Patoka crappie

[opie13]

Is anyone catching crappie up by Walls yet. I was wondering if they had moved up yet and what the water temps were. I used to catch alot of crappie up that way, but I haven't had the chance to fish it much the last few years. It looked like the water was still up a little on the lake level report. Thanks for any help.

[Greg Holt]

I live 20 miles from Patoka water is stained with a little trash floating bite is good from about 9:00Am to 11:00 then it kind of dies off Good Luck

[Moose1am]

Patoka Lake Water Level is at 358 ft above mean sea level today. Water up in the upper reaches of the Patoka River section of Patoka Lake are in the mid 60s from my reports. I am going on what other's have told me after fishing there last weekend. Saturday and Sunday April 15th and 16th. My source fishes Patoka for Crappie and Bass and it very knowledgable about this lake. He probably knows it better or as well as anyone else that I know of.

He caught limits of nice crappie up above Walls. I won't say exacly where but they were shallow. In 4 to 6ft of water Sunday. They could have backed off and gone a bit deeper with this rain and cold weather front that came throught his week.

This is Thursday April 20th 2006 and I am getting ready to head up to the lake very soon. It's raining today though. Once I get my gear all packed and such I am going fishing for a while. I may even head to KY lake, you never know. I do things on the spur of the moment. But I plan to have everything staged so that I can go when I make up my mind.

The larger White Crappie may perfer that warmer water of the area above walls boat ramp as it's shallower and easier for the sun to warm up. Also the water that falls as rain is warmer than the lake water (main lake water) and it's running over warmed up land surfaces. Where that water enters the back of the bays this time of the year is can provide ideal conditions (water temps and extra oxygen generated in the turbulent waters. Also the water runoff can bring food and nutrients from the land into this part of the lake. The life cycle starts with this warming water.)
I would think that the back of most of the other major creek should also be warming up as well.

Nows the time to catch some shallow water fish. Crappie that is. Pretty soon the fish will have all spawned and will be heading back out of the bays towards the main lake again. But how fast that happens is unknown.

I wish the IN DNR would tag some fish and put radio transmitters on some big female crappies and track them around Patoka lake some spring. That would be a very interesting project if it could get the funding. Maybe some day they will be able to make tiny gps receivers that can be attacked to the fish. LOL Would have to figure out a way to get the gps receiver to receive the gps satellite signals from below the water's surface. Maybe someday they will use new satellites that use ULTRA LOW frequency radio signals that can penetrate deep into the Oceans and then we can figure this fishing stuff out for sure.

If you go make sure that you have a good time and don't fall out of the boat. The waters not that warm yet.

Look for the spawing shelfs that are in about 4 to 8ft of water. If the area you fish is muddy the fish will be shallow, if it's stained they may be in 8ft deep water. Bigger fish will spawn in deeper water.

An 12" Crappie at patoka is approx 6 to 7 years old. So it's just now that the crappie are starting to really get big. Gizzard Shad were found in Patoka back in `1996/97. So it's been long enough for the crappie to have eat enough shad to grow to 12" or more. Our crappie don't seem to be growing as fast as those southern crappie. Our growing seasons are much shorter. Hey one good thing about global warming is that we get longer growing seasons and bigger crappie. LOL

Don't forget to check out the Back of Painter Creek, and the Back sections of the Little Patoka River area as well as the back sections and bays of the Lick Fork Area. The Patoka River section is good but it's not the only place where you can catch big crappie in the spring.

Get your topo maps out and check them carefully and plan your fishing according to the water conditions and the weather. Check out the wind directions and the water flow though the damn before you go.

Check out this web site for that information.

http://www.lrl.usace.army.mil/wc/res...plots/prr.html

Is anyone catching crappie up by Walls yet. I was wondering if they had moved up yet and what the water temps were. I used to catch alot of crappie up that way, but I haven't had the chance to fish it much the last few years. It looked like the water was still up a little on the lake level report. Thanks for any help.

[Moose1am]

Patoka Lake Water Level is at 358 ft above mean sea level today. Water up in the upper reaches of the Patoka River section of Patoka Lake are in the mid 60s from my reports. I am going on what others have told me after fishing there last weekend. Saturday and Sunday April 15th and 16th. My source fishes Patoka for Crappie and Bass and it very knowledgeable about this lake. He probably knows it better or as well as anyone else that I know of.

He caught limits of nice crappie up above Walls. I won't say exactly where but they were shallow. In 4 to 6ft of water Sunday. They could have backed off and gone a bit deeper with this rain and cold weather front that came through his week.

This is Thursday April 20th 2006 and I am getting ready to head up to the lake very soon. It's raining today though. Once I get my gear all packed and such I am going fishing for a while. I may even head to KY lake, you never know. I do things on the spur of the moment. But I plan to have everything staged so that I can go when I make up my mind.

The larger White Crappie may prefer that warmer water of the area above walls boat ramp as it's shallower and easier for the sun to warm up. Also the water that falls as rain is warmer than the lake water (main lake water) and it's running over warmed up land surfaces. Where that water enters the back of the bays this time of the year is can provide ideal conditions (water temps and extra oxygen generated in the turbulent waters. Also the water runoff can bring food and nutrients from the land into this part of the lake. The life cycle starts with this warming water.)
I would think that the back of most of the other major creek should also be warming up as well.

Now is the time to catch some shallow water fish. Crappie that is. Pretty soon the fish will have all spawned and will be heading back out of the bays towards the main lake again. But how fast that happens is unknown.

I wish the IN DNR would tag some fish and put radio transmitters on some big female crappies and track them around Patoka lake some spring. That would be a very interesting project if it could get the funding. Maybe some day they will be able to make tiny gps receivers that can be attacked to the fish. LOL Would have to figure out a way to get the gps receiver to receive the gps satellite signals from below the water's surface. Maybe someday they will use new satellites that use ULTRA LOW frequency radio signals that can penetrate deep into the Oceans and then we can figure this fishing stuff out for sure.

If you go make sure that you have a good time and don't fall out of the boat. The waters not that warm yet.

Look for the spawning shelves that are in about 4 to 8ft of water. If the area you fish is muddy the fish will be shallow, if it's stained they may be in 8ft deep water. Bigger fish will spawn in deeper water.

An 12" Crappie at patoka is approx 6 to 7 years old. So it's just now that the crappie are starting to really get big. Gizzard Shad were found in Patoka back in `1996/97. So it's been long enough for the crappie to have eat enough shad to grow to 12" or more. Our crappie don't seem to be growing as fast as those southern crappie. Our growing seasons are much shorter. Hey one good thing about global warming is that we get longer growing seasons and bigger crappie. LOL

Don't forget to check out the Back of Painter Creek, and the Back sections of the Little Patoka River area as well as the back sections and bays of the Lick Fork Area. The Patoka River section is good but it's not the only place where you can catch big crappie in the spring.

Get your topo maps out and check them carefully and plan your fishing according to the water conditions and the weather. Check out the wind directions and the water flow though the damn before you go.

Check out this web site for that information.

http://www.lrl.usace.army.mil/wc/res...plots/prr.html

Is anyone catching crappie up by Walls yet. I was wondering if they had moved up yet and what the water temps were. I used to catch a lot of crappie up that way, but I haven't had the chance to fish it much the last few years. It looked like the water was still up a little on the lake level report. Thanks for any help.