Is bluegill/redear bite on at patoka yet

[Rsimmons]

Has redear / bluegill bite on at patako yet been several yrs since I have been there thinking about coming back was just looking for some info thanks in advance .

[Moveon]

Has redear / bluegill bite on at patako yet been several yrs since I have been there thinking about coming back was just looking for some info thanks in advance .

If you mean the spawn period I'm not sure. But people catch bluegills year round out in deep water. Only in the spring of the year when the shallow waters are warm will the sunfish come up and spawn. Normally in this area it's in late may or June when they spawn. There are many different species on Sunfish and they probably all don't all spawn at the very same time.

As far as Patoka Lake is concerned the bluegills and other small sunfish are not growing as big as they once did at Patoka. This is due to their food supply being consumed by the Gizzard Shad and leaving little food for the bluegills to grow fast and fat on. So the average size of the 4 year old sunfish is less these days as compared to the past before the gizzard shad population exploded in Patoka Lake.

Back when the lake was first flooded it was not uncommon for boat loads of big fast sunfish to be taken home. Now the fish are much smaller.

Gizzard shad are filter feeders and out compete the young of the year sunfish for the available phytoplankton in the waters.