Patoka Sucked on April 1, 2017 for Indiana Slab Masters Tourney

I give a big Kudos to those that fished that tourney on Patoka on 4/1 as the wind was rentless out of the north about 15-20 gusting, morning temp was in 30's if I remember right, and just plain terrible weather. Congrats to the winners and to those that did catch a few, and I mean a few, decient crappies. Judge for yourselves as to the amounts of keeper crappies that were caught in going to the link to see the results which was dismal as all get out but to those that fished Patoka no better than the fishing is, your all "hardcore crappie fishermen". Better luck at the Cat.

http://www.indianaslabmasters.com/Patoka%202017.pdf

I attempted to go however I missed the registration. Son in law & I went out for a few hours then left for breakfast. Came back around 1100 & managed a few dink. Grats to the winners, they grinded out a good catch.

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Originally Posted by cevans

I give a big Kudos to those that fished that tourney on Patoka on 4/1 as the wind was rentless out of the north about 15-20 gusting, morning temp was in 30's if I remember right, and just plain terrible weather. Congrats to the winners and to those that did catch a few, and I mean a few, decient crappies. Judge for yourselves as to the amounts of keeper crappies that were caught in going to the link to see the results which was dismal as all get out but to those that fished Patoka no better than the fishing is, your all "hardcore crappie fishermen". Better luck at the Cat.

http://www.indianaslabmasters.com/Patoka%202017.pdf

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It was pretty cold all day....bite was slow but steady for me all day. Was really disappointed in the fish at patoka. Tried several spots and all I could get were dimks. First time I had ever fished or been to patoka and first tourney I had ever fished. Hope for better fish at cat only time will tell

It was my first time on Patoka also...bite was slow for us consisting of mainly dinks but activity picked up around the stop fishing time. Partner and I decided to skip weigh-in and keep fishing. Ended up catching a nice mess to take home.

I would have to agree with patoka and suck being in the same sentence. Although there are a few pigs left in there somewhere.

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What nobody commented on was: in looking at the weigh in, last 10 or so teams that weighed in crappies, weighed in 7 fish for a total weight of a pound or way less. That is less that 2 oz's per fish in some cases. Aweful small and all but an embarrassment.

They were terribly small, ones we caught were probly 6-7 inches. With so many teams not even weighing in makes me think a good number of them only caught dinks as well.

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Originally Posted by HoosierSlabs

They were terribly small, ones we caught were probly 6-7 inches. With so many teams not even weighing in makes me think a good number of them only caught dinks as well.

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the more I hear reports like this the more I believe there are too many crappie in the lake and they're not growing very much. Even had a CO once tell me to throw some of those small ones out on the bank if I didn't want them.

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Originally Posted by wannabe fisherman

the more I hear reports like this the more I believe there are too many crappie in the lake and they're not growing very much. Even had a CO once tell me to throw some of those small ones out on the bank if I didn't want them.

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Too many small crappie in the lake for sure. The shad population has gotten so big, they are eating all the food the small crappie and bluegill need, but the shad are getting too big for the predator fish to eat. The shad schools are getting ridiculously large, and are literally making the water boil all over the lake. I have only been on Patoka once this year, but my biggest fish of the day was a shad if that tells you anything. In fact between the three of us we caught 7 shad that day, I had never caught more than one previously. I personally have not caught a crappie bigger than 11 inches on Patoka in the last 4 years, and I have caught hundreds in that time.