Thompson Fishing Guide Service

January 19, 2006 Stockton Lake Fishing Report Walleye are being caught off the main lake points north of the 215 bridge on slow trolled deep running crank baits. If you let out 175 feet of line, that should get your deep diving crank bait at around 25 feet. Wally Divers and Wiggle Warts in shad colors are good choices. Deep diving jerk baits in shad colors have also been productive. Along the dam, try drifting a jig/night crawler in around 25 feet of water and you should see action. Black bass are being caught off main lake points and bluff points with black and purple or black and blue jigs with a pork chunk. Most of the fish will be positioned around structure in around 25 feet of water; plastic worms also work well when the fish are deep. Eleven inch ribbon tails in dark colors worked slowly will get bites. Try using suspended jerk baits in coves on the down wind side; a lot of bass will follow shad into these coves and if you can find one with a creek, that's even better. Try clown colored hard jerk baits on cloudy days and shad colors on bright sunny days. Deep diving crank baits are producing fish off your chunk rock banks that have a 45 degree angle slope. Remember to fish the bait SLOWLY. Crappie are being caught on the marked brush piles that are in 15-20 feet of water; due to the lake's low level (8 feet below normal pool), your choices of brush piles in this depth range is reduced. Nevertheless, finding the right brush piles will be worth your trouble. Crappie Johns and Maribu jigs are your best artificial choices, most effective when fished under a slip bobber fished slowly. Minnows are producing some Crappie off the face of the dam. Boat control is your major problem here if the wind blows, but if you can keep the boat out at about 20 feet from the dam, drift a minnow under a slip bobber and you'll catch Crappie.

January 10, 2006 Stockton Lake Fishing Report Main lake points north of the 215 bridge to the dam are your best bet for walleye; fish the windy points when possible with crawler harnesses or jig/minnow combinations slow drifted. Another good tactic in these areas is slow trolled crank baits; Wiggle Warts, Rogues and Rattl Traps in shad colors will produce some good fish. Before you wet a line, cruise the points or the face of the dam and locate the shad. The points adjacent to chunk rock bluffs are producing some hefty large mouth bass taken in 20-25 feet of water on black and blue jigs with black or blue pork trailers. Fish the lure slowly, and let it set on a ledge or the bottom for twenty or thirty seconds before moving it again. Deep running crank baits late in the afternoon on chunk rock banks will also produce fish; bass are also being caught in the timber in the Turkey Creek arm and Price Branch. Find a creek bed meandering through the timber and work it with a plastic worm (purple or black) and you'll see some action. As far as crank baits are concerned, your go to bait should be a suspending jerk bait; use the reel, pause, jerk technique and you'll see some action. Marked crappie beds are the best place to start for crappie; use crappie jigs or jig/minnow combinations. Try the brush piles across from Cedar Ridge boat ramp which incidentally is closed right now. Marty Thompson www.fishstockton.com

Anybody with any questions about the fishing report, please reply to thompsonfishingguideservice@yahoo.com or post your questions here and I'll be glad to answer them. Marty Thompson