Any Luck at Patoka?

[funfishers]

My wife and I will making our first trip there this Fri and Sat. We found a small cabin to rent on a point so we have water on two side plus the point.
Will be fishing from shore.
Wondering if anyone is having luck down there.
Regardless we will enjoy the needed get away.

Alan

[raporter]

Crappie and gills are stunted, cats are good and plentiful!

[Locator79]

Simple answer.... Nope. I wouldn't waste time crappie fishing there. All the catfish you want though m

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[Chalex]

Crappie and gills are stunted, cats are good and plentiful!

What would help to break that cycle on a lake that size? Obviously the State doesn't know.

[funfishers]

Well my wife loves to catfish but we don't keep any. I love catching anything else (don't like handling them lol) which we don't keep either.
We will have a good time regardless, rain or shine. The get away is much needed.

Thanks to all.

Alan

[wannabe fisherman]

What would help to break that cycle on a lake that size? Obviously the State doesn't know.

I had a CO once tell me if I didn't want all those small fish to put them in my live well and toss them out on shore AFTER I loaded my boat. There are so many that their growth is stunted.

[Chalex]

I had a CO once tell me if I didn't want all those small fish to put them in my live well and toss them out on shore AFTER I loaded my boat. There are so many that their growth is stunted.

We did that to a pond of ours years ago. The bluegill were small and I could catch them on a bare hook. Some buddies and I pulled 3 five gallon buckets of them out while ice fishing and dumped them over the bank. After that we had very nice bluegill. Its going to take a lot of fisherman to do something like that at Patoka!

[cevans]

I have seen schools of shad that are 14” or bigger and that is the major problem on Patoka. Too many shad and too big. Its a shame too. It used to be so good for gills and crappie as well as bass. DNR leaves alot to be desired when it comes to managing our lakes. They dump 15 to 20 million walleye fry in Patoka every year and the weeds are gone so not enough cover other than down timber but the lake is shallow compared to Brookville and water is hotter than brookville also. To me, its a waste to dump walleye fry that is only 0.02 inches long as its just food for the shad.

[Chalex]

I have seen schools of shad that are 14” or bigger and that is the major problem on Patoka. Too many shad and too big. Its a shame too. It used to be so good for gills and crappie as well as bass. DNR leaves alot to be desired when it comes to managing our lakes. They dump 15 to 20 million walleye fry in Patoka every year and the weeds are gone so not enough cover other than down timber but the lake is shallow compared to Brookville and water is hotter than brookville also. To me, its a waste to dump walleye fry that is only 0.02 inches long as its just food for the shad.

You know it's sad that a biologist spends all that time in school learning about how to manage our resources. Then when they have the chance to make a difference they use the same old blanket decisions for the lakes they manage.

It's about like the denial of the proposed bobcat season. It isn't based on the need or the abundance of the bobcats, it was based on a group of people that didn't want it and our DNR didn't collect any data to back it up. They need to clean house and start taking a hands on approach.

Chad

[cevans]

Don’t get me started on bob cats. I am up to a#@ in bobcats here and have them every nite in the yard hunting rabbits. Female with 2 kits, a med male and a large 50 lb or bigger male and see them every time I am in a deer stand. Not to mention everywhere we drive we see them. Shot gun is loaded with double O buck.