oghfm

Don't know much about the Little Sac side of the lake but fishing is improving and both whites and crappie are moving shallower. Don't know what kind of boat you are bringing but winds will be around 15 average on Saturday, and Stockton is the roughest lake around so err to the safe side. Good luck.

I use down for the way I fish. I fish 2 poles, both 10 footers, one in a pole holder out the right side of the boat which is also the side my livescope is on, the other pole I usually fish holding out the left side but may vary to the right side also. I want to see both rigs on the scope if possible. If I were casting I'd probably use fwd view, but about the only time I cast is w/ the ned rig.

are available in Greenfield across the street from the convenience store at hwy 160 and H highway, its the old dollar general location that is now a hardware store and has a really good selection of fishing tackle to include flicker shads. Went yesterday. Winds were a bit stronger than forecast. The cold front had definitely put them out a bit, instead of 16 fow I found them at 20-22. They like shiners. Have been catching them just off the bottom but those fish were kinda lockjawed, every once in a while I would spot a solitary fish at about 15 ft, lift the jig up to that level and they would quickly oblige (thank you Livescope). Caught 6 nice keepers and 3 dinks and one rubber fish. No white bass but seen several schools come thru, some large ones trailed by smaller ones, me thinks they had luv on their simple little minds. It was chilly out there but semi productive. Had one boat come by twice and another in a far cove, really quite peaceful. Last time I cleaned fish at the cabin I left the carcasses in the red 5 gal bucket for Ricky Raccoon, he always cleans them up. This time I left the tuffy (fat head) minnows in the bucket too. Guess what the scavenger wouldn't eat! Just saying.

suck. The crappie think so too, and the livescope confirms it, at least in my limited mind. I am guessing two out of three times a fish approaches it they look it over and leave, sometimes in a hurry. I got tired of that show and slipped on some crappie nibbles and was just about reverse, about 2 out 3 times they took it. Wish I could get some rosy reds to compare. Anyhow with tuffys on fri I only caught 4 fish and w/ nibbles on sat at least 15 in an hour less fishing. It wasn't a totally scientific survey but close enough to convince me there are better choices. Chime in guys!

No, it was closer to CC on the south side, probably 4 times larger, perhaps it doesn't have a name.

and it wasn't pretty. Still some stain in the water. Marked a ton of shad and fish, mostly white bass near the channel at the bridge area, 10 boats at the ramp and water was way up the ramp so the slope wasn't much, had to put the FJ's wheels in the water to launch/recover. Couldn't get a bite initially, for about an hour or so strolling w/ 2 jigs tipped w/ minnows. Finally left channel flats and entered what I believe is Springfield cove where the floor was about 20 foot deep, started picking up small crappie on a really light bite but backseater wasn't getting any. He finally changed to a bare hook minnow tipped and picked up 4 keepers up to 13 inches, I believe they could feel no pressure at all from the line/jig and that was what worked, definitely a strange pattern to me. No keepers for the fat man. Cleaned the keepers for him while camouflaging my pouting. Sometimes I despise my back seaters. Better days will come. OGHFM

When it comes to you two, I don't want either SIDE OF THE BED !! Just saying

instead of males when the crappie spawn begins. Heres my logic. Most folks bang the banks during the spawn and some coves will have 3 or more boats in them, but its not the crowded conditions that steer me away. Them males build the nest, then attract the girls and fertilize the eggs, stay with them till they hatch and protect them as fry up into June after they leave the nest. Betcha didn't know that last part. So I stay in deeper waters and chase the girls. Expect some naturalists/biologists to chime in here and possibly shoot my position down, but thats ok, I got wide shoulders and HOPE I can take it.

to report that I did go fishing Sat. Had a crew at the cabin stripping the old roof (metal) off and putting a new one on, upgraded from 29 to 26 gauge. The cabin is about 1450 sq ft w/ an 18x10 extension for front porch. They stripped and installed in about 7 hours w/ a short break for burgers and fries I fixed. Hope they lived thru the meal, one of the helpers ate 2 burgers so probably hospitalized. So I fished from 10 till noon w/ only keeper crappie to show. Went back out from 2 to 4 and picked up 4 more keepers for a total of 12 that averaged 12 inches, about 10 shorts and 2 white bass. I had picked up medium minnows to tip w/ and I think they prefer the smalls w/ these water temps, never did see 40 degrees surf temp, winds were very light and quite a pleasant day. There was a couple from Mountain Grove out there fishing in their new boat that pm and I could hear them comment when I boated one (which is amazing cause I'm pretty deaf) so I asked them if they had had any luck. They were in about 22 fow so I was pretty sure they hadn't, so I got them to join me in my pattern and they did catch a couple, it would have been a shame to take that new boat home with no stink on it. This week looks as bad as the ice-in with all the wind, probably won't get back up there till next week, would like to try CC for tail end of walleye run but if we get much rain I'm afraid it will be muddy.

I caught one of those big lone suspended marks about 4 years ago. Peeled line off like a street sweeper and BREECHED about 60 yards away so I just knew it was a fresh water whale. Fought the Thing for about 10 or more minutes during which it went Under the boat 4 times and finally took it to net which it about broke. 29 lb small mouthed buffalo. TAIL hooked. I told my cousin about it and told him I DUMPED it back in the lake and he was upset, claims they are THE BEST eating there is. I'll probably never know cause they won't fit in the livewell and I would be embarassed to lead on back to the dock on a rope.

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner for your Sunday trip but I was at the lake again, go figure. This time of year I use 2 jig heads tied with loop knots and the color depends on the cloud cover i.e. bright days lighter cloudy days darker. I like chrome jigs if its sunny but sometimes the white bass won't leave them alone so I change. I use Strike King jokers a lot and the crappie will tell you what color they prefer. I fish s l o o o w w. I fish straight down if possible this time of year because they are not wanting to chase much, they will take it if convenient and too much movement will make them shy away, the livescope has taught me that. Let your rig drop to the bottom then pick it up about 2 cranks. Hint- 1 crank on most spinning reels is about 2 foot. Crappie look level and up, never down, and thats the way they feed. I personally do not fish brush piles although there are plenty on Stockton lake and some folks prefer them. I fish what we call the breaks this time of year where the flats break off into the channel. Find the baitfish and the crappie will be near. Tipping your jigs with small minnows may help this time of year. I don't lip them, I skull them and don't lose as many. Now to the first part of your post- what part of the lake- well, I'll serve you lunch if you're hungry, probably loan you money if your broke, change your flat tire, might even give you my sisters phone, we're a sharing bunch of folks here on OAF. BUT, when asked where I will tell you SOUTH of the DAM. Now thats pretty cold, and I noticed this is your first post here so I will give you a HINT---WAAAY SOUTH. Another HINT- Bass fishermen stand in their boat, crappie fishermen SIT. Watch the boats. My typing fingers are getting tired so this is my last hint of the evening, a lot of crappie bites are missed because they are not felt, keep your fore finger on or under the rod blank and you detect more bites. Welcome to the forum, hope you catch a boatload. OGHFM

it cause the weather was too nice today. Back to the lake, things had changed since Tuesday, surface temp up to 43 up the creek, marking fish at 28 ft initially and later at 26, wind was light, seen schools of smaller crappie on the livescope up to 6 ft off the bottom, larger crappie scattered and hugging the bottom. Seen 3 otter come off the hill and into the lake. Hope their legs grow together. 7 nice crappie, 1 legal walleye and at least 35 short crappie. They liked the salt and pepper skirts today, and it didn't make much difference if you tipped w/ minnow or not. Another really nice day on a really clean lake.

than I normally find them. Went to CC, 45 degrees, very stained and quite a bit of debris, never marked any shad, zero-zilch-nada bites. Repositioned via trailer and side trip to Reds, to twin bridge area. Where I normally find them at 20-24 feet they were at 30+. Had better days fishing, but the weather was nice. Surface temp up north was 34.

That looks like a wall of shad

Talked to a friend who lives above Sons creek and it said it was still froze up except right at the 39 bridge, so will probably check again Monday.