The ACA knows about the good crappie fishing at Monroe Lake and held a tournament here in May of last year. The team of Rick Solomon and Mike Walters entered the biggest crappie caught during the event. It weighed in at 2.31 pounds! The winners of the Semi-Pro Division, Jim and Bob Raymer, came in with 12.56 pounds of crappies. They were fishing in 12 feet of water and were using purple and chartreuse jigheads.

In the Amateur Division, the winners were Joe McWhorter Sr. and Jr. This team came in with 9.15 pounds of crappies (with no more than seven crappies entered). The father and son team was trolling hair jigs baited with minnows and targeting brushy areas where the water is 12 feet deep. As you can tell by the creel weights of the above winners, there are some pretty decent-sized crappies in Monroe!

The weather was typical of springtime in the midsection of Indiana: sunny with air temps in the upper 60s during the afternoon. Water temperatures were between 64 and 65 degrees, and the water was stained.

If you’re going to fish Monroe Lake, it is a really good idea to get a map of this large body of water so that you can navigate to and from crappie hotspots; you’ll find one of these hotspots in the finger that Jacobs Hollows drains into. You can also go to the ACA’s Web site (www.crappieusa.com) and get detailed information on how and where the competitors caught their fish at Monroe, and other lakes where ACA competitions were held. The DNR office number for information about Monroe Lake is (812) 837-9546.

SOUTH
Patoka Lake
Patoka Lake is located in the southern reaches of Indiana, and the Hoosier National Forest surrounds it. This crappie hotspot stretches out across the counties of Dubois, Orange and Crawford, and has a water-surface area of 8,800 acres. Patoka is near Jasper.

A fish survey was conducted on Patoka Lake in 2000; it revealed that a large crappie population was present here. Additionally, a fish harvest (creel) survey showed that from April 3 through Oct. 31 (2000), 75,635 crappies were caught at Patoka Lake.

Patoka has also caught the eye of the ACA. A crappie-fishing tournament was conducted on Patoka in May of 2000 and it drew in many competitors. Creel weights in the various divisions reflected this crappie fishery’s good health. The Big Fish Award went to Jerry Grimes of Nashville, Indiana, and Charley Ridlen of Avoca for catching a 2.55-pound crappie.