Steve McBasser

Sounds like another "mixed bag".....

It seems like we always catch a real mixed bag of fish every time we go to Stockton anymore. My buddy Gary had back surgery (again) and is still recooperating so I had to go fishing by myself. I prefer a partner of course but with Gary out of commission and Dollar Bill out of town...... at about 11pm on Wednesday evening I decided to go by myself. The alarm was set for 5am but I woke up 20 minutes early so I hopped up and put the coffee on. The closer I got to the lake the denser the fog got. It was a little bit challenging to get the boat launched by myself but with all the seats folded down in the Pilot I was able to crawl through and do what needed to be done. The fog had me stymied for the first hour or so, so I fished close to the ramp. No worries, I caught a limit of whites while the fog was thick just hanging close. When the sun finally burnt through the fog it got bright and hot pretty quick. No worries again.....the whites don't seem to care so I caught another limit over the next two to three hours. Wound up with two limits of whites, 25 largemouth, 1-walleye, 1-crappie, and an eight pound carp. By this time I know you think I'm telling stories.....that's why I always take pictures. "No pictures...it never happened." Now to throw another monkey wrench in the "believe it or not" works, I caught everything on my 5' medium light extreem bass pro rod with 4 pound test line, with a 3/16 oz bass pro XTS rattle shad...... It was a great day.

nice fish cheese man. thanks for sharing.....

We also caught a nice walleye and some green sun fish.....no cats this time. Had a ball....The bass were kinda crazy. We caught some of them on a ned rig, some on a grub, on a crank bait, a wacky worm and a jerk bait. The pattern was......they were bitin'. Some as deep as 14', some on top as soon as the bait hit the water. My best bite was slow "stitching" a hula grub but I also caught some really ripping a jerk bait. I liked all of it and apparently, they did too.

Welcome Steve.....The Shell Knob area is awesome for sure. I have been fishing there regularly since '74. Mr. Babler is right, top water is amazing this time of year. Go early......

Fished Stockton twice within a week.....everything is biting.

We did our annual men's camp out on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of last week. When we got to Campbell Point Thursday it was dreary and about 49*. When we headed home on Saturday evening it was sunny and around 80*. Missouri, you gotta love it. The fishing was tough but we managed to catch enough for a big fish fry on Friday night. On Saturday the fishing picked up as the water warmed. We had a blast for sure. Water temp on Thursday was around 58*, by Saturday afternoon we were finding 62-63*. I'm sure it has busted wide open by now. Watch out for the green algae......Our class does this twice a year. In the spring we go to Table Rock and in the fall we stay at Mutton Creek up at Stockton. We have a traveling "Big Fish" trophy that changes hands every trip. Its sitting on my mantle right now. Big fun! This post has been promoted to an article

Must be a really BIG boat.....

And of course we have our annual trip to Table Rock planned this weekend......Maybe we can get something started down there too. Been pretty tough.

Well done again, Mr. Bill.....

Hit the water yesterday at noon. Water temp at the ramp was 50.7. The water was stained but not muddy. Visibility 4-5 feet. We fished for about 3 hours with no luck. Couldn't find any water over 51.2*. Finally stumbled onto a pocket that was 55* and started catching some fat female brownies and spots. It was a glorious day to be on the water..... This post has been promoted to an article

well done......that is the best way in the world to learn a new technique....way to go.

Well done....

Bill and I intended to catch the whites but could not get them to cooperate. We gave that up and went bass fishin'.....smooth move.

nice....

Well Done......will try to get up their in the next week or two...

well done....

Awesome Quill......I'm chomping at the bit to go. Maybe next week.

Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall........the fish bite good at Stockton. Can't wait for this arctic front to move on so we can get back out there.......

Another thing I like about Stockton.....it is such an awesome "multi-species" lake. We catch a little bit of everything..........actually, we catch a LOT of every thing.....Great lake!!

For a guy that doesn't have a boat anymore, I get to fish quite a bit. I have several buddies that are already retired and are always ready to go. Bill even let's me borrow his boat so I can take the family out too. How awesome in that??? I love to catch fish and always catch my share, but it is a lot of fun getting the other guys on fish too. What a fun hobby..........(obsession)

We had a great spring this year before the floods came at the end of April. In fact, we were having the best spring in several years. I saved 2 limits of the biggest whites over about a 7-week period and had a few real nice fish fries.......the rest of the time we just played catch and release and had a ball. The whites at Stockton seem to get bigger and more ferocious every year. They are a blast to catch. We had great year on the blacks too and caught several walleye. We are definitely looking forward to the 2018 season.

nice......