by Mike Carey, May 23, 2014

Our featured lake for this month is Moses Lake, specifically Moses Lake and walleyes. Marble Eyes, AKA one of the best freshwater fish you can eat. While the Potholes gets most of the fishing reports and attention (rightfully so), Moses Lake has a fine walleye fishery and for those in the know can put out some numbers and quality fish.

One thing that likely confuses/intimidates anglers new to this lake is the odd shape. Shaped more like a river than a lake, it can be kind of confusing to someone looking to fish it for the first time. In addition, there are distinct holes and spots to be aware of. Last but not least, timing can be everything. Spring is definitely the time to fish this lake, if our readers are any indication. But fear not, although it may be coming up on June, recent reports are still going strong for Moses. Indeed, this has been a banner year for walleye in Washington. Let’s take a closer look at the lake, reports, and some historical data.

First up are our Hotspots Map and depth maps for Moses Lake.

As you can see, there are some distinct clusters for you to focus your attention on. Match up the hotspots with the bathymetric map. You’ll notice the “bend” has several spots marked. The depth map meanwhile shows some of the deepest holes are found in this area. Looking a bit closer, those hotspots are close to shore, meaning fish have deep water to drift down into during the heat of the day. The second cluster of hotspots is farther up the northwest arm of the lake. Here we find the depth more closely resembling what you might find at the Potholes Crab Creek arm.

Our Historical Data Report for Moses is pretty limited.


There’s only reported information for four months. But of interest, they are all early spring/spring months. While that doesn’t mean walleye fishing the rest of the year is a waste of time, it does clue you in – go in the Spring! Let’s take a look at the reports list for Moses Lake walleye. If you haven’t used our report filter system, you’re missing a valuable tool. I’ve used the filter system to only pull up the walleye reports. Now we can easily scan through and again see our pattern emerge. Springtime – in this case April and May, are looking good!

As to gear, in spring it’s hard to go wrong with a bottom walker, some type of spinner/attractor, and a slow death hook with full nightcrawler. We have a spring potholes walleye video with Shelby Ross in our Video Section. Here’s the link:

Potholes Walleye - Click Here

Ah, springtime… so many fishing options!

Salmonbarry with a nice stringer of fish.