Thread: Patoka lake panfish.

I have fished Patoka lake for years. I know this has to have been asked many times and may even need to be posted on the panfish forum but I watch this particular forum more than others and wish to have your insight and opinion if you would. The panfish size for Patoka "bluegills" in particular, are they small or am I just not finding the larger fish. Secondly I find that I catch allot catfish while trying to catch panfish.....probable reason for the low numbers of big gills.

patoka used to be full of big bluegill caught a 14 in redear there in mid 80,s all of a sudden you could,nt catch a decent gill don,t know what happened

My last real good year for bluegill and redear on Patoka was my senior year of high school in 1996. Ever since then the quality and quantity just keeps going down. You can tie into a good one every now and then, but not very often. At least in my experience. There are many days I have been to Patoka and would starve if I depended on catching a mess worth cleaning.I think the biggest problem was the irresponsibility of the retired angler crowd from the late 80's through the late 90's. I can not tell you how many I have seen, and also know who had camps in Wildridge. They would go out everyday and sometimes twice a day for as long as the fish would bite and keep a 100-200 or more BIG bluegill and redear. It just got fished out and the lake could not sustain the numbers it was producing. Couple that with the pleasure boat pressure it sees, and it is now overrun with small 3-5" fish that are stunted. The stocking of catfish and walleye in the lake, is nothing but a positive IMO.

I new people from around that talked about going there and staying a week and bragging about bringing home 500 plus fish.....

The lake didn't get fished out of bluegill / redear. As happens at most all of our reservoirs , the shad populations eventually explode and bluegill/ redear size goes down. When the size drops, people stop fishing for them. This happened in 1995 at Patoka. It will never come back, unless the lake is drained, all shad killed , and we start over.... or unless there is enough predator fish feeding on shad to get their numbers down which is unlikely. Small lakes like Boggs Creek (Lagootee) and Starve Hollow (Vallonia) are a couple examples I can think of where the DNR drained the lake down and killed the fish and started over to remedy the above situation. Some of the smaller state lakes around are likely to have less shad and better candidates for finding nice bluegill. Summit lake is an example of a lake that seems to be one of those lakes that perpetually produces nice bluegill and has somehow avoided the overpopulation of shad.

Originally Posted by Hoosier Hog Daddy

The lake didn't get fished out of bluegill / redear. As happens at most all of our reservoirs , the shad populations eventually explode and bluegill/ redear size goes down. When the size drops, people stop fishing for them. This happened in 1995 at Patoka. It will never come back, unless the lake is drained, all shad killed , and we start over.... or unless there is enough predator fish feeding on shad to get their numbers down which is unlikely. Small lakes like Boggs Creek (Lagootee) and Starve Hollow (Vallonia) are a couple examples I can think of where the DNR drained the lake down and killed the fish and started over to remedy the above situation. Some of the smaller state lakes around are likely to have less shad and better candidates for finding nice bluegill. Summit lake is an example of a lake that seems to be one of those lakes that perpetually produces nice bluegill and has somehow avoided the overpopulation of shad.

While I am not denying the shad play a huge part, in fact I agree with you on that. You can not convince me that 15 years of anglers taking coolers/live wells packed smack full of paper plate size bluegill and redear does not factor into it. At least it did early on, as the life span of those fish would be surpassed now.

I think HHD and Bouncer are both right. I have seen West Boggs decline in gill quality due to gizzard shad twice. Most likely it will again if the locals put them in the lake again( rumor). I also saw a large lake in Martin County decline in Crappie and Bass due to over harvest. Retirees from the campground would take every crappie caught every day for years until they started complaining about the poor fishing. The manager of the marina was killing every bass weighed in that was put in the holding tank after the tounerment club members left. That didn't count the bass that left in live wells to be trans-planted in the river. That lake is just now coming back after 25 years. Now, before you say that IOC would not allow that, they could not access this lake. People from my area will understand. Dogwood has been ravaged too. Thousands of gill were carried off from ice fishing plus people taking hundreds of fillets each to freeze. I have not caught a decent gill at Patoka in years and have not seen big gills in any catches.

ON ANOTHER NOTE THERE ARE A COUPLE OF LAKE SOUTH OF PATOKA (INDIAN / CELINA) I HAVE NEVER FISHED EITHER BUT HAVE DROVE THROUGH THE CAMPGROUNDS ON RAINY DAYS WHEN WE WERE CAMPING AT PATOKA. IS IT ANY BETTER OR HAVE THEY SEEN THE SAME TYPE OF PRESSURE?

Originally Posted by Spec Slayer

ON ANOTHER NOTE THERE ARE A COUPLE OF LAKE SOUTH OF PATOKA (INDIAN / CELINA) I HAVE NEVER FISHED EITHER BUT HAVE DROVE THROUGH THE CAMPGROUNDS ON RAINY DAYS WHEN WE WERE CAMPING AT PATOKA. IS IT ANY BETTER OR HAVE THEY SEEN THE SAME TYPE OF PRESSURE?

There are also two lakes south of Indian and Celina, Tipasaw and Saddle.

I find Celina too clear, it is hard for me to catch fish there other than top water bass at the end of the day. But I think it is the prettiest lake in Indiana come October.

Tipasaw has a weed problem that just won't go away! But it has a pretty large spawning ground. I don't fish it much.

Saddle is about half way to Tell City, it has the least fishing pressure. I make it down there a few times a year. But it is smallest of the lakes, I catch fish there, but not big. Go to Gatchel and get a sandwich made at four lakes store while you are there.

Indian is the best fishing of the four most of the time. Indian river is not big, but big enough to move a lot of water after a rain. The lake can go muddy pretty fast, and change level often. But the fishing is still pretty good. I have even caught some pretty good catfish.

Indian was closed almost all of last year, road maintenance. I am seeing more fishing pressure on it this spring than I ever have before. I have been fishing these lakes over 20 years. It is 25 miles from my drive to the Indian boat ramp. I don't know what the fishing pressure will do in the end.

Use to all I saw on the lake was jon boats and canoes. But today I see more and more high dollar bass boats. Lots of guys have given up on Patoka and are looking for green water...

THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION...I NEVER REALLY CONSIDERED THE SHAD BUT IT MAKES SENSE. I KNOW I HAVE WORKED MY TAIL END OFF TO FIND A QUALITY GILL IN PATOKA BUT I JUST DON'T SEE THEM. I GUESS I WILL HAVE TO CHANGE MY HUNTING GROUND FOR THAT PARTICULAR SPECIES.... DO YOU THINK MONROE HAS THE SAME PROBLEM? I REMEMBER YEARS AGO 77' 78' WHEN MY DAD USED TO TAKE ME TO MONROE AND WE WOULD CATCH SOME NICE GILLS BUT I FIND THE SAME PROBLEM THERE WHEN I GET THE CHANCE TO FISH IT. TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION I MAY GO 1 TIME PER YEAR TO MONROE SO I REALLY AM NOT BEING FAIR TO THAT LAKE? YOUR THOUGHTS.