Patoka temps

[BigO]

Temps as JRB said. But my son-in-law caught a 5 1/2 Largemouth Sunday and two other keeper bass. Hopefully this week will increase activity a lot!

[Spider04]

Nice fish!
I would assume that the temps increasing this week might move the fish to start spawning soon? Or do they normally start on Patoka with temps higher than 60? I don't have much spring fishing experience on this lake. Should I be fishing any flats I can find first? Any help would be appreciated.

[Moose1am]

60 deg water temp will send the crappie to the spawning beds right about now.

Remember that not all the lake warms up at the same time. Shallower section of the lake will be the first to warm up. Those with shallow dark bottoms that are protected from harsh northern winds and have longer southern exposure to the sun will warm up first.

Regards,

Moose1am

[Spider04]

Thank you. Appreciate the help. I've found some areas on a map I am going to give a try based on your suggestions.

[gg]

I had some 63 yesterday

[raporter]

Found temps from 57 to 61 on the lake yesterday. Surprisingly to me was the coldest temps were upstream from Walls Ramp.

[Moose1am]

Cold rain water maybe? Did you take the water temp over deeper water maybe? Early in the year you can have hot and cold spots in the lakes.

Ever go swimming in a lake in the summertime and hit a hot spot and then swim 12 ft away and hit colder water. Not sure why this happens but it does. LOL

I would have thought that the Upper Reaches of the lake (above Walls) would be warmer than the main lake deeper water areas.

It does depend on the amount of sunlight hitting the water and the bottom color and makeup along with the water's depth.

Up above King's Bridge should be warmer water due to the fact that there are a lot of shallow mud flats up there. So I am told.

Also the temp will vary during the day and the wind can also push water to one side of the lake. ie it may be pushing the colder surface temp water toward the windward bank. Wind also sets up currents in a lake. Wind pushes the water up against a windward bank and the water flows under the bank and back out into the lake. Sort of like a very mild undertow for those that have swam in the oceans. It's just a much weaker current. But enough to move cold water to the surface at times. Especially after several days of strong winds from one direction.

Regards,

Moose1am

[Spider04]

Just as a follow up I did get a chance to hit Patoka on Saturday and fished up the river. Found water temps as high as 70 degrees although most were around 68. Did not find any fish in the highest water temp though which was suprising. Did better on wind blown points with muddier water. Most of main lake was in the lower to mid 60's. While this represents the water temps, my personal skin temp was well over 100.......it got god awful hot out there in the afternoon! No cloud cover and high 80's temps. Just not used to it yet.

[Moose1am]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Apr-20-06 AT 03:53AM (EST)[/font][p]It's hard to find any shade up at Patoka. It's not like KY lake where you can find some shady trees overhanging the water in some spots.

Did you run into any submerged tree tops? I got an email from a friend that fishs Patoka Lake all the time and he went up river and said the tree tops were just under the water when the lake is at this level 538ft. We went up to Kings Bridge last spring when the water was only at 533ft and you could see the trees well enough to find the old river channel and stay in the channel. But without any trees to see it would be hard to figure out where the river channel is. That channel is only about 20ft wide in some spots. It's easy to get out of the channel and if the water or lake is down to 532ft you can run into some huge stumps or get stuck on a mud flat. DNR did their survey at Patoka and they posted the Map Coordinates of the fish traps. I took those map coordinates and plotted them on my FHS digital map of Patoka and most of them were upriver from Kings Bridge. But there are plenty of big crappie downstream from Kings and dumpling creek and even walls ramp. I'll bet that the crappie are spawning from Osborn ramp all the way up river to well above kings bridge. My buddie said they caught some nice fish up that way this last weekend. Saturday and Sunday. CrappieUSA had the Patoka Lake Tournament last Saturday and they weighed in some 2# plus fish Saturday.

I heard that it was really crowded Saturday too.

Regards,

Moose1am

[Spider04]

Last Saturday was really crowded. Banks were getting beaten up good. A lot of crappie fishermen also; as you stated from Osborn on further north.
There were submerged trees that we had to watch out for. Glad you passed on the water levels to watch out for this. Will use them in the future.
Still learning Patoka but enjoyed my experience out there last Saturday. Was the first time I had been up the river. Most of my prior experience was around Painter Creek, and that wasn't much. Patoka on paper is an attractive lake. I can't wait to get more time on it.

[indylux]

Spider,

I'm heading down to Patoka next weekend and am heading up the river for the first time myself. Did you have any difficulty navigating?

[Spider04]

Indylux-
My partner guided us through with no issues, but he has been up river before. I wish I could give you more to work with. Someone else on the board might be able to offer more help. Hope you have a good trip.