With its long, meandering creek arms and countless finger-like coves, Patoka Lake is a dream lake when it comes to bass fishing in Indiana.
This is a lake where every laydown, riprap bank, and piece of standing timber—and there are a lot of them— can potentially hold fish.
Indiana’s second-largest lake, Patoka Lake is an 8,800-acre reservoir on the Patoka River. With a maximum depth of 52 feet and an average depth of 22 feet, the lake provides varied deep and shallow habitat for a wide range of warm-water game fish.
Although Patoka Lake is known as a largemouth bass lake first and foremost, fishing for catfish, stripers and crappie is also excellent. Spring is a particularly good season for excellent multispecies fishing on this sprawling reservoir.
Because it is located near Indiana’s southernmost tip, Patoka Lake is known for being one of the first lakes in the state to turn on in springtime.
There’s often good fishing here in February and March, when many other Hoosier lakes are still in the winter doldrums.
It also doesn’t hurt that Patoka Lake has outstanding access, with close to a dozen public ramps and numerous places to fish from the bank along its state-owned shorelines.
Patoka Lake Bass Fishing
Patoka Lake is one of the most popular bass tournament lakes in Indiana, and although there are a handful of other lakes in the southern part of the state that produce greater numbers of largemouths, none account for more trophy bass.
Tangling with a largemouth weighing 6 or 7 pounds is a legitimate possibility on any given day here, especially in early spring when anglers tend to catch the biggest bass. Patoka’s largemouths average about 15 inches.
You’ll start to see bass heading into shallow water at the backs of the lake’s many creeks and coves as early as February most years, and March is a great month to catch massive pre-spawn females. Spawning usually starts toward the end of April, peaking in May.
Patoka has so many coves and so much cover that narrowing down the best spots is no easy task. The Patoka River Arm tends to be favored by spring bass anglers. Areas far up this arm are quick to warm, and the stretch between the Walls Lake Ramp and King’s Bridge is especially popular.
But don’t hesitate to get off the beaten path. This lake has a lot of secluded, out-of-the-way spots, and any place with some wood near the bank is a potential target.
Patoka Lake’s shallows are loaded with standing timber and laydowns. Riprap banks can also be productive, and weed beds start to play a key role once they develop in late spring and early summer. In summer, deep weed edges are often prime spots.
The Painters Creek area is always worth fishing in summer. It has a great mixture of weeds, rocks and woody cover, and lots of bass fall for plastic worms, crankbaits and buzzbaits on summer mornings and evenings.
Look for bass to return to shallow spring hangouts in fall.
No matter the season, be sure to pack a few lures that mimic Patoka Lake’s abundant gizzard shad, which is the most popular menu item for hungry local largemouths.
Patoka Lake Crappie Fishing
Just about any Indiana crappie angler would include Patoka Lake on their shortlist of great Hoosier crappie lakes. There’s a good reason for that: crappies of both black and white varieties are large and abundant here.
As is the case in most lakes, Patoka’s crappie populations have up years and down years. Even so, the boom-and-bust cycles seem to be less severe here than in typical Indiana reservoirs. Even during a less-than-stellar year, there are plenty of papermouths to go around.
And during a good year, a decent number of those crappies might weigh 2 pounds. Early spring is the best time to catch them.
Sometime in February, the first significant warming trend usually triggers crappies to move toward shallow cover. And if Patoka has anything, it’s a lot of shallow cover.
Brush and wood are so common that a cast toward the bank in virtually any cove could produce a crappie. Or several.
That said, the upper end of the Patoka River Arm is the most popular area because it warms quickly and is positively loaded with crappie-attracting cover. There are some great spots in the Lick Fork and Little Patoka Arm too.
Areas right around the Walls Lake Ramp and Little Patoka Ramp are often excellent in spring, and bank anglers have great opportunities this time of year. Crappies are often in as little as 3 feet of water from March through April.
Casting 1/16-ounce jigs tipped with minnows or soft plastics (or better yet, both) around shallow brush and timber is the go-to tactic. At times, the bite will shift a little deeper, and vertical jigging around standing timber becomes more productive.
Timber was left standing at all depths when the lake was created, and it provides year-round crappie habitat.
In winter, try the area where the Painter Creek and Patoka River channels meet. There’s timber here about 35 feet down, and it’s a reliable cold-weather crappie stronghold.
Patoka Lake Catfish
Patoka Lake is one of the better catfish lakes in Southern Indiana, though it’s a somewhat underutilized fishery. Most anglers come here for bass and crappie, leaving local catfish anglers to quietly fill their live wells with feisty channel cats.
Channel catfish commonly reach sizes upwards of 30 inches and 10 pounds here, though smaller individuals weighing 2 or 3 pounds are much more common and ideal for eating. They’ll bite practically any time from spring through fall.
Most catfishers consider summer to be prime catfish season, though, especially because the fishing for most other species can become challenging in the dog days of July and August. But you can catch a lot of catfish using smelly, natural baits close to the lake’s bottom on summer nights.
Fishing after dark tends to produce the best results, but that’s not to say you can’t catch catfish during the day on Patoka Lake. It’s just that nighttime is the best time to find them in shallow water.
A good tactic is to fish deep areas during daylight hours and then move to the mouths of creeks and coves to catch these fish as they head into the shallows around dusk. Allen Creek and Sycamore Creek are a couple of the better catfish creeks among many, many others.
Gizzard shad provide a lot of food for the local cats, and these abundant baitfish also make excellent cut bait. A surprising number of channel cats are caught using live shad too, which goes somewhat against the general perception of catfish as lazy scavengers.
Live bait is also the best way to catch flathead catfish, which are less common than channel cats in Patoka Lake, but are capable of getting much bigger. Anglers have hauled several confirmed 50-pound flatheads out of the reservoir.
Patoka Lake Striper Fishing
Anglers have opportunities to catch both stripers and hybrid stripers in Patoka Lake. The latter, also known as wipers, are hatchery-reared hybrids between striped bass and white bass. Both are caught in similar areas of the lake using similar methods.
The Indiana DNR has stocked both species abundantly, but striped bass stocking has been only occasional in recent years, while hybrids have been consistently stocked at a rate of 40,000 to 60,000 fingerlings annually. At this writing, hybrid bass are much more common than true stripers.
Both species favor cool waters and, during summer, can most often be found in deep, open areas of the lake. They relate mainly to points and edges of the creek channel and roam the open lake following schools of shad.
In summer, trolling with shad imitations is the best bet. But there are better opportunities in spring and fall, when more comfortable conditions allow these fish to hunt in shallow areas.
Depths of 8 to 14 feet are usually productive in April, May, September and October. Key areas include main lake points, the dam area, Lick Fork, and the Painters Creek area. Looking for schools of shad is the best way to find stripers.
That usually requires the use of one’s electronics, but at times it’s also possible to spot the surface activity that occurs when a pack of stripers or hybrids corral a school of shad and start busting the baitfish up top.
When that happens, approach slowly and have a rod at the ready.
The best lures are shad imitations, with white and silver being ideal colors. Spoons, spinnerbaits, blade baits and soft plastic jerkbaits are all solid options.
Patoka Lake Walleye Fishing
The Indiana DNR has been stocking around 6 million walleye fry in Patoka Lake annually since 2008. Many of these fish survive to reach adulthood, and a few even reach what might be considered trophy walleye status.
Patoka Lake’s walleye have been noted for their high growth rate due to the lake’s southern location. By their second year, many reach 14 inches.
Even so, Patoka Lake hasn’t quite caught on as a top-tier walleye fishery. Catching them with any consistency requires intimate knowledge of the lake, and while an occasional 8-pound giant may turn up, it seems that only a handful of very experienced locals catch them on a regular basis.
The best time to go after walleye is late winter and very early spring, when walleye head up into the Patoka River and Painters Creek. Rocky points, stretches of riprap, and bridge crossings in the upper parts of the lake are key areas.
After spawning, some nice walleye can be caught near shore after dark using stickbaits, live shad and jigs.
In the summertime, look to deep main lake structure like points, ledges and submerged culverts and road beds.
Other Fish Species
Several additional fish species offer quality angling opportunities in Patoka Lake. Here’s a few that can provide a good day of fishing on their own or combined with the species we’ve already covered.
Smallmouth Bass
Patoka Lake supports a healthy smallmouth bass population, though largemouths vastly outnumber smallmouths.
For the most part, smallmouths are restricted to certain areas of the lake that offer the rocky structure.
Smallmouths generally favor deeper, clearer water than largemouths. Smallies inhabit rocky areas more often than not, though they’ll also gravitate to timber and laydowns at times.
Riprap banks attract smallmouths, especially in spring and fall. Tossing a jerkbait or spinner along the point just north of the dam or any of the lake’s several riprap-lined causeways is the best way to catch a few.
Finesse worms on drop shot rigs will also tempt a few in summer, when smallmouths mostly stay on or near deeper structure.
The best warm-weather areas are rocky banks that drop swiftly into deep water.
Bluegill & Sunfish
There was a time when Patoka Lake bluegill fishing offered perhaps the best opportunity to catch some of Indiana’s biggest panfish. Stocky 7-inch bluegill were the norm, and some fish even stretched a tape measure past 10 inches.
Though bluegill, along with redear sunfish, are still abundant, they tend to run smaller these days. The most likely reason for this is competition from gizzard shad, which were introduced to the lake in the ’90s, resulting in fewer large panfish.
Still, bluegill and sunfish provide ample fodder for bank anglers and family fishing trips, and you can catch them around docks and weed beds all over the lake. Typical panfish fishing techniques, such as micro jigs and bits of nightcrawler beneath a float, can easily tempt them to bite.
The best time to catch bigger panfish is spring into early summer, when they spawn in shallow bays and create crater-like nests.
Bluegill spawn in multiple waves in Patoka Lake, and it’s possible to catch bedding fish from late April through early July.
Planning Your Trip
Patoka Lake offers great fishing practically year-round, with the only off-season being the coldest winter months. And although the lake is a popular destination in summer, boat traffic seldom becomes too oppressive.
The lake has enough secluded creeks and coves that anglers can pretty much always find a place to get away from the crowds.
The Indiana DNR has placed a variety of fish-attracting structures in the lake, which you can read more about here.
Getting to Patoka Lake
Patoka Lake is in a very rural area of Southern Illinois. Shopping and dining is available in a few small towns nearby, including French Lick, Dubois and Wickliffe.
The lake is also about 90 minutes south of Bloomington via Stata Routes 37 and 147.
Bank & Boat Access
Patoka Lake is surrounded almost entirely by state land, which is managed as a combination of Recreation Area and Wildlife Management Area properties. The Indiana DNR’s official Patoka Lake brochure includes a handy map and guide.
Recreation Area portions of the lakeshore include state-operated campgrounds, a swimming beach, multiple bank fishing access sites, hiking trails, picnic areas, and 11 boat launch sites.
The Lick Fork Ramp, Little Patoka Ramp and Painter Creek Ramp are each popular launch sites on their namesake arms of the lake, and both the Walls Ramp and Kings Bridge Ramp offer excellent facilities farther up the Patoka River Arm. The North Ramp and South Ramp are good options on the main lake.
Each ramp offers at least some bank fishing, though the amount and quality of the bank access varies. The Walls and Kings Bridge ramps are known for good bank fishing, and the South Ramp has its own fishing pier.
Patoka Lake also offers three marinas—Patoka Lake Marina, Hoosier Hills Marina and Gilligan’s Boats—which are operated by private concessions within the State Recreation Area. All three offer boat rentals and docking, and Patoka Lake Marina also provides lodging.
The only area of the lakeshore not managed by the state of Indiana is a small portion near the dam, which is U.S. Army Corps of Engineers property. The immediate vicinity of the dam is off-limits to boating.