Quote Originally Posted by 98zr2 View Post
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.