Patoka Water Temps?

[98zr2]

I was wondering if anyone has the current water temps for patoka

[SteveM4A1]

http://www.lrl.usace.army.mil/Missio...kaProfile.aspx

[98zr2]

I was hoping for current Temps Not data that is almost 2 weeks old thanks anyway

[Moveon]

I was hoping for current Temps Not data that is almost 2 weeks old thanks anyway

I'm truly sorry that the Corp of Engineers don't go out on the lake ever hour to give you and I the water temperatures. This is the best you can get from them right now. Unless you get out on the lake yourself and take a YSI Dissolved Oxygen Meter and a temperature probe (calibrated to be accurate) and do the testing yourself I doubt that you will find much more dated information on the lake's water temperatures. Many people have temperature gages on their boats but I'd bet that 99.9% of them only read the surface water temps. Not many people take the time like I do to drop a probe down into the water in 1ft, 5 ft or 10 ft increments and do a DO and Temperature profile of Patoka Lake.

Maybe someone else will give you the profile you seek? But if you check the weather reports for the last two weeks you can probably see that it's been cold and rainy with lots of cloudy weather in Southern IN. I've only see two good days in the last week where the sun was shinning.

My bet is that as soon as the sun comes out and the winds start coming out of the South the fish will head to shallower water. How long and when they do this is anyone's guess. They will seek deeper water after they feed and go back into a neutral mood to digest their food just as I go take a nap after eating a huge meal in the middle of the afternoon.

It's going to be getting warmer some day hopefully But this May it's been more like March than May IMHO.

I'd be looking along the Northern Banks that have shallow water with dark bottoms and that are near deeper sanctuary waters where the fish can seek cooler waters to rest and come up into the shallows to feed when they feel like eating. Warm Southern breezes will set up a south to north current and push the warmer surface waters up against these northern banks and the food chain will respond to this change in the currents and water temperatures.

Remember that all this rain has Patoka lake 6 feet over summer pool right now. They are releasing only 606 CFS of water out from the **** which is not that much. So I'm not sure if that will set up a current like what happens on larger lakes like KY lake which using the water going though the dam to generate electricity. Patoka is a flood control lake not a generating lake.

Higher water levels changes everything. Fish the warmer waters that are entering the lakes from creek and ditches that warm the water up as it crosses the land and drains down the hills into the creek and then the lake. Fish often head up into these creeks to find food that's washed down into the creek. Water temperatures are relative to what the other waters are like. One area may be warmer than another due to more sunshine, warmer or colder rain water entering the lake or darker bottoms that absorb more sunlight and warm the area up faster. And like I said areas that get more sunlight (Northern Parts of the lake shoreline with lots of Southern Exposure to the sunlight).

Good luck. They call it fishing instead of catching for a good reason. It's a game. Go play and have fun.

Remember even a bad day on the lake beats a good day at work for most of us most of the time.

[Moveon]

http://www.lrl.usace.army.mil/Missio...kaProfile.aspx

I appreciate your trying to help the guy. And I'm on a new notebook computer and rebuilding my links to places like you posted on my new computer. So thanks. I'll save that COE link in my favorites on this new computer. So at least you did help some one and I wanted you to know that I appreciate your helping and efforts

So thank you Steve.

[98zr2]

I wasn't looking for the full Temp profile, but just a recent surface temp. With all the fisherman that fish Patoka it isn't that unreasonable to ask for data that isn't 2 weeks old. There is a page on the corp's website that is updated everyday and it was saying the water temp was in the mid fifty's when I asked the question. I was just looking for confirmation.

For your future reference here is the link http://lrl-apps.lrl.usace.army.mil/w...eorlresobs.txt

[Moveon]

I wasn't looking for the full Temp profile, but just a recent surface temp. With all the fisherman that fish Patoka it isn't that unreasonable to ask for data that isn't 2 weeks old. There is a page on the corp's website that is updated everyday and it was saying the water temp was in the mid fifty's when I asked the question. I was just looking for confirmation.

For your future reference here is the link http://lrl-apps.lrl.usace.army.mil/w...eorlresobs.txt

I'm not sure why but this IN fishing site has a lot of people that will read the post but very few reply. And those that do reply are not always very helpful with information. I'm not sure why it's like this. It would be better if everyone tried to help each other in here.

Thanks for the link. I lost touch with that link when my hard drive crashed the last time. I had to start all over again from scratch and am still trying to recover a lot of useful information like that link to the COE lake temperatures.

I've noticed that lake surface temperatures can vary through out the day and also vary depending on where on the lake they are taken. Areas that receive the most sunlight and have a darker bottom color may warm up faster and more than shaded areas. And the shallows are going to be much warmer than the deeper waters.

What I look for is relative water temperatures in different parts of the lake. But those are normally going to be the same shallow areas that get the most sunlight and that have a darker colored bottom. Those will almost always be warmer than the deeper and shaded areas.

To me the time of the day is as critical as the water temperature as they will correlate with each other on days when the winds are coming out of the SW. Winds are normally coming out of the SW in this area unless a cold front is moving though and then the high pressure will cause the winds to come out of the North.

Now I read a report on crappie.com where Crevens went fishing at a lake in Southern IN and gave an excellent report on how he caught some nice big fat crappie. He even gave the water temperatures as the day progressed. He fished deep with 20 lb test line trolling 300 bandit type crank baits at 1.5 to almost 2 mph and was a few feet off the bottom in 15 ft of water or so. He even posted pictures of all his fish. We need more guys like him in here giving fishing reports. I've noticed that since pan fish like crappie are so numerous the crappie fishermen often share their fishing information with others a little more. Now they don't give out GPS coordinates or anything like that but they do like to share general fishing information with others. Maybe there is less competition among the pan fish guys? Or maybe they are just older fellows who are more social with others.

[raporter]

I don't fish the lake on weekends or holidays but before Friday most spots were around 70'. Hope that helps.