FISHING
Explore The Seep Lakes Deep in the heart of the Columbia Basin is a network of trout and spinyray waters that provide good fishing in spring. By Mike Wright
F
or many eons the rain shadow of the high, rigid Cascade Range has kept the Columbia Basin exceedingly dry and rather unproductive. In order to make these and other arid regions of the West more productive, the federal Bureau of Reclamation constructed a number
of dams for agricultural irrigation and in some cases power generation. O’Sullivan Dam, completed in 1949, was one such project. Two things were discovered. It was soon found that the loess soil, common to the Columbia Basin, was very fertile and excellent material for farming purposes. The terrain around the newly formed Potholes Reservoir
contained the same rich soil under the gently rolling sagebrush hills and numerous shallow depressions. And secondly, a sizable portion of the reservoir’s water was seeping into these depressions, forming numerous small- to medium-sized lakes. Thanks to the excellent soil conditions and a reliable supply of freshwater, heavy weed growth
Not far from Potholes Reservoir is a network of waters known as the Seep Lakes, featuring dozens of angling possibilities for rainbows and warmwater species in a landscape that’s primarily public ground. (MIKE WRIGHT) nwsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2021
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