ewlech

There are not any carp in Stockton 😉

When I was at Crabtree on Sunday the dock was pulled out of the water.

I haven’t posted in a while so thought I would submit one. Launched at Crabtree yesterday at 6am and Fished yesterday for about 6 hours. Ran across the lake to a large creek arm and started off throwing the Whopper Plopper. It was tough fishing it as there was so much debris all over the surface of the water. For every 10 casts, 6 or so the Plopper would get fouled up. Caught 2 in the first 20 minutes at which time I got tired of it fouling up and put a frog on. Fished the frog for a while but only had 2 bow ups on it and missed both off them. Threw a spinner bait, square bill, weightless worm, and a 3” soft swim bait around without getting a bite. I have been out 4 or 5 times since the lake has been up and I have been catching 20-30 in 8 hours mostly fishing the old shore line with a 3” swim bait on a ¼ ounce jig head and the Ned rig. After not catching much up in the flooded trees, I pulled out to fish the 15-20 foot range of the old shoreline. Fished that pattern on 5-6 different spots without much to show for it (threw a jig, swim bait, Ned rig, deep diving crank bait, and a wobble head with a Rage bug). Ran out and fished a few main lake and secondary points without much luck. Ran to a few bluff walls and threw the Ned rig. Ended up catching 9 more on the Ned rig all off of one bluff wall stretch. Out of the 11 I caught, only 3 would have weighed. Not very many fishing boats on the lake but there were all kinds of sail boats out enjoying the lake. I talked with a guy in nice Lund boat who was trolling for Walleyes, he was having some luck with the eyes. There wasn’t much wind out which normally makes the fishing a little slower. Seems it is always either white capping out or flat calm, nothing in between. Crabtree was fine to launch but had the truck a ways out in the water to get the boat to float. Taking out, my wife had to get her feet wet getting the boat cranked up on the trailer. Water was in the low 70’s and the water was pretty clear up by the dam and got stained by the mile long bridge.

I found this out on Sunday morning also, had to detour to Masters 😢

Fished out of Cedar Ridge Sunday from about 1-6. My day was very similar to Red Shad’s. Ended up with 22 total including 4 walleyes, 5 whites, and the rest large and small mouth bass. Caught most of them on the plopper and wart. Had another 20 or so blow up on the plopper but didn’t connect. The lake was pretty empty after the handful of tourney boat ran back to take out shortly after we arrived. Fished 6 areas but only 3 of them held fish. The first stop help the most fish and I was able to make 3 separate passes where I caught fish each time. All of the fish came shallow, the plopper was getting hit very close to the shore and the wart fish all came shallow as it was bumping bottom. Water was 77-78 most placed and the sun never popped out.

I will be putting in at Cedar Ridge fighting the wind first thing tomorrow.

Fished about 6 hours on Friday out of Cedar Ridge. First point I stopped at I caught 2 large mouths, one on a jerk bait and one on a Rock Crawler. Went down the bank past the point and connected with another black bass. Fished 3 more spots without connecting with anything. Ran up the river past Highpoint and fished a few places but could only find one white bass. Ran back down below Highpoint and hit a steeper bank and found a few more. Caught 5 white bass and 3 more black bass. Ended the day with 12. Caught them on a Jerk bait, Rock Crawler, Bomber crank bait, and an A-rig. I usually do well with the Ned rig and after reading some recent reports I was expecting to have some action with it. I didn’t find any that wanted the Ned today. Water was 48-53 degrees. On a side note, the wife and I saw a large bird of prey that looked kind of like a hawk but was too big to be a hawk. As we got closer, we got a better look at it and it was a Golden Eagle. The wife had to Google it because I assured her that there weren’t any Golden Eagles in Missouri. Based on Google, I was mistaken. I know bald eagles (which we have seen several lately) do not have the white head as juveniles but this was a full grown bird and was way to big to be a juvenile bald eagle (and it wasn't a Turkey Vulture that are all over that area either). Also saw a large otter on the water’s edge. We have been seeing more and more otters lately. This post has been promoted to an article

Jamesedward- I left Atlanta for the Ozarks. Use to live in Gainesville and Cumming for 7 years (drove to Lawrencville GA to work). Fished Lake Lanier 3-4 times a week for the 7 years. Caught many 5-6 pound spots out of there throwing a super spook over 90 feet of water when the spots and stripers were chasing Blueback Herring. Had a 26 pound 5 fish limits of all spots during one tournament. I will take Stockton lake over Lanier any day of the week. Lanier will give Lake of the Ozark a run for its money with ocean going vessels and pleasure boats.

Caught some of them on a PB&J colored Ned rig, some on a 6 foot deep diving crank bait, and the rest on a 3.5 inch plastic swim bait rigged on a 1/8 oz head. They were bunched up in certain areas anywhere from the shore out to 12 feet deep. All of the black bass and the 2 walleye I caught were on the Ned rig.

Hit the lake on Wednesday and Thursday and found lots of whitebass along with several nice largemouths mixed in. Caught 54 on Wednesday and 19 on Thursday. Water was 61 to 63 degrees most of the areas I fished. Here are a few pics:

I have the most success on square bill crank baits, LC Gunfish topwater and a buzz bait around the weeds on the lower end. Also do pretty well on a baby brush hog texas rigged pitching into the weeks and docks. When the fishing gets tough, I tie a Ned Rig on a 1/16 oz mushroom jig head and fish the steeper rock banks. I fish from Rockaway Beach down to the dam. Hope this helps.

I work for Bass Pro Shop (and have for over 9 years) in management at the corporate office. I have Met Mr. Morris many times and he is truly a remarkable business person and very humble. He has given much to environmental projects and has helped many people. I love my job and love working for him and love the company. While many of you have your own opinions of him (and everyone is entitled to their opinion) I have nothing but great things to say about him and the company and love working there. Bass Pro has repaired my boat many times and have always done a great job. They don't rebuild engines and while I get parts at a reduced price and labor at a reduced price I don't want to spend $6,000 on a repair as I will be upgrading my boat in a few years. I called Glen (Fishing Wrench) and he was very helpful and I will be sending him some business. I appreciate all of the replies and thanks again Glen, my wife (Stephanie) will be calling you on Monday.

Thanks Champ, appreciate your feedback.

I was hoping to get some feedback from some of you on a Mercury 2003 EFI 200HP problem: I recently took my 2003 ProCraft 200 into Tracker Marine because we noticed a miss in the engine and it seemed to be having a delay when pushing the throttle before it would react. They did a full inspection and determined that There was a possible loose or rough crank bearing. My question is : Is this something that can be rebuilt or repaired without having to order a new top engine part (which costs $2200 for the part) and if it can be rebuilt or repaired what would the approximate cost for something like this? I message FISHING WRENCH last week but hadn't heard back from him yet. I would appreciate any feedback any of you have.

We saw 2 kayaks fishing between Bull creek and Rockaway around 8:30, was that you?

While I only fish the lower Taney a few times a year (I mostly fish Stockton) out of a 20 foot bass boat, I posted my experience on the Lower Taney forum from this past Saturday where I experienced the Branson Jet boat come right by me and the wife while fishing. It even did a few circles and sharp turns across from me throwing water up ( I was fishing across form Bull creek). You can read my post over there but my experience was it was rather loud but the wake was much smaller than I was expecting. Granted my boat is a 20 footer and stable but the wake was much smaller than the wake boats throw off.

I don't personally know him but enjoy reading his posts. Wishing the best to him and his family during this trying period. Prayers sent.

I fish Stockton on a regular basis and only fish the lower Taney a handful of times each year. The wife and I decided to fish out of Rockaway Beach Saturday afternoon/evening, fished about 5 hours up till dark. The last time I fished Taney was this past fall. As soon as I arrived I noticed the water clarity was much dirtier/cloudier than it was in the past, only about a foot and a half visibility. I spent the first 2 hours flipping Baby Brush Hogs around the vegetation, threw a fluke over the weeds, threw a small Gun Fish over the weeds, and threw a small frog over the matts. Only had 2 hits, one on the Brush Hog and one on the fluke and missed both of them. After 2 hours without any fish we cranked up the Merc and ran down to a bluff wall/channel swing that usually produces some bass for me. Spent the next few hours fishing this area and caught several trout, a nice sized smallmouth, several rock bass/warmouths, and several small largemouths. I noticed the rock bass appeared to be ready to spawn as the belly on several of them were huge. As the sun was starting to set we ran back up to Rockaway and finished the day off throwing the Gun Fish around the weeds. Had several blow-ups that missed the bait and caught one nice largemouth that was around 3 pounds. Pulled the boat out around 9pm. Water temp was around 59-61 degrees. On a side note, shortly after arriving, while fishing across from Bull Creek, we had the “pleasure” of experiencing the Branson Jet boat coming by and doing circles and other sharp turns across from us. I had read the posts on the upper Taney site from Phil and others talking about the jet boat attraction coming in the near future but didn’t know it had opened. While I was in a large 20 foot bass boat with a 200 Merc on it, it didn’t cause any issues for me. There were many kayaks enjoying the lake when this Jet boat came flying by. I don’t think they were very happy with that experience. It will be interesting to see how many complaints property owners and other folks that enjoy the lake lodge against this company. The wake that it threw off wasn’t as big as I was anticipating and didn’t cause any issues with me in my larger boat but I am not sure how smaller boats would fare. I will mention that it was very loud and you could hear it coming from a long way in advance. I do understand it is a public lake and I am not taking any sides on the attraction, just mentioning that it is “open for business”. Here are a few pictures form the trip:

It is harder to fish it in the wind but can be done. I put my boat as close to the shore as possible (if fishing steeper rock banks) and fish the Ned right in front of the boat with as little bow in the line as possible and short casts. When it's windy i will usually keep a tighter line and in constant contact with the bait so the fish won't be able to swallow it.

I have caught many hundreds of fish on the Ned Rig along with my wife fishing with me for the past 3 years (close to 4). While we have a little slack in the line we keep in contact with the bait most of the time and I have never had any fish swallow the hook or was hooked too deep that I couldn't easily remove the hook. You read that correctly, never had a swallowed hook on the Ned Rig. When throwing a Carolina Rig, Wacky Rig, and a weightless rig I have had fish swallow the hook on all of those other ones but not the Ned Rig. I have LOTS of experience and time in with proven results and no deeply hooked fish. Like I said, I keep in contact with my bait constantly with shaking it or dragging it slowly. I do not throw it out and leave slack line in it which would allow the fish to swallow it. As far as being a small fish catcher, I would highly disagree with that. If and when you fish it for 3 years plus at all times of the year then you would have the experience to make that statement. My experience, and I have the time in for the proof, is that it catches fish of all sizes. I have caught countless fish over 3 pounds on it. While you do catch some small fish on it, you catch some medium fish on it along with some large fish on it. This is my opinion that was formed with over 3 years of experience fishing it with proven results. While some people do not agree with me (and that is fine) I would speculate that they do not have the experience with fishing it as much as I have fished it.

I caught some stinkin' crappie while bass fishing also. As long as it pulls back I don't discriminate

I didn't have a scale so I didn't weigh her. I have caught largemouths in Georgia that weighed 12 pounds. My guestimation is that she was between 9 to 10 but that is just a guestimation. She HAMMERED the spinner bait! I had caught a catfish on the same spinner bait at that spot last week and thought I had another slimy cat.

Is there any colors other than PB&J?

If your looking for Crappies, run up past Cedar Ridge towards High Point and hit the many coves that have timber in them. You can find the crappies (and bass) off of the steeper rocky banks around the timber.