GRANDPA TATER

Thanks Xraydude! Some else had suggested Southwinds, so I'll be looking into it. Unless they've been updated, I was told the Orleans Trail cabins are not in the greatest condition. Anyone had any recent experience at the Orleans Trails cabins or those at State park?

Do yo9u have a name for them Dutch?

Owl Haven has been my go to place to stay when I am at Stockton. I went to make a reservation today and found out it is apparently closed? I saw another link that indicated it was for sale. So, I am looking for a different spot to stay and thought this would be a great place to ask. We liked the Owl Haven because we could get a two bedroom place, with a kitchen (we like to cook our own meals rather than going out) and it was at a reasonable price. We sure don't need fancy and don't spend a lot of time in the room anyway. We also like that at Owl Haven we could get something on the ground floor and it had a place to charge the batteries on the boat within sight of the room. It was also close to a launch site (Orleans Trail) but we're not locked into that part of the lake either. I heard that there was a place near Mutton Creek somewhat similar but can't seem to find it in a search. So fellow fishers of Stockton do you have any recommendations? Thanks in advance for any assistance. Tater

Thanks

Thanks TJM!

I was talking to my older brother at Christmas. Dan (who is 73) has always enjoyed floating Ozark streams in jonboats. He said he hasn't been able to do that the last few years because all of the outfitters that he used in the past have quit the business. We grew up floating on the Bourbeuse near our farm. His favorite stream to float is the Big Piney but he has enjoyed floating the Jacks Fork, Gasconade, Current, Big River, etc. My question is do you know of any livery services on any of the Ozark streams who use jonboats? Dan said they usually go to a put in spot and meet the service there, and the service transports their vehicles to a take out place. But they'd be willing to be flexible on the plan. Any help is appreciated. As Dan said he's not sure how many more years he and his friends have to do this and wants to get one in this year. Thanks! Tater

I was talking to my older brother at Christmas. Dan (who is 73) has always enjoyed floating Ozark streams in jonboats. He said he hasn't been able to do that the last few years because all of the outfitters that he used in the past have quit the business. We grew up floating on the Bourbeuse near our farm. His favorite stream to float is the Big Piney but he has enjoyed floating the Jacks Fork, Gasconade, Current, Big River, etc. My question is do you know of any livery services on any of the Ozark streams who use jonboats? Dan said they usually go to a put in spot and meet the service there, and the service transports their vehicles to a take out place. But they'd be willing to be flexible on the plan. Any help is appreciated. As Dan said he's not sure how many more years he and his friends have to do this and wants to get one in this year. Thanks! Tater

I was talking to my older brother at Christmas. Dan (who is 73) has always enjoyed floating Ozark streams in jonboats. He said he hasn't been able to do that the last few years because all of the outfitters that he used in the past have quit the business. We grew up floating on the Bourbeuse near our farm. His favorite stream to float is the Big Piney but he has enjoyed floating the Jacks Fork, Gasconade, Current, Big River, etc. My question is do you know of any livery services on any of the Ozark streams who use jonboats? Dan said they usually go to a put in spot and meet the service there, and the service transports their vehicles to a take out place. But they'd be willing to be flexible on the plan. Any help is appreciated. As Dan said he's not sure how many more years he and his friends have to do this and wants to get one in this year. Thanks! Tater

Wow! Sounds like you turned a difficult trip into gold! Congrats!!!

Just wondering what the earliest that you can catch some crappie trolling cranks? Is it more related to hours of sunlight in a day or the actual water temp? And if you could only troll with one color of Flicker Shad, what is your favorite? Depending on water clarity and sunlight I'd probably choose one of the versions of firetiger. Same question if you're pulling Bandits? I'd probably have to go with the old reliable Silver & Chrome. It's getting to that time of year! I hope you all are whacking them! Tater

Thanks to Dadakota. New (to me) graph mounted and functioning.. Thanks to all who replied.

My front graph shot craps. Has anyone upgraded their electronics and have an old graph, cable and transducer for sale? I'm not looking for anything fancy. The one I had was top of the line.. in 2011 so most anything would be an upgrade! LOL I'd like it to have a minimum of a 5 inch screen as I'm getting older and the eyes aren't as good as they were. The most important facets to me are pretty basic. I'd like to know depth, water temp and see basic structure. It might be a stretch but I'm hoping to find something in the $100 - $150 range. I'm located near KC. TIA for any help. Tater

I hunted private ground by Squaw Creek on Saturday. Zero wind and foggy in the morning. Did the usual opening day stupid stuff like not communicating well - passing on ducks we should have shot at, shooting at ducks we should have let come around, etc. We shot 7 in the morning - 3 wigeon, a woodie, a gadwall, a GWT and a spoon. Went back to the same blind in the afternoon with a Dad and his 12 YO son who was a first time waterfowl hunter. Really cool to watch him shoot his first duck - a GWT (same as my first one 55 years ago). I think we may have created another ducker. I do not believe I saw a mallard in the morning (mainly little ducks and a few pintails.) In the evening though we watched flight ducks coming in from the NW up in the stratosphere. We ended killing 3 mallards in the evening. Ducks absolutely fogged us while we were picking up and walking out. As a side note I have never seen as many specklebelly geese in one day as I did on Saturday.

When he turns Pro I'm going to be his marketing manager and publicist... LOL

If you're not going to brag Ed, I will for you! I have lived vicariously following Ed's first season as a co-angler on the National Walleye Tour. In a year of ups and downs on the Tour he had a lot more ups than downs! At Lake Erie he was in 75th place after Day 1 and ended in 8th! He qualified for the season-end championship (top 40) at Ottertail Lake in Minnesota and then made it to the Top 10 finals and ended with a 5th place finish! And on top of that he finished 2nd in the Co-Angler of the Year standings - only 2 points out of first! Congrats on a great season brother!

Our totals in 3.5 days last week were 10 keepers and 22 shorts. From what I was told that is actually a better keeper to shorts than most people are experiencing.

I mainly fished mid-lake to the dam the past 3 and a half days. We were finding some walleye bottom bouncing 2 oz bouncers with 5 foot crawler harnesses. Majority of the fish we caught were 14 - 19 foot. We caught crappie trolling on both Bandits and Flicker Shad. It seemed they really preferred something with chrome on either baits. Most of our crappie were 20+ FOW in coves usually related to brush we saw on the electronics. We trolled at around 1.5 mph. We had a 14 incher and 2 others over 13. Good luck I hope this helps. I am certainly no expert but we found a few. The other fish will keep you busy too!

A buddy and I spent three and a half days on Stockton this week and had a blast! We did not make it down in 2020 due to Covid. Due to work and calenders we came down a couple weeks later than normal. We drove down and got on the water Monday at 8. We started out trolling Flicker shad, jointed Flicker shad, and 200 and 300 series Bandits. We started on a couple of the spots that have been productive and didn't even get bit. We went into a different cove and caught a 15.5 walleye on a secondary point. We were on the board! Once again spots that produced on previous weren't doing it. We finally caught a nice crappie in 25 feet of water over a brushpile. We found a few more brushpiles in the fromt third of same cove in 25 -30 feet with fish suspended over them and managed 5 more keeper crappie including one over 12 and one over 13 inches. We pulled the boat out about 12:30, cleaned fish and checked into the Owl Haven. It is under new management by the way and they are working on it - Van and Brenda are super nice. We really like having a full fridge and stove and cooking. We unloaded our gear, sat in the A/C and ate lunch, and then went back out about 4:30 and trolled until 7:30 when we ran out of battery. We caught another 15.5 inch walleye on a secondary point. We caught one more keeper crappie along with a few other fish. We went to troll the dam and on the east end there were 3 loons. Hearing them calling was cool! Tuesday morning we went out with Ed Callaway aka LMT-OUT guide service (660-890-5262). He told us it was a tough bite as the fish were still in transition and weren't really in a summer pattern yet. I would highly recommend any one wanting to learn the lake and how to walleye fish to go with Ed. We had a great time, learned a lot, laughed a lot and ended with 6 keeper walleye and 4 shorts. The majority of our fish came bottom bouncing with crawler harnesses. By the end of the trip fishing with Ed was like fishing with a fishing buddy more than a guide. On Wednesday we started out using the new bottom bouncing technique Ed taught us and we caught 1 keeper walleye and three shorts. We also lost a couple including another definite keeper. The smallmouth, largemouth and drum kept us busy as well. By 11:30 it was hotter than blue blazes without a hint of wind. We decided if we trolled we'd at least have some wind moving. We went back to try where we caught the crappie on Monday in the first third of the cove and struck out. On a whim we went further in and found fish in the back third. We hit the walleye nursery and caught another 10 shorts. We managed another keeper walleye and four real nice crappie including one over 13 and another over 14 inches! We even managed 4 big bluegill that went in the livewell. Once again the smallmouth, largemouth, channel cat and drum kept us busy! Even had a first trolling by catching about a 3 pound flathead. Pulled off the water about 5:30 after 9 hours of fishing tired and hot. We pan-fried the blue gill and and a couple of the crappie in butter with a little Old Bay for dinner and they were awesome. We only fished a half day on Thursday before needing to drive back. We bottom bounced the whole time and caught all the usual culprits (we were especially hard on the drum!) along with five short walleye. It's amazing how you keep being hopeful that it's a nice walleye when the drum hit! The walleye all came in 14-18 feet on secondary points. And by the way for us it seemed a lure, whether a Bandit or a Flicker shad, had to have chrome on it to get bit consistently when we were trolling. I can't wait to get back down and hit my favorite lake again later this year. I'm envious of all you who live close! Tater

Thanks for the replies.

Actually not heading down until next week. Hopefully the weather stabilizes.

Weather.com has a chance of rain for the next 4 days. Has the lake level increased much? I imagine the upper lake is dirty and any place the cove has any significant water coming in. How far up the lake has the dirty water made it? TIA for any reports. Tater

Thanks for the heads up on colors Big Keene! We're you pulling 200 or 300 Bandits? Will do! Really looking forward to fishing with Mr. Callaway!

Thanks for the replies/advice! We will pull baits on four rods and will try a variety of colors of Flicker Shad and 200 and 300 series Bandits until we hopefully find out the preferred bait and color. With 3.5 days to try (the other half day will be with Ed) I hope we can get a pattern going. Either way it's going to be fun.

My buddy and I are headed down to Stockton for 4 days of fishing here in a few days. We did not make it down last year due to Covid and I missed it baaad! We have a trip during our scheduled with Ed aka lmt-outfitters. I'm really looking forward to learning from him! Besides that we plan to be doing a lot of trolling cranks primarily looking for crappie. Has any one been trolling cranks lately? Any success? And I'm not looking for anyone's specific spots, but any advice on depth, arm, part of the lake, baits, etc. to get us started in the right direction would be appreciated! TIA Tater

So is anyone still pulling cranks this late? Or has water temp dropped enough that the fish won't chase? I am a generalist and enjoy Stockton because of the variety of fish you can catch other times of the year while trolling. Just wondering if it would still work this late in the fall. Thanks in advance for advice and thoughts. Tater