waterpossum

I haven't eaten white bass in years. I really didn't care for them, but I am glad some people do and are able to take advantage of this fishing resource. Over the years I have tried numerous ways of fixing fish. Recently I tried dipping crappie filets in melted butter, heated up a cast iron skillet really hot , put blackening seasoning on filets and scorched each side in the skillet about a minute each side. I really liked the taste and texture this way, although it's nearly impossible to mess up a crappie or walleye fixed however you prefer. I don't like to soak fish in water, rather just make sure they are rinsed clean and FRESH out of the lake.. I think the meat soaks in way too much water if they are left soaking for a day or two.

The tributaries are flowing real good right now. In the last month the lake has gone from 859 to 865. This bodes well for good fishing real soon. There is a chance for warmer rains latter this week which should also help. Sounds like you have a good plan searching the backs of the creeks for bass. Maybe a Wart would also work. I guess you will check various water temps. I'm sure the backs of Birch, Goucher and Greaser should be a degree or two warmer, but if you stay on the Little sac arm Turkey Creek may be an option or farther up the river. If your fishing the north end the late late afternoon walleye bite on stick baits has turned on close to the dam.

I see this morn lake level at 860.90 which is about a 1.5' rise in the past week. Hopefully we get enough rains to raise the lake this year. I'm afraid this could be a bad spawn year if lake stays at this level (which it probably will) since the spawn for most species is about a month away. On a side note the tire pile or at least a section of it at State Park is above water. When they sunk those tires you can see they threaded them on a long section of 4" steel pipe.

With the lake being nearly 7' low I thought today would be a nice day to tour the lake. I probably walked 5 miles of bank at a lot of different locations on the Big Sac arm starting in Mutton Creek and ending the day at Hawker Point. This is the time to locate,structure, visible brush piles, old house foundations, etc. At 3 pm I got my crappie pole out not expecting to catch a thing at a steep sloped cove in Hawker using a slip bobber set at 15'with a blue and white tube jig. Amazingly I immediately starting catching crappie for about an hour. Ended up with 8 keepers and threw back about that many shorts. This was a complete stroke of luck. Talked to one guy over at Stockton State Park that had 3 keeper bass, one about 5lb all on an A-rig.

No snow on the ramp at Cedar ridge. Went to Stockton this morn and by late afternoon most all the snow had melted.

Any report of walleye moving into the dam area. Should be very close to that time.

Key? Will be up there this week working at my land . What highway ? area of lake? ramp?

Usually try to set up fairly close to the main lake channel. Of course the wind plays a big role in what you can actually do. My experience over time is when you come out of most coves and cross the channel the graph lights up with huge schools of bait fish. I am trying to attract these fish and hope the crappie will follow. There are other people that have success tying to trees over deep water, which is a lot less hassle than trying to drop two anchors and get them to hold tight. Noticed a lot of people tied to the bridge piers too.

Put in at 6 p.m. Saturday eve. at Stockton Old State Park ramp and motored north and fished a couple of points south of Crabtree with night crawlers and picked up 4 channels 1 bass and a short walleye. At dark motored back to the mouth of Old State Park cove and sat out the lights, ended up with 12 keeper crappie all on minnows. Couldn't get em to hit a jig. I ran out of minnows fairly early so to be able to continue started dipping small minnows around the light. It wasn't easy as they would just show up one at a time and most eluded my dip net. When I left and unhooked the lights I shined a flashlight on the water and there were literally hundreds that had surfaced next to the boat. I had no idea there were that many out of sight under the lights. Crappie were 15-20' deep over 40' of water.

I googled Stocton Lake Camping and scrolled down to Cedar Ridge. I think you can get prices by doing this. For tent looked like $15-20. A few years ago when we camped there, there were some real nice sites on the east side that overlooked the lake. I would advise touring the sites to see what you like best. There is a nice swimming beach just South of the ramp before you enter the park. There are signs to guide you to the swimming area.

I was curious about the bait fish I was seeing under the lights so I contacted Adam Boman the state fisheries biologist in Springfield that works in SW Missouri. The translucent minnows that are native to Stockton are Brook Silversides, but the primary forage is Gizzard shad that grow to 2.5-3.5 in the first couple of years. I was hoping that they would once again try to stock threadfin shad, although their past efforts have been unsuccessful. Just my opinion, but I think the quality of fish would increase dramatically if they could introduce them successfully. I did clean the fish at the ramp Saturday night. The stomachs were pretty empty.

Put in at the north Mutton Creek ramp at 8:30 p.m. with a friend and his 13 year old son. We all were pleasantly surprised that the lite NW wind kept us comfortable until we quit at 1 p.m. Fishing was just good enough to keep us interested. 6 keeper crappie all about 12" that we kept and threw back about 20 short crappie and 10 white bass. Fished on main lake channel break outside the mouth of Goocher. Used two submersible green lights set about 4' deep that we exteded about 4' away from the boat (its just easier to see your line and rod tip with the extra light you get by doing this) We were over 50' of water using jigs and minnows with equal success, but fish were suspended 12-15'. Not a great keeper report, but a beautiful evening on the lake. The 13 year did most of the catching.

I haven't fished for a couple of months,but I didn't catch many short fish the few times I went. The loss of two year classes happened 5 or 6 years ago on Grand Lake, which up until that time was a great crappie lake. I know for fact people that crappie fished Grand switched to Stockton, because of the poor success rate on Grand.( which is still the case) Stockton has seen a substantial increase in pressure. That probably wouldn't account for the lack of undersized fish, but if I were doing a survey for small fish I'd probably start at the various bridge piers or lay downs and brush piles in colored water close to the bank. A friend that fished there recently reported seeing alot of very small fry and I guess it's anybodys guess the species.

You could go N. out of Greenfield on 39 highway and put in where it crosses Sons Creek or continue N on 39 approx 2-3 miles take R on dirt road that will lead you to access in the back of Greaser creek or cove about a mile S. of Greaser.

That's some great quality bass you had. The bite as you said slowed down when the clouds broke up. The bass I caught showed no sign of spawning, but it should happen real soon, especially in the southern most parts.

What a great day just to be out.on the lake. A slow light rain started when we put in at Mutton Creek at 7 a.m. Found fish about halfway back in larger coves around Hawker. Gravel banks were definitely the best. Crappie fished till about 11 concentrating in 6-10' of water. Had 25 crappie and 3 walleye on jigs and roadruners. Crappie still had eggs, Switched to bass fishing using baby brush hog(green pumpkin) in the same water and had a blast until we left at 2 p.m. Saw two osprys (fish hawks) that flew directly overhead carrying big branches to their nest, a big tom running across the parking lot at Ruark and for the first time the eagle on its nest just S. of Ruark on H highway. Passed that nest for years,but this is the first time I have seen him standing on that nest. At one time during the day I caught in succession a walleye,crappie,black bass, smallmouth bass, kentucky bass, and a drum. In between those my partner caught a white bass.

One thing I might suggest. When more than two of us go out in a boat,(boat had two livewells) like last week you need to have a way to identify your fish in the livewell. I take a stringer and put the fish I catch on it.

I'm not sure the exact time they post the lake level, but when I clicked on the top link Corp Site as of March 21 the level had risen to 866. Would think today would show at least another foot. Take in mind this would be about a 2' rise from last week. Straw hat is probably right about the impact on fishing, but it might take a day or two for some of the fish to reorient. The crappie fishing and Walleye fishing would be hard pressed to be as good as last week. Caught limits of crappie and several nice Walleye last week in 3-6 foot of water on jigs and roadrunners. Also as a bonus caught about 20 bass (5) of which were 15" while crappie fishing gravel banks. I don't know if the lake has reached the buckbrush, but if it has the bass fishing should be really good. This water rise if held should really help the spawn. The majority of the crappie caught last week were Black Crappie and the eggs were pretty well devloped.

Ranger Dave the white bass are in full swing right now on Spring River by where the Seneca piers used to be. A lot of hybrids and big crappie mixed in. Can't give you the Okla regulations on the Alabama rig, but I here people are throwing them with mixed results. I guess when you hang one up you can triple your losses.

Sounds like a good bait for people under 12 years old or over 80 years old.

Planned to go to Stockton yesterday, but when I saw the whitecaps on the birdbath I changed my mind. Anyway, recently I had a friend that caught a really big smallmouth bass (3oz shy of a state record) in Kansas, their record is 6-6. That brought back an interesting memory from 1995. I was at a boat show here in Joplin. At that time I was obsessed with bass fishing. Normally I wouldn't remember a date that far in the past, but in Dec. 1994 the state record smallmoth bass (the record still stands ) had been set on Stockton Lake at 7-2 , and I was talking to one of the few guides on Stockton at the show. I may be wrong here, but I think his last name was Flippo. I read everything I could get my hands on about bass fishing and had to have the newest equipment and baits mentioned. Thats why my shed is still filled with old lures and rods and reels. The guide had recently had an article published about bass fishing, particularly about smallmouth. He, to his credit had told of his method of catching really big fish. Channel breaks, especially around main lake points spoon fishing and he was trying to find out if the record holder had read the article and used that method. I never really heard anymore. Of course my next trip included a sack full of spoons. After an hour or two of half hearted attempts my quest ended. Now days with the advancement of electronics I thought it might be something someone that has the time and patience might try. When I have had the opportunity to be with someone in a really nice rig the suggestion is usually met with a groan.

Most of you probably already know this, but this is one tip that can save you alot of money. Always have two snap stringers in your boat. When and if you or your buddie pull the ultimate snafu and drop your favorite rod and reel in the lake you can snap those two stringers together, open all the snaps tie it to a rope and usually grab that rod off the bottom. What made me think to post this is a friend called me this morning to let me know and thank me. His $200+ St Crouis had been retrieved because he had the stringers in the boat. I learned this from an ole timer many years ago on Grand Lake( now I'm the ole timer) when I lost an expensive bass rod and reel, got it on first throw. Have retrieved two more since for people out on lake. OH YES THROW THE BOUY MARKER OUT FAST.

Put in at North Mutton creek ramp yesterday at 2 pm. As I was leaving out a guy in a bass boat pulled in to load up. He said he had caught 9 keeper bass and 3 walleye on a stick bait. I did go fishing for crappie and took out at 5 with a limit of crappie and one 15" walleye. Bite was best in the last hour. For some reason, no matter the weather the last hour is usually real good for all species on Stockton.

Haven't posted in a while, but check in on the site to hear the Stockton Lake news and really enjoy the reports. Merry Christmas to all of you.

The west camping area at Ruark has some good shore fishing. The gate will be closed when the camping season is over(possibly now)???? You will have to walk in. The channel runs close to the bank and as it gets colder the fish will suspend in the deep water along that bank. Will probably need to slip bobber at the right depth with a heavy split shot to keep the bait vertical. This will probably be good for most of the winter, but a north wind will be hard to endure.