Potholes Reservoir, WA – March 29, 2025 – The Northwest Bass Team Tournament #1 kicked off the 2025 season in style at Potholes Reservoir, delivering a thrilling day of competition on one of the West’s premier bass fishing destinations. Held on March 29, the event showcased the reservoir’s renowned largemouth and smallmouth bass fisheries, cementing its status as a top-tier venue—ranked ninth in the western U.S. by Bassmaster Magazine. With its unique blend of flooded willows, sandy dunes, rocky islands, and riprap along the O’Sullivan Dam, Potholes provided the perfect backdrop for an unforgettable tournament.
Top 5 Teams Dominate the Leaderboard
The competition was fierce, with anglers vying for top spots and impressive payouts. Here’s a breakdown of the standout performances:
- Tyler Smith and Dan Jensen clinched first place with a five-fish limit weighing 21.10 pounds, earning 100 points. Their bag included a massive 6.90-pound largemouth, securing a $467 big fish bonus. Their year-to-date (YTDB) total stands at 21.10 pounds, setting a strong tone for the season.
- Austin Sandmann and Ashton Payne took second with 19.58 pounds across five fish, earning 99 points and a $511 bonus. Their big fish weighed in at 4.67 pounds, contributing to a YTDB of 19.58 pounds.
- Mel Williams and Sean Minderman landed third with 19.37 pounds from five fish, earning 98 points and a $456 bonus. Their 5.11-pound big fish helped anchor their YTDB at 19.37 pounds.
- Wade Wilkens and Darin Wilkens finished fourth with 19.05 pounds across five fish, earning 97 points and a $4.56 bonus. Their big fish hit 4.56 pounds, matching their YTDB at 19.05 pounds.
- Rickey Hamilton and J.R. Clark rounded out the top five with 17.98 pounds from five fish, earning 96 points and a $4.98 bonus. Their 4.98-pound big fish brought their YTDB to 17.98 pounds.
Why Potholes Reservoir Stands Out
Potholes Reservoir continues to prove itself as a bass fishing paradise. Largemouth bass flourish among the submerged willows and sandy dunes, where anglers wield spinnerbaits, soft plastics, and topwater lures to great effect during spring and summer. Catches of 9-pound largemouths are not uncommon here, underscoring the fishery’s trophy potential. Meanwhile, smallmouth bass dominate the rocky islands and dam riprap, delivering fast-paced action—some teams reported landing over 20 smallmouth in a single hour during the tournament.
Austin Sandmann’s Power-Fishing Playbook
Second-place finisher Austin Sandmann offered a glimpse into his team’s winning strategy, emphasizing simplicity and instinct over high-tech tools. “I was fishing shallow—so shallow I didn’t even have my graphs on. No live scope, just power fishing. We caught well over 50 fish all day,” he explained. Sandmann’s approach paid off early, thanks to a key revelation from the prior weekend’s Washington Bass Federation tournament. “I figured out during the CBBC event that I had an area where bigger males and females were staging, getting ready to spawn. I ran to that spot and had our whole bag in the first 45 minutes.”
The team didn’t rest on their early success. “We kept hunting,” Sandmann said, noting the ideal conditions: “The water was 55 degrees where I was, and that’s why the fish were there.” Reflecting on past wins, he added, “I took the same approach I used to win the TBF big bass tournament two years running—just kept it simple and went fishing.”
A Stellar Start to the 2025 Season
The tournament stats speak volumes about Potholes’ thriving bass population: 336 fish were weighed, totaling 931 pounds. The average fish tipped the scales at 2.77 pounds, while the average team weight reached an impressive 10.23 pounds. These numbers reflect both the fishery’s vitality and the anglers’ expertise, promising an exciting season ahead for the Northwest Bass circuit.
As the 2025 season unfolds, Potholes Reservoir remains a bucket-list destination for bass anglers, blending challenging terrain with big-fish potential. With more tournaments on the horizon, this iconic fishery is poised to deliver even more epic showdowns on the water.