I fished Potholes years ago in a 12' "rowboat" with a 9.9hp motor. I think it's more stable than our 16' canoe. Day started out dead calm so I went from the State Park on the SW side of the lake all the way across the giant lake to the dunes. After a few hours the waves got so big that I sort of "surfed" from one to the other. I headed back to the park (into the 35mph wind) and because the front end of my boat was so light I could only go maybe 2 mph safely. Took me about 1.5 hours to get back, and I was scared! In a canoe I would have been dead for sure (water temps then were maybe 47 degrees....hypothermia) probably having to attempt to swim half a mile to shore or so....probably wouldn't have made it.

If and only if you stay w/in a few hundred yards from shore would I recommend a canoe (we have 11 boats, one being a canoe.) I went there recently in April and I chose our 20' sea-worthy boat, by the way.

Listen to the weather forecast before you go out, or the wind might come up on you too.

One tip is to go over there when there's a high-pressure system, the day before, in the Seattle area (that high-pressure system usually would be at Potholes the next day...lower wind.)

But, the water temp will probably be in the 70's this time of year, so even if you dump the boat you'll just be going for a long swim to shore. Just don't go farther from shore than you know you can swim (but most people probably over-estimate how far they can swim.) Just don't go way out in the middle of the lake with a canoe.

I've been in lakes smaller than Soda and the wind came up to maybe 40mph and I would not have wanted to be in a canoe.

After owning our canoe for about 2 years or so we went out and bought a wider 12' "rowboat", which only cost us (used) about $500 I'm guessing....you might want to consider doing that.

Good luck.