Dollar Bill

Outstanding! Good info, I left too early and I always think live bait will outperform artificial and obviously that's not always true... Nice job.

I know right? Black lives matter! Gotta be real, we ate two for dinner and they were awesome!

Fished Little Sac from 9:30 - 4:40 out of High Point and was trying to target crappie and or largemouth. Crappie were not happening for me but the blacks were biting even with the east wind. Wacky worm on the bank was the deal but I kept seeing all kinds of marks on the graph at 12 to 18 feet. Just for fun I threw an umbrella rig out and let it sink to the bottom then slowly rolled it. Oh my! I caught over 30 big sow whites like the one in the pic next to a keeper largemouth. They were still biting when I left. 3 different banks too. Water visibility was 4 feet with Temps 56 to 60. Fishing is fun, catching fish is awesome!

I believe that's true sometimes too. Steve & I knew we were in good water and around fish but really struggled to put together a pattern. My first 4 fish came on 4 different baits. I went back yesterday and stayed with the wacky worm and pretty much drilled them everywhere I went. And water temp didn't seem to matter much. Warmest was 57.4 but my best bank was later in the day (again) and only 52.6... I stayed between Mutton and Springfield cove and fished from 9 - 5 and ended up catching 36 with 4 keeps. Wind makes fishing a weightless lure hard but maybe that's why they were more active. Anyway, this time of year we should be able to catch them on whatever we want and I love me some wacky!

I've eaten many drum from Table rock and Stockton and the smaller ones from 1 to 3 pounds are just as good as any bass. A little firmer which would be great for fish tacos which I had for the first time recently. The meat is white and flakey and if you season it well and dont overcook it its pretty darn good. Just sayin...

Good information, thanks. I hope it hangs on for another two weeks till I'm on vacation!

We went out the last two mornings at Cedar Ridge and had a mixed bag of action. Several bass from the bank early (all short) on senkos and brush hogs. 2 bonus cats, 4 & 5 lbs, on the brushhog from 10 ft.! Bottom bounced a worm rig in 20-25 ft and missed several bites, had 4 eyes to the boat and got 2 of them in... Bunch of small spots and drum too. Trolled a crankbait in the same water and stuck 3 big crappie and a couple of small wallys. Also had several bass on a carolina rig in 20 ft with 4 keepers. This was two boats over two days but we had to work harder than it sounds. Off at two both days, it was just too dang hot at only 84! A bunch of carp were stuck too, a fun diversion when the bite gets tough. Water was 77 Tuesday and 82 today. Good fishing, bill

Man o man, that's some encouraging news right there! I'm on vacation the whole week and it's my 3rd try to spend some serious time on Stockton this year... Blizzards, freezing temps, etc have made this spring double tough when you have to plan your trips months in advance. Looks like perfect weather all week and I'm thinking and hoping dang near every fish in the lake will be on or near the bank looking to get r dun. I had planned this week to try to find some cats but with the water temps just now staying at 60, I think the bass and maybe even some crappie will be still trying to spawn. And all the great walleye reports! Wow, I love that lake! I'll let you know how it goes.

Put in at High Point about 8am and went to my spring crappie hole and dunked some minnows on a jig. The water was stained to murky and 54 degrees and the wind was light. No crappie and one lone white in an hour and a half. Drove up to Cedar Ridge area and caught 10 blacks with 5 keepers and a bonus sow white. Wiggle Wart and a jerk bait. Water color was much more to my liking with just a little color to clear but much cooler and the wind had picked up to 10-15. 47 to 52 by 2pm. Hit a couple of spots on the way back and found 57.3 on the south facing banks later in the day. Please note, there is quite a bit of debis in the water with some fairly big floaters so be careful... Forecast looks like warmer with some rain then colder again so I'm guessin if the fish can't figure it out then I don't have much of a shot either... Guess I'll turkey hunt for a while! Have fun and good luck! bill

Just keep reading brother... There's a lot of good info on this site and the folks do a great job of sharing! I kept pretty good records from last year and I'm wondering, do ya'll think we're 2-3 weeks behind temp and spawn stage wise?

Put in at Hartley ramp (Old St. Park) about 10 and was really surprised to have the lot full! It was apparent a tourny had put out of there. My main goal was to play with a new graph and look for those white bass Bob the guide mentioned were being caught there. By midday there were at least 10 boats in that cove chasing the shad schools around. From what I saw there were some fish caught, mostly small crappie and smaller whites. The fish being caught came off of the bottom in 30 - 35 FOW. The temp stayed around 43 all day. The wind made it hard to stay on top of the shad but when you could you caught some fish. I had my best luck on a 1/8 oz feather jig but saw them caught on minnows and other small shad imitators. The bite was not good and sloooow was the key. All in all any day in mid February on the lake is a bonus day! ps. the bass tourny got off at 4 and there were several bags weighed and I saw a few limits... no details. have fun and be safe, bill

Good call wrench... Lower voltage regulator was all burned up. My buddy at work is a genious and he put in 2 new units and fixed the wiring all back up and he's fishing in it tonight!

I went last week and I think I caught more fish on a spook than I ever have! Paralled right down the bank and threw close. But it was not only early but real cloudy too and stayed dark most of the day. Actually had best luck with the baby spook in chrome. Oddly on the main lake points then the inside bank for a few hundred yards. Steeper banks seemed better. Didn't find them in the back like I would have thought. As usual, shad is key. If you don't see shad getting eaten, move. Good luck! bill

That stinks J.E..! A bunch of my buddies went up this afternoon for a camp out / fishing trip. I'll let you know if they picked it up. They're the kind of guys who would want to get it back to you... Pretty windy, catch anything? bill

My trip before the fire I did have two unexplained alarms, one overheating and one low oil. Neither one was true... Both were short in length and never reoccured. I haven't noticed the tach bouncing or anything but i may have missed something. Just the 2nd time in two years Ive had someone in the boat with me. Timing is everything, I sure needed his paddle (and am sure glad I have two of them in the boat!)

Finally talked my brother in law to go fishing with me today! He gets ate up with bow hunting this time of year whereas I wait till a little later to get that going... What a great day to be on the lake! Not too hot or cold, a breeze without a gale, low skies with a falling barometer... Perfect. And the bass agreed. Put in at the camp ground ramp at Cedar Ridge and didn't get more than a couple of miles away. Started with a buzz bait and a crank and the crank produced pretty good. I really thought the topwater should be working so I pulled out a spook and it worked all day. Must have caught 25 or so. Also caught several on the crank and a wacky worm too. Several keepers were caught. As we pulled up to our last bank of the day, about 1pm, I noticed an electrical smell. Then caught the sight of smoke coming from under the motor cowling... Uh oh. Got the fire extinguisher out and lifted the cowling off and sure enough it was smoking, hot then some flames! Sprayed it a few blasts with no real effect. Panicked and started drowning it with minnow buckets full of water. Made it worse. Finally hit it again with the extinguisher and it went out.... We were up past Adams branch and had quite a haul to get back. Luckily the wind was blowing in a favorable direction. Still, the trolling batteries gave out about 1/4 of the way back. I had two paddles and we used them to get almost to the ramp before a boat finally saw us and gave us a tow. Could have been much worse. Hopefully it's just some burned wiring. Bottom line, great day fishing, they were on the bank and hungry... So, be prepared, be careful and it will all come out in the end OK... By the way, the water color in that part of the lake was perfect... About 2 to 3 ft of visability with a good green color.

I thnk Don pretty much lives there! He too opens way early and when I left the other night at 11pm he was still open... The last batch of shiner minnows was the only ones I've ever bought there that half died what I thought was too soon. Smoke em up! bill

I too like Fin and Feather, not a lot of stuff but they seem to always have just what I'm looking for... You might also check out Sportsman's Factory Outlet on Bennett in Springfield. They've got some serious quantities of fishing stuff... And don't give up on Acadamy. I've got a buddy who just started there in management and I promise, if it can be fixed he'll get it done.

Put in at High Point about 10a and tried a couple of my favorite catfish banks (natural rock) and fished for two hours or so with a minnow under a bobber and blanked. I would have been more versatile but this is the pattern that has worked for the past 4 years so I'm guessing they just aren't there yet. I keep terrible records but I do have pictures from the last two years and they were both on June 1rst so I guess it's possible it's just too early for my spots. I see where some folks are picking them up on riprap on the 'Big Sac side though... I'll just keep trying. I did run up toward Cedar Ridge and managed to catch 8 short largemouths, 2 drum, a crappie and one short cat on a crankbait. Here's a pic of my best catch of the day... bill

What a great day! How is the cat bite on the rocks down that way? I'm gonna try to get out Sunday and hit some known spots on the big natural rock banks near High Point. I'll let you know. bill

I'm in on this! I like the idea of a multi fish tourney 'cause all of us are better at some kind of fishing than others... Maybe $10 a head with a boater and non-boater and split the payout between biggest bass, crappie, walleye and catfish. Then have a fish fry after with all of us sharing a little from our freezer. Be a good way to meet and greet and we could come up with some "door prizes" to make it even more fun... Either have it at the lake or we could even do it at my place (but thats a 40 minute drive!) Let's get it done before it gets too hot or we'll have to do it at night... Maybe that's OAF II... bill (boater)

Put in at High Point about 9am and hit a few crappie holes with hardly any luck. Looked around for some cats in the rocks with the same result. The water is UGLY! Real off color brown with less than a foot visibility and about 63 degrees. Decided to make something happen and ran up a little past Cedar Ridge. Great clarity and a little cooler. Still struggled finding the crappie but rounded up a few stragglers. Also found a couple of whites and a keeper eye. But the bass were on fire! Not everywhere but the typical staging/spawning banks. Same ole wacky worm in 2 to 8 feet. Must have caught 40 or so. Doesn't fill the freezer but man it sure is fun!!! bill

From the left side of that barge you can fish that whole bank all the way to the point. It's got a lot of good stuff on it and it always holds some kind of fish.

Thanks guys! I go thru Walnut Grove quite a bit coming to the lake from Ebenezer and I never knew it was so bad... I've never even seen a cop! I'll be sure and take it easy but I pretty much play by the rules anyway. Pretty much.