Any Patoka Walleye Stories........

Would someone please that knows skeeter talk to him and tell him how his post is not good for fishing. I am not a tournament fisherman but after reading his post I have had to take 4 or 5 days to cool down.I like to fish for any fish that swims.I catch many keeper bass a year and do not keep them.I love that are stocking this fish in potoka.I think that it will do nothing but help the fishing for all fish.Almost all of are lakes could use a reduction of shad.If the shad are down that much the bluegill and redear will return to what they were in the 80s,so the bass will not want for food. So yes do keep the legel fish because they are one of the best fish to eat.But this lake or any other lake in Indiana are not just there for bass tournment fisherman.All of us that pay for fishing license,boat registration,ramp permit,help pay for these lakes.

[QUOTE=JustinM;427607]We were. Couldn't make the time. Oil alarm issues. No way we were gonna be back in time so stayed out fishing. Alarm is going off everytime we go over idle speed. Think we were boat 20? Two weekends ago our smallie spot shut down which killed 3 hours total time without a keeper. We were done after that. Dunno why Dave but the smallie bite has been great for me this year. We caught a ton of fish but the size has been missing for me all month. I'm really gonna try and make it down in the spring to fish with you a couple times. I fish the lake 4-5 times a month but I really don't know it that well and would like to get a few more options.[/QUOTE]

Too bad about the engine...I hope everything is ok with it. Glad to hear you are catching the smallies...even better to hear you are catching small fish, not because I want you to catch little fish...but because our numbers of small smallmouth have been bad last few years which is indicative of bad spawns. The populations have been down on Ky for the last few years and it is good to hear someone is catching numbers. Be happy to go out with you next spring if you can make it...you should not wait too long to book your trip though as I get booked up pretty quick for spring trips.

Dave

[QUOTE=DaveStewart;427545]A man asked about the walleye fishing on this lake and it has turned into a slamming fest between bass anglers and other folks....I just deleted two posts....if I see another post here with name calling or profanity that person is gonna get barred from the site. Either state your views and discuss your differences like grown ups or find someplace else to hang out.[/QUOTE]


I have a camp at Nolin in Ky I will gurantee the wallies have not hurt the Bass Population ,we have had a few tourneys down there this summer when folks brought in 25 lb bags!!!

I know the Amish knock the fire out of the walleyes but we used to catch them quite frequently when Bass fishing on cranks and plastics ,but not anymore.I did catch 2 short walleyes trolling wallie divers up in the river this summer but none in the spring ...just my 2 cents

I doubt the newly stocked walleyes will have an effect on the bass population, but it will definitely help the panfish. I'm a bass fisherman, but I also love to panfish, and I think this is great news.

I was just stating my thoughts on the matter. U can choose whatever you want to do. I am not forcing anyone to keep fish. I just know from talking with tournament directors at both Patoka and Monroe that their impression has been unhealthy and smaller bass are being weighed in at tournaments after the stocking programs were implemented. Not only that but they have also said to have found teeth marks and sores on bass that they think was caused by walleye. U talk to tournament fisherman and some think that walleye are pushing bass off their normal points and structure evident of catching walleye instead of bass. They have similar habitats but a lake can only sustain so many fish. Why didn?t DNR just stock more bass? See what happens. It is not like stocking the walleye at Monroe has really started a booming tourist trend or made the bass fishing any better. U can draw your own conclusions but I think everyone knows mine.
The deep fishing was good mid summer like always but towards the end of the summer the bite started going shallow. I know the transition normally goes that way but the temps were still in the upper 90?s. The winners taking home the money were not main lake guys but bank beaters that were up in the creeks.

I'm assuming the DNR has heard enough complaints from folks like me about the quality of the Patoka fishery. I've long said if you're a bass fisherman, then Patoka must seem like Heaven. But for a panfisherman it's simply a sorry excuse for a lake. The Walleye will put a hurtin on the shad numbers and this lake will soon prosper with hog bluegill and redear....just like it should.

Patoka needs to be a balanced fishery and it hasn't been in years. I know some very serious panfisherman and they absolutely will not go to Patoka because of this.

The first two stockings at Patoka were fingerlings. The last stocking was fry. I'm pretty sure that the bass checked in at tournaments have not had any "teeth marks" from any of these fish. I just can't see a walleye fry or fingerling trying to chew on a 15+" bass? :confused:

Last fall, the fish doing the best from the first stockings were ~16". Again, don't see that fish eating on a tournament fish. If they are, then I need to get some bigger baits.

Fishnut and Redear,

What you don't understand is that at somepoint in time a walleye or some other non black bass species might influence a black bass. That is not acceptable to some in our public waters. I agree that the walleye should help the panfishing in a major way. The drop in shad will help the bluegill fishing and crappie fishing and create a great walleye fishery. That is a threat to some black bass people.

What I don't understand is that bass tourneys are a relative scale. You don't win on how many pounds you catch. You win by catching more fish than the other guys in the tourney. It shouldn't matter if the winning bag is 22 lbs or 17 lbs. If you catch the most pounds you win.

These are public lakes. If these groups want to manage tourneys on private waters, then they can pool their money and do so.

Fished in the USA Bassin Regional at Patoka last weekend and there were lots of healthy bass weighed in. So I dont feel the walleye being in the lake has hurt the bass fishing in anyway at this time. As far as the shad population goes head to the backs of the creeks right now and you will see tons of shad so if the walleyes are going to cut into the shad population they have a little work left to do.

i didnt catch a fish sat or sunday. i guess the walleye ate em all!

We ended doing pretty well on Sunday on Patoka. No walleyes were sighted, but the bass couldn't resist the shad in the coves.

[QUOTE=avidbasser;428098]We ended doing pretty well on Sunday on Patoka. No walleyes were sighted, but the bass couldn't resist the shad in the coves.[/QUOTE]
we were way off somewhere...not even a bite. i gave up shallow