

I once caught a 19 3/4 inch, 4 pound, 12 ounce bass while casting a white spinner bait from the shoreline of Mallard Lake just south of Potholes Reservoir. Hopefully that fish is still alive and well.