Thunderin Gobbler

Not asking any specifics here, but what part of the lake were you fishing, and how early? Thanks

Yeah I'll definitely be going AROUND Bass Pro to get to Academy once it' s built. Especially since we can't exactly go to the one in Joplin anymore.

This is a copy from an email I just got from the dept of Conservation. Thought I would throw it out there and see how it differs from everybody elses reports. Stockton: 75 degrees, high, clear; black bass good on rubber worms and jigs in 5' to 10' of water off points; catfish good on nightcrawlers and shrimp; crappie slow, best on minnows or tube jigs in 10' to 15' of water; all other species slow. (Report made on 6/14/2011)

My wife drug me to the mall yesterday. I know, that's bad enough as it is! But luckily, I got to do a little shopping at MC Sports while I was there. I'd never really looked at their fishing stuff before. I would say on crappie and walleye stuff that they probably triple what most Wal-Mart's carry. I bought 4 bottom bouncer walleye rigs for $3. I got some pretty cool looking crappie minnow rigs for 89cents a piece. And some nightcrawler harnesses for a buck a piece. This is stuff that Wal-Mart don't even carry, and i hate going to Bass Pro. The good thing about MC Sports, even though it IS in the mall? You only have to go through Sears to get to it! I can't complain too much about that part!

If you're looking for places around the lake, I know of a few. Lakey's on HWY 123 south of Aldrich isn't too bad. On the other side of the lake you can either go to the handy Hut in Everton or the gas station on 160 and H in Greenfield. Closer to the state park, there is the gas station at (I believe) Y and 215. It's right between the State Park and Mutton Creek. Some of the other guys can probably help you more, these are just the ones I have used.

I think you are exactly right! I'm only 28 years old and I can see how much things have changed just in my time. I was raised to be respectful, curtious(sp), and use common sense. You don't see many these days that have these, especially with my age bracket and younger.

The bad thing is that the teachers expect the parents to do everything, and visa versa. I know that doesn't apply to all teachers, but I personally know a lot of them in Springfield that have this mentality. Either way, people need to use a little common sense every once in a while. With the water levels coming back down on Stockton, somebody is going to get hurt on the rocks/trees at water level. I just hope none of us have to witness it.

I went to CC yesterday and fortunately didn't have to deal with the jet skiers. But what I did have was some idiot try to block me in while I was loading the boat back on the trailer. When I was walking up the the truck to start backing down a man and his wife pulled in with their boat. I was gonna wait and let them go ahead and launch, but they parked and just sat there, so I went ahead and backed down. Once I got the trailer to the water and my dad drove the boat on, the guy started backing down the ramp. For those that don't know, it's only a 1 LANE ramp. He backed down to about 20 feet right in front of me and just stopped. I could just barely get by him and had to drive the trailer off into the ditch to get by. Some people just don't have a clue! It's been something stupid like that every time I've been out this year.

Hey Bob, he could always pay another person to take him out and not show him where the fish are too. lol I don't want to name any specific person or anything here, but you know what I'm talking about.

I would say that the Son's creek arm should treat you well this weekend. I've caught lots of bass in there, and I know there are some big ones. Where is your tournament putting in at? Don't overlook the Mutton creek area either. It's real close, and good bass there too.

Yeah they were still swimming on the ramp when we got there. I guess we just missed you then. Probably passed you on the highway. None of them knew what they were doing. The walleye had pretty decent weight to it, but it was a little on the skinny side. I took the picture with my cheap cell phone, so that made it look like a toothpick. Made some nice fillets though.

does anyone know if there is a way to change the temperature readout on my fish finder? As of Saturday it was showing right at 80-81 degrees at CC. I'm pretty sure it is showing right about 10 degrees too high. It is a Lowrance Mark-5X model. Thanks Jason

Here's the walleye we caught Saturday on a crappie jig.

Hey Straw, sorry about your troubles at CC. We got up there to CC at about 5:30pm Saturday evening and, fortunately, didn't have the long wait this time. Finally!!! Only thing that held us up was the party kids in a huge pontoon that didn't know how to back a trailer. It was kinda comical watching them though. We went into that first big cove to the left once you go around the point north of the ramp. Started out doing some bass fishing and caught a few small ones. Then decided to start throwing crappie jigs (no minnows unfortunately). Them crappie were all over the bushes. I bet we caught close to 50 or so. One small white bass, a 23" channel cat (on jig) and a 24" (yes 24") walleye. We caught 5 different species altogether in just that one spot off jigs. That was a blast. I know what you mean by the rude people out that day. We had them flying in and out of that cove the whole time at full throttle. We also had some guys that filled that cove with jug lines, and decided to come in to check them while we were working the bank. They cut withing 10 yards of us and stopped to check them. Apparently those empty lines couldn't wait 5 more minutes to get pulled out of the water. Anyway, it was still a great day on the water, especially when the fish were biting. If I can figure it out, I'll get the walleye pic one here. By the way, all fish still had eggs in them. Jason

I would recommend the State Park area or Cedar Ridge. Those both seem to be the main places I see people tubing and swimming. Fishing is close by on any part of the lake. Just be careful because the water is still a few feet high and a lot of the trees that are normally above the surface are just below right now.

Thanks for the report Bob. Took my son up to CC last night, his first time in a boat. We caught several short crappie and about 5 keepers on slip bobbers with minnows. Most of what we caught were in about 17' of water and suspended from 5' to 10' deep. It was a fun evening on the boat with a 3 year old!!!

Ok guys, I need some help here. I'm taking my 3 year old out this evening on the boat for the first time to see how he does. I'm hoping to get into some crappie or something, I don't even care if they're small-just something for him to catch. Will probably go to CC, as that's the closest for me. Anybody have any suggestions up there for me? I haven't been in almost 2 weeks, been trying to help out down there in Joplin as much as possible. Thanks guys Jason

We always either keep the fish in separate livewells or on separate stringers. Of course that's on the rare occasion that I actually catch any keepers. That should take care of the problem, however I have heard of an agent or two that would write you up for not labeling them. I think these agents don't have anything better to do, or just don't care in the first place.

That's what I was wondering too PHhunter. I've been wanting to fish a few.

Fished the CC area for a few hours last night. It was one of only a few times that I've ever seen that part of the lake white-capping. From the ramp straight north the the first bluff, the water was really moving. We had to go back east of the bridge to get out of it any, and didn't find many fish. We caught 3 small keeper crappie and about 5 shorts, 1 short walleye. I think we heard more turkey gobbling than we caught fish. I had one bird going nuts right before dark, and he was close!!!!

Heading up the the CC area this evening after work for a few hours. It's supposed to get pretty windy on the lake today, so hopefully we can get out of it there. Has anyone been doing any fishing in this area lately? I haven't been up there since before turkey season, and the crappie were biting like crazy then, but that's been almost a month ago.

I usually have to open the picture in Windows picture manager, then go to "edit". You may have to compress the photo to "web page" size. That should lower the resolution enough to allow you to post it. That's what I have to do with pictures on my hunting website that I run.

I'm kinda right there with you Huck. I've caught a lot of fish, especially bass with topwaters and plastic worms from the bank. I think that they see the presentation out of the boat as something just coming into the water from the bank and want to hit it before other fish do. You can probably make an argument that one is better than the other, but I think it just comes down to personal preference. I can usually catch fish from either, but I just have more options from a boat.

How's the rain affecting the fishing Bob? I thought about trying to come up and find some crappie this evening.

Well forget it! If you are fishing them tournaments then I don't have a shot. lol I guess I'll just have to donate my money to you.