Patoka reservior in Indiana

[Wayne Ek]

Myself and I'm sure others will be going down to Patoka res. in Indiana on Oct 26th to 28th to fish the ESPN BassMasters series. So here go's. Does anyone have information they would be willing to share on this lake?

I know it's a shot in the dark, but the site takes in alot of people and territory.

[Goldenboy]

Agape, have you come across the payout schedule for Patoka Regional yet?

[Wayne Ek]

Not yet.

[Jason Durham]

Wayne,

Have you gotten all of your plans finalized? I'm heading down with three other guys from the cities and we found a cabin 2 miles from the launch, almost as cheap as the hotels in Jasper, but 20-some miles closer.

I'm getting pretty excited for the event and am assuming you are too. The only negative is that it appears from past results that we won't be dealing with days of upgrading 10 times throughout the day like in MN. Even 10 bites over the 3 days might not be such a bad finish!

[Central Bassman]

How do u guys get to fish this tournament??? And how does it all work???

[rangerforme]

Jason,

I think your right on the money. I was talking with Dean Capra the other day and he fished in some boat/nonboater deal awhile back down there as a nonboater. He said they had 3 fish and almost won it. Gonna be like muskie fishing for 3 days. Lots of casting not lots of bites.

[Wayne Ek]

Jason, Seth F. and I are heading down on the 21st. We already have a place to stay. There are two other tournaments on the lake the weekend prior to ours, so we wanted to attend the weigh-ins and see what the local boys can do I've guided a couple of groups from that area. They all said fishing just get's better as you move into late fall. All the groups said catching fish was not a problem, but catching fish over 15 inches was hard at times.

[HellaBass]

Agape-

What tournament circuits are there before us?

[Wayne Ek]

There is a two day tournament. They guys I know are coming down from Chicago area. Four hours of travel.

[Jason Durham]

I know there's a Skeeter event and another as well that I saw on a post board. I believe there's supposed to be one the day AFTER our 3-day, meaning more boats on the water as well. As for the similarities to muskie fishing, you're dead on! I might have to go muskie fishing a few days prior to the event just to get in the "mood".

We're leaving the same day as you. And I'm excited to think that it's GOTTA be warmer than here!!!!!

[chris regas]

hi guys i am fishing this weekend at patoka its a 2 day tourn. with anglers dream i was wondering for some insight about the lake if anyone could inform me that would be great

[HellaBass]

Report from Patoka:

It Sucks! Very few fish being caught and even less keepers. Won't take much weight to move on in this one

[rangerforme]

Good showing by the Minnesota boys I see. Anyone know how they ended up finally catching a few? I see Jason Durham made the cut to day 3.

[Goldenboy]

Very good showing by the MN anglers. I can not find any article or details on the fishing and techniques. Can those of you that took part share some stories, however painful they might be...

[grab the net]

Agape, you there? C'mon buddy, lets hear about it, did you do us Minnesota boys proud, cash a check, catch a limit, big fish of the day?

[ikeslayer]

you can see some the results on bassmaster.com but there is no story or info or winning patterns or anyting i do know that dean capra got second.

[Wayne Ek]

I did not make the final day cut. The Minnesota boys did a great job. I caught only 3 bass for the two days of fishing. I got my fish ripping a trap thru the shallow milfoil. My arm is still sore from the work-out. Brad Lieferman got first (sorry about the spell Brad) Dean Capra got second. It was very tough fishing, in the 6 days I fished I probably only caught 8 bass. I will fish this series next year, Roy Bragg did a good job of running it for a first time series up here. I'm composing a letter to Bass now (ESPN) asking them to consider dropping the " no shared weight" and going with a shared weight format like most Pro/Am tournaments do. I think that they would get more Am's doing it this way.

[Jason Durham]

I was fortunate enough to make the final cut but day three kicked my butt. It's tough on a lake like that where you go for such long periods of time without a bite. You start to battle self-doubt and the mental part of competition plays a huge role. I failed to weigh a keeper on day three, but at least got fish that day. The water was up quite a bit from the day before and many spots looked like hot chocolate from all the rain.

A big congrats goes to the five who are moving on from Minnesota. Only 56 boats in the next event and the champ goes to the CLASSIC! There's a good chance that there may be a Minnesota angler at the big dance! And lets not forget about Severson's chances through the Federation. Is it possible that there could be 2 anglers in the Bassmaster Classic this year from a state who's never been represented?

PS, Agape,

B.B. caught his third day fish, a 4lb'er on the spot you two shared the day before. I know that fish had your name on it earlier! Too bad it wouldn't have landed in your livewell a day earlier.

[Central Bassman]

Good Job Guys.... Way to show them southern boys that we can catch bass!!!!!!

[HellaBass]

I got my one keeper on a Spatter Back crank bait, obvisouly only weighing oen fish did not bode well for fishing Day 3. I know a couple guys in the top 8, caught fish on Chatterbaits and Buzzbaits. Mr. Durham is right on about going long stretched & not getting bit, its tough when you have an entire season of limiting out and culling to qualify for this tournament.

I plan to fish this Series again next year, it was well run

[Wayne Ek]

Good for B.B, that little spot had to give up a number of fish. I had two in pre-fish and one during the tourny. Also, I saw Arnie Nicoles there.

[jalberg]

Hey Durham, if you ever find yourself in need of a fishing partner for a day in the metro area, let me know.

[bassrap]

A state that's never been represented???

Wow, that kind of hurts.

[st.crioxfishin]

I believe that Al Lindner represented MN in the classic one if not two years, I could be wrong though.

[Jason Durham]

Alberg, you're welcome in my boat anytime. It's been awhile since we've gotten to wet some lines together.

As for the Classic, I may be mistaken, but I thought that no one from Minnesota has ever qualified. A state that has so many lakes and an equal number of high quality anglers simply hasn't been represented well at the Classic. Hopefully this year will be different. Go Minnesota!

Hellabass, nice blog by the way. One of my co-anglers told me about it and said you were a great buy to fish with. I read it and am definitely impressed. Keep it up-