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They have stopped stocking Stripers in Patoka Lake because the DNR claims it is underutilized. Please contact the DNR and ask them to continue stocking stripers in Patoka Lake.
http://www.in.gov/dnr/contact/
Thanks for your support and I will let you know if they begin stocking program
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With all due respect to you guys.. they need to stock hybrids.
Stripers will not tolerate temps above 80 degrees well and will dive into the UNoxygenated waters of the lake and drown when temps get high.. This occurs when the fish get to around 15 to 18 pounds. This is why Stripers were never successful in Barren River Lake. Which is similar in size to Patoka.
The stripers were put into the lake to keep the Gizzard Shad down and improve the bluegill fishing. Problem is guys are going to fish for them and not catching them. One guide set up to catch stripers on that lake and has had limited success. Its not that it is under utilized, people can not FIND the darn things. IF THEY were CATCHING them they would fish for them, but there have been no real jumps on the lake, and what little fishing is done is not really good.
Just my opinion from talking to guides and anglers on Patoka.
What are they going to control the Gizzard Shad with?
Worse is the stupid rule that you cant CATCH gizzard shad and use them for bait on Patoka. The claim being that they have no way of knowing where the fish came from (Gizzard Shad) If they are already there does it Matter??????
Indiana DNR has some really silly rules.
Open the lake to Gizzard Shad netting and guys will come from all over to find bait. License them and make money off of them.
I am not sure I agree with you or not. You have a good point as the stripers are much harder to catch this year. The mature stripers have ranged 34" and approximately 12to15#
I have had great success the last four years but all of a sudden it has slowed down. I assumed three years of no stocking was the problem.
The DNR told us that it was underutilized as no one fishing them. When they did the survey no one knew about it. You go any weekend and everyone is fishing for stripers there.
Mr. Porter,
I am Dan Carnahan who is the DNR's District 7 Fisheries Biologist that manages the fishery at Patoka. I don't know where you heard that we stopped stocking Patoka with stripers because that is not the case. Patoka received around 90,000 striped bass fingerlings this year. I believe this should clear up any questions about this subject.
Hey Mr. Porter:
Did Dan say if they have been stocking the lake the same way over the last 4 years?
And are these Hybrid Striped bass that are being stocked. I assume that they must be the Hybrids. At least that is what I have believed to be the case.
They did stock these big fish to try to control the Gizzard Shad.
Man I wonder if they could get the Pike Population going now that the lake has gizzard shad in it. Back when Patoka was first formed they stocked Norther Pike in the lake and it was a lot of fun catching those fish. But they didn't have gizzard shad in numbers until after 1997 and by that time most of the Northern Pike has died. Evidently the Pike didn't spawn and produce a new generations enough to sustain them in Patoka Lake.
But I am sure that the Pike would take a huge chunk out of the Gizzard Shad and help reduce their numbers quickly.
Moose I have contacted him in the past about stripers vs wipers and he told me wipers have never been stocked in Patoka. That was his entire response so only this year was addressed.
I was told by a local that the DNR will not stock hybrids in a lake with white bass. Cross breeding becomes a problem. As I see it crossbreeding a white bass with a hybrid means fish that get to AT LEAST 6 pounds on occasion as that is the case in Kentucky on Barren River Lake. There a 6 pounder that appears to be a hybrid white cross was caught.. HOWEVER the chances of this happening are extremely low...
Still it does happen.
Most folks think that hybrids are sterile.. That is NOT the case they produce eggs. I have caught 9 pounders in Barren FULL of eggs.
It was posted on the in.gov page two years ago. I am really glad they continued stocking the stripers. I have had better luck there than any lake.