Skeeter ZX190

It's probably because of all the weight you're carrying with all of those crappie you're catching! 😁

My first time fishing the Little Piney. Went to the Lane Spring Campground. Started about 10:30 am and fished until 4:00 pm. Water was very clear. Caught 30 trout total but most of them were dinks. I had 5 or 6 decent sized ones in the 9 to 12 inch range. Caught the majority on an elk hair caddis in size 16. The second most popular was a BH prince hare nymph in size 12. It was a beautiful day with sunshine and a high of 73. I wish I lived closer. 4 hour drive oneway is a killer.

I thought maybe they were oak trees. I was shocked by the number of trees impacted.

We caught some small bass today, 5 to 8 inches, both largemouth and smallmouth. Question 1. Does anybody know if these are last years hatch or this year? Question 2. I noticed A LOT of trees that the leaves have turned brown. At first I thought it was just fall foliage, but it seems way to early for that. Most of these trees are at about the same elevation in relation to the bank. Did the high water this summer kill these trees?

First time on Stockton since April. Thanks to Dutch and Steve McBasser for their recent reports which gave me an idea of where to start and with what. My son in the Navy was home for a few days so I got to get him out to do some fishing. We put in at Orleans Trail and headed to the east side of the dam. Water temp was 76.5. Started by throwing a Pop-R and a spinner bait. Caught 1 on each and then I went to the Ned. That really produced well up until the wind started to pick up so we went to spinnerbaits. 60 to 65% of the fish came on the ned. PB&J and Green Pumpkin red were the 2 best colors. Most of the fish came in one really big creek arm just north of Price Branch. Fish were shallow in 2 to 4 feet of water. We caught north of 50 fish but only 5 were keepers. Caught one fish that sure resembled a walleye but it had to be a bass because I caught it on a spinnerbait! I think it is some hybrid of a mean mouth because it had teeth! 😀

Dutch: The reason you lost all those fish is because you shaved your beard. It's like a brand new hat. Bad luck until you break it in. Same principle must apply to shaving. 😁

Lots to cover here. I am notorious for fishing the ned too fast. Dave Reeves (dtrs5keepers) is probably the Ozark Anglers leading expert. He pretty much dead sticks it. But in order to do that, you have to be VERY confident that there is fish in close proximity to where you're casting. That's where I struggle. I don't get on the lake on a consistent basis so much of my time is searching for where the fish are staging on that particular day. If I get it figured out, then I will slow down and concentrate on where the fish are. I tend to hop the ned. I think that reduces the chance to get hung up. I want to pop it off the bottom rather than drag it. But I only pop it a few inches. TRD's work, but I prefer the ZinkerZ's or Zeros. There is a difference, they get spongier. You have to cut them in half which requires either scissors or a knife. I use either the Z-Man shroomz jig head or the one produced by Dave Reeves, Ozark Finesse. I use pliers to remove the wire keeper on the hook of the Shroomz head. I glue the ZinkerZ on with super glue. I find that by gluing it the body of the bait stays in more of a straight line reducing the chance for the bait to corkscrew during the retrieve and twist your line. The little wire keeper on the Shroomz works by itself, but after a fish or two, the ZinkerZ can get twisted on the hook and cause the bait to corkscrew. That's why I remove it and use glue. As far as long tapering points, there is one on the main lake close to the dam. I spend 95% of my time on Stockton between the dam and State Park on the east, or Hawker on the west. It's on the east side of the lake and extends to the north toward the dam. It's the point that separates the main lake from the cove that goes back to the north quarry entrance. I position my boat to where I am paralleling the point. Put the boat in 20 to 25 feet of water but cast up to 8 to 10 feet of water. With the ned, even though I work it fairly fast, I am still inching my way along and so you have to be very patient. My experience has been that the ned really shines during the post spawn. However, I have caught a lot of fish on it in the fall and winter. Summer is a struggle.

I know Dutch recently got into some bass so maybe he can shed some light. My experience has been that in the summer months Stockton can be one tough lake to find the bass. My theory is that the fish scatter and are not concentrated. They are out following shad schools and suspended. As far as fishing points, look for long tapering points. I would concentrate on 8 to 15 feet of water. I'm a "nedoholic" so I tend to throw that bait the most. It works for me, but in the summer it can be a struggle.

Not a Stockton story, but a drum story. My in-laws had a house on the Council Grove Kansas City Lake. I fished that lake a lot from the time we got married in 1981 until my father-in-law's passing in 2006. The fishing was really good for all kinds of species, especially after the 1993 floods. Walleye and crappie were our main targets but there was a really good population of largemouth and spots. Two years ago my son and I went back to fish for nostalgic sake. We named a cove in that lake "Jacob skunked Grampy Cove". 😀 I started out throwing a baby brush hog and my son and a friend of his were throwing a ned. We hadn't been fishing 10 minutes and I got a solid bite. Set the hook and the fight was on. About a 5 pound drum. In that day of fishing we caught around 50 drum. All were from a pound to probably 6 pounds. Never experienced anything like it. We tried a variety of baits but drum was about the only thing we caught. I think we had 2 bass and a couple of bluegill. I don't know if the drum just took over the lake, or if they were the only fish biting that day, but I tend to think it was the former. It was late May when we fished.

That's not a buffalo. This is a buffalo! 😁

Excellent and thorough report!