Thunderin Gobbler

Sounds like they are still biting good up there Bob. Too bad I can't make it up there for a while. Gotta get packed to take a bunch of kids turkey hunting in Kentucky this weekend.

These 2 bass are definitely not smallmouths, and I don't recall seeing anyone say they were. If I missed that post, sorry. These bass are clearly largemouths, Kentucky's rarely get anywhere near that size, plus you can tell by the jaw bone what they are.

What part of the lake were you fishing? Water temp sounds pretty good, warmer than I thought it would be.

Yeah sure am glad the new flyover is working so great at 60/65!

Also, for those of you coming from Springfield, they've been doing some kind of work on 123 right after you turn off 160. I noticed yesterday while hunting that they had a small section closed off and were detouring people a few miles out of the way to get around them. Don't know how long they'll have parts closed down.

If you don't hear from Huck, get a hold of Bob Bennett (Stockton Lake Guide Service). I guarantee he can tell you where they are at, what depth, lures/bait, etc.

Glad I didn't take off then Bob. Didn't even get to turkey hunt today either. Bummer!!! Let me know on the Thursday tournaments, I think we'll be up to fish some of them this year.

Gotcha Gilly! Yeah I think the weather this weekend is gonna shut them off. Not much point in even going up there if you ask me!

If It's died off already Gilly, I'd hate to see what it was like when they were biting good. I've never caught fish that fast. The males were up making the beds and the few females we did catch didn't look like they were completely full of eggs yet. Just a little bulge to them.

I finally got my boat out yesterday for the first time after getting it worked on. We decided to go to CC as it is the closest ramp for us to get to. When we pulled in both parking lots were full!!! I've never seen the top lot full before. But I guess that's what happens when the fish are biting. We started out with motor problems-the pin the keeps the shifter cable and handle together came out so we had no gears. After about an hour of messing with it, we finally got it going again. Caught several small ones and 2 keepers on the cove next to the ramp. Finally made it to the spot we wanted to fish about 6:00. There were seven other boats in the area already. In about an hour and a half we caught 2 limits of crappie, a few whites, and about 150 short crappie. I also caught 3 largemouths on a crappie jig, one going about 3 lbs. It turned out to be a pretty good night, except for the hour wait at the ramp to load up. There were trailers lined up all the way to the highway.

Dang it Zarraspook, you beat me by 1. Unfortunately I didn't even get out yesterday. My dad and brother-in-law went out for about 3 hours and brought back 21 crappie. Hoping that I can get out for a few hours tonight before the sun goes down. We'll see.

I will definitely be up to fish at least a few of those tourneys Bob. Unfortunately, the 28th is when our NWTF chapter leaves to take a bunch of kids to Kentucky turkey hunting. I may be able to make the next one though. Jason

I would be interested in a club like that. It would be nice to learn some new tactics from others too. I fished a tournament up there last year with a club that did the measurement deal. It worked out alright, didn't have to worry about livewells are keeping the fish alive, but it works solely on the honor system. I personally would rather see the fish weighed in. Let me know what you come up with on this. I could probably add another 2 or 3 to your list of members.

I talked to Bob a couple weeks ago. I don't want to speak for him or anything, but I did ask him specifically if he was doing the Thursday tournaments this year and he said NO. Apparently there wasn't enough interest last year to keep it going. that's a bummer because I am finally in a spot where I could fish a few of them too.

I went fishing yesterday with Marty Thompson (Thompson's guide Service). My brother-in-law won a trip with him and took me along. I can't complain about a free trip. We put in around noon at Roark Bluff and boy was it windy. He thought we would be able to get into some walleye around Chicken Rock with jerkbaits, but we couldn't buy a bite. It was too windy for is to try any crappie fishing. Most of the water temps were about 52 degrees. We did find a few spots back in around the Mutton creek docks that were at 55 degrees, and that's where we caught our only fish. In 6 hours fishing, I caught 2 small largemouths and Marty had one. Brother-in-law didn't hook anything at all. I guess it wasn't all bad though. We did learn some new areas that I'd never fished before and he showed is some spots that should be good for crappie in a few weeks.

We put in at Roark Bluff about 9:30 and motored back into Greaser and then Son's Creek. Greaser was absolutely packed with boats, some crappie fishing, but most were trolling the banks bass fishing. We found fish on the graph about 10-12ft deep in 20 fow. Tried jigs, rooster tails, beetle spins, minnows, etc and could not buy a bite. We fished all over Son's creek, in the channel, on flats, around stick-ups, and never caught a fish. The only fish caught was a little, little 10in largemouth around the docks at Mutton. Fishing was terrible for us, about got stranded a couple times due to motor issues, but overall it was a great day on the water. We couldn't ask for better weather.

Possibly instead of the bass tournament. It looks like the bass tournament schedule on Stockton is pretty full for most of the summer, but I didn't really see anything scheduled as far as a crappie tourney goes.

If we were to hold a benefit crappie tournament on Stockton to raise money for our youth events, how many of you guys would be interested? I think it would be a fun idea, plus you'll get to keep your fish, unlike bass tournaments. If I can get enough interest, I will put a tournament together. Thanks

That may not be such a bad idea! We may look into that as a replacement for our benefit bass tournament that we had to cancel over the weekend.

Due to the bad weather( cold, windy, rain, lightning) Saturday morning, we had to cancel our tournament. We are hoping to reschedule it for either sometime in June, or later in the fall. This is a major blow to our youth hunt, as we were relying on a good turnout to help fund it.

Thanks Straw hat, I knew that you'd be one to help me out.

Thought I might try to do a little crappie fishing tomorrow while our tournament is going on. Has anyone been doing any good in Son's creek, or is most of the action around CC? Our tournament is putting in at the old state park, so I really don't want to drive all the way to CC if I don't have to. Thanks Gobbler

Don't know if it'll really affect anyone or not, but I saw that they are closing 245 between 160 and dadeville too starting next week. They are redoing a bridge there, I think the small one right at the 160 intersection.

Oh I agree about the otters. I don't trap, so I have no use for them. They don't put money back into the economy. Elk, on the other hand, will eventually. It's kinda like when the conservation dept brought in armadillos from Texas. What's the point? same with rattlesnakes, I believe it was. They don't benefit us at all. I'm all for allowing the animals to repopulate on their own, black bears, mountain lions, but some of the animals they bring in have no purpose.

One thing we have to look at is the fact that it it wasn't for us taking over, i.e habitat destruction, roads, cities, subdivisions, etc, then a lot of these animals like elk and bears would still be here anyway. Is it really right for us to say that they don't belong here, even though mankind are the ones to run them off in the first place. I understand the concern from the farmers and ranchers about the elk problems, they will end up feeding more hay, fixing more fence, etc. But what about the damage the overpopulation with deer in this area has caused? But what about the problems that cattle and hogs have caused by farmers not taking care of fences and getting into neighboring crops, yards, etc? I've never had a farmer offer to pay me anything to replace a food plot that their cattle destroyed. Besides, where do you guys think the feral hog problems came from? It's from hog farmers several years back releasing them out into the wild when it got too expensive to feed them. I happen to know a few around here that did that, and several throughout Kansas that did it. Don't mean to get on a rant, but as I hunter, I love having these animals back in Missouri