Potoka Lake & Winter?

[ChampioNinKY]

Anybody target Smallie on Potoka this time of year? Is there a Largemouth bite there to speak of in the winter. I fish Potoka in the Spring, Summer and Fall just have never tried it in the Winter. Is it worth a Trip?

Thanks
Jerry Cole

[Moose1am]

There are smallies in Patoka but heck if I know where they are. Ask Ray as I am sure that he knows. They are probably all bunched up together right now in deep water somewhere.

You'll need the $20 annual boating permit or lake permit to fish on Patoka. This sticker is attached to the bow of the boat on the port side. You should be able to enter the park at this time of year as I doubt that anyone is manning the main gates at Newton Stewart.

Note that most of the back parts of the big sections of Patoka are off limits during waterfowl season which does not end until the end of Feb down here in the Ohio River Area. It may end soon up at Patoka but you will want to check first. Walls and the Little Patoka River Section and the very back of Lick Fork are all closed to protect the birds during the winter months.

The water level must still be pretty high for this time of the year. We have had so much rain these last few months.

[ss]

Normally Patoka can be decent in the winter, but with the high water this year it has been pretty tough. The last time I was there was this past Saturday, and I had two short fish, one smallmouth and one largemouth. Both fish were caught on a jerkbait in about 8 feet of water. I don't specifially fish for smallmouth on Patoka, but I catch one occasionally in the same areas I catch green fish, usually around weeds and rock. Most of the smallmouth you see caught in tournaments are in the very early spring and at night in the summer. I would say it would not be worth a trip to Patoka right now, but if the water keeps dropping, it should get good around the first of March.

[ChampioNinKY]

Thanks for the info. I've already purchased my Launch pass. The Lake is still way up can't they pull it down?

[ss]

Patoka is not like Rough and Barren as far as being able to pull water when it is high. They are pulling it about as fast as they can at about 2-3 inches per day. The Patoka river runs through mostly low farm land downstream of the lake, so if they pull too much water, there will be flooding. Every time it rains this winter, they have to stop pulling water from the lake to allow for the rain runoff into the river valley.

[Moose1am]

And if the Wabash is flooding they can't empty too much water from the Patoka River into the Wabash. And it's all depends on how high the water levels are in the River's down stream from Patoka Lake. They have been trying to lower the level all summer and fall and now into the winter months but we keep having high water levels downstream.

I wish it would stop raining so much and that the level would get back down to 532 before the end of March.

[lov2fish]

Patoka has smallies in it, a nice population actualy. You can shoot me an e-mail if ya like.


Ray Rigby
[email protected]
www.indianasmallmouth.com

[PL]

There are some really nice smallmouth in Patoka. I catch some everyyear while bass fishing or crappie fishing. Biggest one I've personally caught was right at 20" and it was a football. Caught it near the old river channel fishing rocky banks and bluffs looking for crappie brushpiles. Not long ago I got a new 9'1/2" FnF rod and new reel just for this type of fishing. When it isn't so cold we're going to go FnF fishing in those areas where I've caught smallmouth before. If that doesn't pan out in several hours we'll go back to crappie fishing those deep brushpiles that I have located over the years. There's always fish on them and there's always some biters willing to come aboard my boat.


Larry

[bevo]

Note that most of the back parts of the big sections of Patoka are off limits during waterfowl season which does not end until the end of Feb down here in the Ohio River Area.

Waterfowl season NATIONALLY ended January 28th for ducks. Indiana's Ohio River Zone closed January 21, 2007 for ducks and January 31, 2007 for geese.

[Moose1am]

Thanks for the report. So duck and goose season is over in the Indiana Ohio River Zone now.

So that means that the back areas of Patoka Lake are now open back to fishing.

Does anyone know if these areas have open water now? Or are they frozen?

It's raining here in Evansville, IN but just a few miles north it's snowing hard. We are right on the boarder line between freezing temperatures and temperatures above freezing. It's going to be getting colder later in the day.

Waterfowl season NATIONALLY ended January 28th for ducks. Indiana's Ohio River Zone closed January 21, 2007 for ducks and January 31, 2007 for geese.