Patoka Shad?

We were up on Patoka cruising the lake in a pontoon. One of the guys on the pontoon has fished Patoka like I have since it was built. He mentioned how the shad population isn't near what it was.

I hadn't really thought about it I didn't fish Patoka much the two years previous to this year but he is right I didn't see near as many shad as years ago this year. It developed into a conversation as to why. I said I know the shad are cold sensitive and the last two winters have been cold. Also perhaps the walleye, yellow bass, or drum that are present now?

Does anyone that fishes Patoka disagree with the shad numbers being down or have other theories? Really curious I was thinking perhaps some areas may have more shad than others.

Whatever the reason I am hoping this to be true as it will increase the food base for game fish.

I haven't been down there much this year, but I had no trouble finding bait in the upper part of the lake. Since shad typically spawn in the upper shallow regions, maybe that's why they aren't as prevalent on the main lake.

One other possibility is that their spawning was also interrupted by constantly changing water levels and the water warming quickly. The northern Gizzard shad have developed a greater tolerance for cold water, so if numbers are down, don't expect it for long.

if they are low, id be in agreement with fetish. they should go in cycles just like any other fish. some years good spawn others not so much. :dono maybe ask your local biologist by email.

I read earlier this year,,on Tim's Guide Service web site,,that he mentioned that DNR had re-introduced shad into the lake to help the crappie population out and it was starting to help. When I read it kind a blew it off and it wasn't dated or anything as just kind of figured it was bs,,,but maybe its not. Now that you bring up,,I haven't been seeing alot of shad this year on Patoka myself either. Patoka the last couple of years has experienced lots of ice over the winter more than normal in the wintertime.

Shad come and go. Warm spring, with a few cold snaps usually kill them off pretty well. Water gets hard here, and the shad survive just fine. With the water up this year, I'd suspect that the shad are going to be pretty abundant the next two years.

I was seeing plenty of bait on sonar when I was down there last month fishing for bass.

Not saying the shad are going to become extinct. Just saying for some reason they seem to be less prolific. I can remember 4 or 5 years ago they were everywhere and it had been that way for a long time. We had a flood 3 years ago. Only thing different weather wise was 2 consecutive cold winters. Lots of lakes I have fished have shad I can only think of one that had the numbers Patoka had in the past and they are farther south. Now with the forage base changing the shad numbers seem to be too. I just wonder how many shad a big walleye can swallow in a year and there are a lots of yellow bass. If they get in these newly hatched shad schools I am thinking they could really rip them up. Yes it could just be a down cycle. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next 5 years.

I do know the DNR has been releasing shad back into the lake the couple of years, in order to try and help the crappie out. Plus with the ongoing stocking of walleye, and the fact that a lot of them are getting to be real nice size now. There is a lot more competition for baitfish, which is down in numbers.

Good topic... And very good replies. IMO walleye will eat any fish fry... I've good pics of 15" eyes with 6 gills/crappie all 3" plus, so they don't need shad. With the amount of small crappie in patoka... The walleye and bass will always do well. I think the biggest part of not seeing shad is the amount of water they have ATM. How many more acres is patoka right now? If a shad has oxygen they'd be just as happy in the woods as they'd be in 30 fow. If you subtract the number of acres of water by water levels going back down, I bet you'd see a lot more shad. Just like crappie in Sally and Missy... In a drought year, they get hammered... And the next year suffers, because the rule that 10% of the water holds 90% of the fish, and in a drought year it may be 5%. In a major flood year, especially for crappie that 10% is closer to 40%, because of the amount of new structure. I have no idea if I made sense of that... But hopefully somebody followed me!! Lol

I'll confirm the shad stories, but I would be shocked if DNR had any hand in introducing or supplementally stocking shad into the lake. They first appeared in 1996 according to DNR survey records, and pretty much once you have shad (gizzards), you never "not" have them. No need to introduce as they never go away regardless how many predators you stock, or what you try to do to kill them off. I think the wording on Tim's website is actually referring to their (1996) appearance and not to their being stocked. DNR pretty much hates shad because it usually ends up destroying a balanced fishery. They are the reason they've renovated Boggs twice, along with a few other reservoirs. The crappie are simply too prolific and successfully spawning in Patoka for some reason, hence you have large numbers which leads to stunted growth despite estimates of as many as 100,000 harvested crappie per year from the lake. Adding stripers and walleye is their way of actually trying to help control ( i.e., reduce) the shad population. Now that yellows have been found in the lake, that will also put pressure on crappie growth.

-T9

Good answer High Tide. That is one thing I didn't take into consideration is the extra flooded acres. Team9nine I was thinking along the lines you are I just don't think DNR would stock shad. Shad is the reason they have stocked walleye and stripers. I know at one time they stocked muskie too but not positive that was because of the shad or if that was an original stocking. I know a guy that has caught one a few years ago. One thing Team9nine hit on that I was overlooking is although yellow bass are predators and eat minnows in their early years they would compete with the bluegill and crappie.

Like I said,,blew it off when I read it on Tims Website as I couldn't fathom DNR putting in shad. More I think about this,,plenty of bait fish balls in the lake as I have been fishing through them all over lake. Been catching lots better crappies and better numbers this year on Patoka than last yr. Granted its not like my best year which was 2011 when I cleaned up on them crankin. Fishing pressure, down cycles,,predator fish,,fish habitat on the lake is changing as we are slowly seeing the timber or lack of changing over time. Fish also change as habitat changes. Look at Monroe as it used to have tons of standing timber in every bay everywhere. Now all you have left is a few stump beds and habitat on Patoka is slowly changing and so will the fish. Its a better year on Patoka even tho we have had to put up with all the rain and now every lake in the state is being pulled down from flood stage. My fishing for the year is about over as hunting season is coming on us and getting in the hunting mode and urge to hit the green jungle. Don't forget about DNR having stocked Northerns in the lake at one time as I had caught them up to 8lbs and thank god DNR put them in steril where they wouldn't reproduce at one time also. Hate the yellow bass as they are now everywhere in every lake and don't really get big enough to eat and they are are edible when cleaned properly. :)

Still seeing huge balls of shad everywhere. Drive along 164 on a calm evening and you will see shad surfacing EVERYWHERE. Does anyone really think the DNR would stock more of what has destroyed the best panfish lake Indiana ever had?

I am just going by what I was told by a DNR employee at the lake several years back. Either they don't know what was really going on, or it never happened. I could never understand why they would release them either, but I am not going to sit here and be called a liar either.

Bouncer don't think anyone is calling you a liar. Just lots oBob,

We don’t stock shad. We have more than we want everywhere. Here are the stocking totals for 2015 at Patoka:



Patoka Stockings >2007

dtStockDate
sPermitNumber
sCommonName
sWaterbodyName
iNumber
sFryDesc
dblAvgSize

4/23/2015
State
WALLEYE
Patoka
2209000
Yes
0.2

4/24/2015
State
WALLEYE
Patoka
1995150
Yes
0.2

4/26/2015
State
WALLEYE
Patoka
2982150
Yes
0.2

4/27/2015
State
WALLEYE
Patoka
1504000
Yes
0.2

4/28/2015
State
WALLEYE
Patoka
1421750
Yes
0.2

4/29/2015
State
WALLEYE
Patoka
139590
Yes
0.2

6/11/2015
STATE
HYBRID STRIPED BASS
Patoka
44000
No
1.28

7/24/2015
STATE
LARGEMOUTH BASS
Patoka
86
No
4.55

7/24/2015
STATE
WALLEYE
Patoka
62
No
5.7






Dan Carnahan

South Region Fisheries Supervisor

Indiana DNR

f misinformation floating around. Here is this years stocking.

Well that didn't post exactly as I wrote it but hope everyone gets the idea. One thing I had heard but this info confirmed is the stocking of Hybrid striped bass.
A friend on Monroe catches these on his flyrod, hope they do well in Patoka.

Thanks Raporter got a question though on those walleye number is there an extra 0 on those numbers? What was the total walleye for the year?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gone_fishing

Thanks Raporter got a question though on those walleye number is there an extra 0 on those numbers? What was the total walleye for the year?

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No extra zeros. When they stock fry, they usually do so in the millions since they are so tiny. This year was around 10 million due to above average production at the hatchery if I'm not mistaken. Previous years have ranged from 3.9 million up to 8.4 million.

-T9

Team9nine is correct. The post shows them to be fry at .02 inches.

Thanks