Patoka Report

[EJHick]

Water temp was 45-49 in the places I hit. Water muddy from bridge of little patoka on up river. Everything else was stained with about 2' visibility.


Eric J. Hickman Jr.
U of L Bass Club
Tournament Director
[email protected]

[Frenzy]

I fished the 24th and 25th at Patoka. Both days were miserably cold. Fished everywhere from up river to lick fork by the marina. Nothing seemed to be working. What did you catch your 19 lbs on? Where were you fishing? I know 8 lbs. won a tournament launched from Newton Stuart South on Satuday. How did the BFL go? Winning weight? Big bass?

[EJHick]

The BFL is next weekend, was just searching for some areas and patterns. I'll reply with what I was catching them on after tourney.(slow) Have a good one!

[Biggofish]

It took 20 plus to win the Hoosier Open this past Sunday.

[Frenzy]

Really!? That's kind of suprising. I guess the slightly warmer/sunnier day on Sunday could have helped out the fishing. Any idea what they were catching them on or where at? What was big bass?

[TI]

As you know, they are catching them on bubble gum colored 1.5 ounce Booyah jigs. Huh Chigger? If you ain't thowin' them, then you ain't bustin' them up. Plus, apparently, if you have a John Deere hat on while you're fishing then your odds of getting bites doubles. Chigger back boated me all day. I think they thought he was a bushy brush pile with that hat on.

http://www.hoosieropen.com/News/news.htm

TI

[Chigger_Brumbalow]

Thats right, we come in there an tore em a new one. I had my John Deere hat on and we just went down the bank and over powered the bass. They think my hat is a tree with catalpaw worms in it.

We went in and just started firin with 1/2oz Yozuri traps and big Lucky Craft CB350 fat crankbaits. Just kept firin long casts and power crankin till we got on em. Once we got on em we stayed on em Kevin VanDamsomofabitch power fishin style.

From a distance if you saw us you would have thought we was the heavy weight fighter Butter Bean in the boat, we just kept firin haymakers. I had to pack my arm in ice when I got back. I can now only fish every 4th day to save my arm. When it gets in the tourney stretch run, I might be able to go on 3 days rest if I go on a cast count.

We was so impressive, the DNR officer was usin his radar gun to clock my rattletrap casts, which was well over 100mph, with accuraxy I might add.

I hope I get to fish with him again, cause he is good shop help let me tell ya. For a guy who only throws senkos, I showed him how to cowboy up for sure.

My new motto on baits is this. If it don't cost 10 bucks or so, it don't get throwed by Chigger Brumbalow. I am now a high dollar crankbait flamethrowin summabitch now so bring it on all you Kevin VD wannabees.

[Viper201]

Only 1 team out of 170 had a 6 fish limit,check out all the zeroes on the bottom,100+ guys blanked,it was tough.

[ndjay]

only 1 out of 170 limited???.......those guys must of been good.

[bassman409]

This last post doesn't even warrant a reply but I will anyway, "1 out of 170, must have been some good fisherman",
Obviousely you have never fished in a competition bass tournament. Before you start bashing people for not catching a limit you need to have an idea on what you are talking about.. I have to stop here..
Kevin B.

[Topwater2004]

They might have cheated. They might have gotten lucky. You never know about those big tournaments, that is why B.A.S.S. is so quick to dq somebody.

There was an angler on the FLW a few years ago, who won a lot. Anyway he was banned for life by the FLW, why no one was ever told. The FLW won't say, and the angler won't say. I bet it was a safe guess they caught him cheating more than once.

If guys would cheat at that high a level, think what is going on during these weekend tourneys.

[steves]

Well I'm surprised it took this long for the subject to change to cheating, but it finally has. The Hoosier Open tournaments are very competitve and well run, and sometimes lie detector tests are given. Does cheating take place in these tournaments? I can't say for sure that it doesn't, but I would like to think that it does not. I can say for sure that the winners of the Patoka tournament did not cheat. My partner and I won that tournament fairly, honestly, and followed every tournament and Indiana DNR rule. Did we get lucky? Maybe a little. But the fact remains that the fishing was tough that day and we were the only team to catch a limit. On that day, on that lake, in that tournament we were the best fishermen and we won. Period. The next tournament may turn out differently, that's bass fishing.