Jbrant

Planning on going this weekend. Will be at the 51MM give or take 10 miles or so. Everything I've heard about LOZ this spring says its as good as it has been in a while. I don't have much current info but I know the lake came up several feet quickly in the last big rain and that they've been pulling a lot of water. Not sure what the weekend dam schedule will be - hope they are pulling some.

We went down and fished Thursday. Had a pretty good day - caught 17 keepers, best 5 went about 15 pounds. Caught them in the bushes in the mid-sections of both the Pomme and Lindley arm. We started in the Lindley, moved back towards the dam where we found the water cleaner than we wanted, then finished in the mid Pomme. Caught most of our fish on texas rigs but caught a few on spinnerbaits and a jig. Water was in the mid 60's and had at least 4' of visibility at the dam. It's come up several feet in the past few days, don't know how much that will effect the water clarity.

Went to Berry Bend on Saturday (first time I've put in here). Water was cleaner than I expected (some spots had several feet of visibility I think - hard to tell in the clouds and wind) but definately wasn't muddy. Water was in the mid 60's. Was hoping to fish flooded bushes but didn't find many in the first half of the day. Started in a long narrow cove and caught a fish on the main lake point with the wind blowing. Went all the way down the bank to the back with only a couple of missed bites. Came back out and started hitting secondaries with wind and started catching fish. Got into a decent group on one really windy point. Made two more passes without a bite. Started hopping around a bit and struggled for a while. Wasn't sure what to fish - channel banks or flats. Regardless, we were suprised at the lack of cover in the water. Finally, decided to work towards the Pomme arm and hit points along the way. We were able to catch one fish off of just about every wind blown point we stopped at. Couldn't find any groups. Finally found a cove with some bushes and caught 4 or 5 out of there. Started looking for more bushes but were getting short on time. Ended up catching over 20 fish with 12 keepers but nothing bigger than 2 1/2 pounds. Never sure whether to say with what's working and hope for a bigger bite or to completely change up and hope to find something else working with a bigger bite. All of our fish were shallow - less than 3' of water. Caught most on texas rigs but a few on buzzbaits and crankbaits. Couldn't get a fish to bite a spinnerbait even with all the wind.

Went down Friday night and fished most of the day Saturday and Sunday morning. Ended up with 11 keepers Saturday - 5 best went about 12 and 1/2. Only caught 4 keepers Sunday morning in about 5 1/2 hours. Fished in the mid osage - went up the lake Saturday into dirtier water and found them pretty shallow in the back halves of coves just outside the pockets. Couldn't find anything bigger than 3 pounds. Caught most of them on tubes. Went the other way Sunda morning and into a little cleaner water. Caught two shallow early while the sun was out and then struggled as it got cloudy and colder. Finally found a couple the last hour by backing out and carolina rigging. Water temps were anywhere from 58 to 62. I haven't been on the Gravois recently but did talk to a guy who said the water temps were similar.

I put in at Masters on the Little Sac side a lot. I come down 13 Hwy and it is about the closest ramp for me. I go through Fair Play on 32. It's close to Maze Creek and can get over to the Big Sac arm pretty quickly if needed. Good ramp, hardly ever too busy (it's a little remote).

I was down last weekend. Fished pretty much the whole Little Sac Arm. The water was prety clean on the main lake and the mouths of coves. About 1/2 way back the water was definately getting muddy. Up around the dam there was some very clean water everywhere. I haven't been on Stockton a lot but I would guess that even with all the rain you will still be able to find some cleaner water. It's coming up in a hurry, not sure what that will do to them (or if they'll start pulling water). We caught all of our fish in the back half of creeks/coves. All of our fish were right in front of the bushes in pretty shallow water - fish in a couple of feet and boat in 3-4 foot of water. Good luck, hope you have a good trip!

Went down today and started in Turkey Creek. Water was stained to muddy (as you got further in towards the bridge). Fished on down around High Point and the water was pretty clean still. Ran back towards the dam and found the visibilty in the 7-8' range I would guess. Finished in Maze Creek and found stained water about 1/2 way back. Water temp was anywhere from 57 to 61. Found lots of coves with fresh water running in the back of them. Most of them were muddy in the back ends but cleared pretty quickly. We caught about 25 bass - almost all of them in 2-3'of water. Best 5 keepers went just under 10 pounds. Caught a couple of skinny 16" fish that barely went 1 3/4 pounds. Most seemed to be just in front of the bushes - though as the day went on we caught some in the bushes. Most came on a texas rig but also caught a few on a popper and spinnerbait.

THANKS! Heading down in the morning.

I'm planning to come to Stockton tomorrow. Wanted to fish the upper Little Sac but never been on that part of the lake before. I was curious to know what the water clarity was like before this big rain and what it will be like by tomorrow. How fast does a spot like Turkey Creek or Big Branch muddy up? Thanks!

We went down and fished Saturday and Sunday. We got on the water about 6:30 Saturday morning and went up the Osage. Weather was nasty - cold, windy, a little rain. We found the fish pretty shallow 1-2' on chunk rock banks and the transitions. Pretty much everything we caught came on a crankbait. We had one over 5 and a two more over 3 and 1/2. Went back to the cabin at about 1 and then went back out for a couple hours and caught one more good one (4-7)on a soft plastic under a dock. Ended up catching 15 keepers - 5 best going 19-7. Sunday morning was much nicer. We didn't run quite as far up the lake. Found them in similar spots - just not nearly as big. Caught 8 keepers - 5 best went just under 10. Had one snap my line (or saw it off on a rock) that was a good fish but I never saw it. Talked to a guy fishing the BBB and he caught around 18#'s Saturday on a jig - including one that won him $400. He was strugggling Sunday morning too. We fished till mid-morning before going back to the cabin and fishing for some crappie (a few scattered on the banks all weekend). Water temp was 55-59 most of the spots we fished. 6"-12" of visibility. The wind definately helped Saturday morning.

8.60 for me.

Thanks for the update - really good information. How long will it take to drop the lake back to normal pool (assuming normal rainfall for spring) if they are allowed to finish working without being interupted?

Got on the water about 9 this morning. We had decided to stay in the dam area and start off on some spots that we caught fish on late last fall. The water temp was 43 when we put in, found it as high as 47 within about 4 miles of the dam. Most of the day was in the 44-45 degree range. Right at the dam had 2-3 of visibility. It stayed cloudy all day; the wind blew out of the north all day long too. We fished all morning and into the afternoon without a bite. We tried jigs (finesse and football), jerkbaits (Megabass & Lucky Craft), and a few casts with a wiggle wart, spinnerbait, and grub. We had hoped to find them on the original shoreline in about 7-9 of water right in front of the bushes. When that didn't work, we tried up in the bushes and out deeper as well. Fished 4 or 5 main lake points, about 8 or 9 secondary points, and a few creek channel banks. We went to the last area we had on our list and found a boat on a secondary point we had wanted to fish. The north wind was blowing pretty good here, so we turned around and started back out on another secondary that was catching the wind. Caught our first keeper on a jerkbait in front of the bushes. It went 16" and about 2 1/2 pounds. Fished the rest of that point and on around into a pocket without another bite. Skipped to another point and got my second bite - right in front of the bushes. I knew it was a good fish when I got my first look at it, but it was bigger than I thought and ended up being a 22 1/2" - 7 pound 8 ounce female full of eggs. We stayed on that point and we caught one more 14 1/2" keeper - right out of a flooded bush. Hit a couple of other spots and it started to rain so we called it a day. We ended up with three keepers that were right around 12 pounds.

Thanks for the report - I'm heading down tomorrow.

Thanks for the information. Anyone know the water temp around the dam?

I've got a couple of Pro Qualifiers and really like them. Normally, I'm not big on Bass Pro branded merchandise but these have been very good for me. I like the smaller profile and you can usually get them significantly cheaper than $100. I try to buy a reel every year at Bass Pro's Spring Classic, if you take an old reel in they give you a coupon (I think $15 for a reel in that price range). They are usually on sale at this time too, so you can get one for less than $70 when using the coupon. Pretty hard to beat that price.

We fished from the Nemo bridge on the Lindley to just past Lightfoot on the Pomme side. Most of our time was spent in the lower lake though. Not sure about the turnover. The first time we were down I thought the water was pretty cloudy/murky even though there was some visibilty. I thought it had cleared up some be the second trip - not sure if that is turnover related or not.

Was down a week ago Saturday and again last Thursday. Caught 26 keepers in the two trips - almost half of them longer than 15". Had a couple that went 3 1/2#'s. Caught the majority of them on jigs - the first day mainly shallow (2'-4') and the second day a little deeper (6'-10'). Caught them from main lake points to the backs of pockets. Lots of baitfish in the coves - but we've done better with the scattered baitfish (instead of the areas where they were really thick). Water temp was about 60 and it's 5' low (lots of things to see with the water down).

I put in at Hermitage on Saturday with no problems. Lot to see with the water so low. Wish they'd drop it a few more feet just to get a better idea of what's normally under water.

Put in at Masters today, headed towards the dam first. Stayed up in that area until mid afternoon before finishing in Maze Creek and Masters. Water was pretty clean (except for the back of Masters), 60-62 everywhere we went. Didn't fish anything on the main lake, spent most of the day on secondary points and channel banks. Ended up with about 20 fish but only 3 keepers (biggest just over 17"). Caught most of them on football jigs a few on spinnerbaits. One smallmouth, a couple kentucky's, the rest were largemouths. Caught them anywhere from a foot to about 15' deep but most were 3'-8'. About half the bites on the jig were very lite - line just started moving (and most the time right towards the boat). Wasn't much wind today and just about all of our fish came in a little chop. Saw some small baitfish flip around our spinnerbaits and saw some big gizzard shad in really shallow water (but never caught anything around them). Pretty good day to be on the water (only saw two other boats all day though).

We got down later than I hope Friday and fished from about 2-6. We lost one pretty solid fish when he swam right at the boat and caught another keeper LM. Both came on jig (one Eakins, one FB) on secondary points in less than 10' of water. Saturday got to fish from about 8 to 2. We caught a couple of keepers - both on jigs again - one smallmouth and one spot. The smallmouth came about 1/2 way back in a cove off the creek channel. The spot came on the point. The smallmouth was in about 15' and the spot was much shallower and in the wind. Lost a keeper LM at the boat when my trailer hook broke (hooked him in the back of Indian creek on a point, in about 3' of water in the wind). Sunday fished from about 7:15 to 9:30 and caught two more keepers - one spot and one LM on a spinnerbait on a bank with a lot of wind (back in a creek). We actually caught more keepers than shorts (which is rare for us). Had several fish hit my spinnerbait over the three days and not hook up. Tried changing blades and colors but didn't seem to make any difference. Water was anywhere from 68 to 70. Stayed around the dam - mostly Indian Creek and lower Long Creek. Went a long time between bites most of the trip. Threw a lot of different things (buzzbait, swimbait, spook, grub, wiggle wart, etc). Didn't see many baitfish and didn't catch anything around the few balls we did see. Also found a few fish around docks (one took a look at a swimbait, another blew up on a buzz bait, caught a short on a jig) - but those were few and far between too.

We are leaving in the morning - we'll be on the water by noon tomorrow hopefully. I'll be in a blue and black dual console Triton TR186 (my brother will be with me). We're putting in at the dam and will probably head towards Indian creek.

Heading down in the morning for a couple of days (only been on Table Rock two different times and never in the fall). Wasn't planning on starting with a spinnerbait but probably will tie one on now. Were there baitfish on the surface where you were fishing? Were they on laydowns/cover or just cruising the bank? Thanks!

We were down last weekend and caught about 40 bass in 9 hours. Only 5 of those were keepers (including one smallmouth) and nothing bigger than 16". Nearly all of our fish came on secondary points (a couple on mainlake and a couple off a channel bank). The first creek we fished had baitfish all over it. The rest of the time we stayed closer to the dam and didn't see as many baitfish but plenty of herrons in the backs of the coves. Caught them mainly from 4-10' deep on jigs, shakey heads, and rattletraps.

I'm headed down in just over a week. Haven't been on Stockton all summer. You guys fishing main lake or in the creeks? Thanks