Stockton Lake Guide Service

I will only say that it is always in the best interest of the individual to follow any and all laws that the (wait that is OUR) govt has set. The govt knows what is best for us and I'm positive that they would never enact any laws that could hinder our freedom. With that said I got to agree with dutch, plus noboday will see you put them out.

nothing is sticking around here yet, but the water on the ramps should freeze pretty quick by tomorrow with these cold temps. It's got to warm up before to long!!

The term fizzing simply means to artifically deflate the air bladder with the needle. It just sounds cooler when you say it that way, "fizzing" See what I mean. If it is all the way up into the throat of the fish, then it's pretty easy to do. If you have to remove scales, or insert needle in side of fish then you can hit other stuff and kill fish later. How big of crappie are you guys catching up there. I talked with some guys that have been catching lots of them, but having to fight ice all the time too.

Sounds like you were catching fish. I saw your truck there on my way home from the lake. Your right, you were the only one there

It's on 107.7 each morning. An 8 hr trip is 225.00 but it will go for the top bid. The money all goes to the radio station, and they give me some advertising space for donating the trip. I should be at the radio station at 8 am monday morning. So it should be auctioned sometime around 8:15 to 8:30 am, or something close to that. To bid, all you need to do is call 417-276-5200 and tell them what you wish to bid, but I think they only bid during the time each thing is auctioned off. They will keep you on the phone and you can up your bid until you win or quit. The guide trip is 8 hours on any day I am open (except sundays) You can use it during the walleye run, crappie spawn etc. Let me know if this answered everything and good luck if you decide to bid.

The crappie fishing remains very good on stockton. The water temp was 36 this morning, and the lake was almost at normal pool. Been a while since we have seen that. To catch the crappie this time of year you need to locate brush and or shad in 50-60 foot of water. I use 2 1/8 oz lead head jigs, and a triple ripple or bass assassin body. I also like to rub a little smelly jelly on the lure. Over the past weeks, the majority of the fish have been about 3 foot off the bottom, which would put them in the brush. As they are pulling water, the fish will hold tight to the stucture, so you must get the jig to the fish. This morning I was only out for a couple hours and we had 11 keepers before the sleet moved in. Someone else was still out there in a skeeter when we left. Some of the fish will hit plenty hard for you to tell you have a bite, but some will just tug a little, and some others feel like a fly hit your rod. I think the main reason people don't catch more fish this time of year is because they are used to the big bites in the spring and simply don't relize they are getting bit this time of year. If you are over brush or have a school of shad under your boat, and you are in 50 foot of water, chances are there are crappie under your boat. Before you give up on them, concentrate and watch for a very suttle bite. Kind of like when your wife tries to drop that hint that she didn't want you to go fishing, and you didn't even notice. I hope this will help you a little or give you some ideas on how to try to catch some fish. I know there are several that go out in the winter and catch some monster crappie almost every trip. It is by far the best time of year to catch crappie, and these small fronts coming thru usually won't completly shut them off. They might slow down a little, but it won't stop all of them. I have a guide trip that will be auctioned off on bid for bargins monday feb 8th in the morning. It should be a great deal and would be a great chance for someone to go out that wants to learn how to locate brush piles and how to catch some crappie. Now the bad news, ripping crappie out of 50+ foot of water causes a high mortality rate. If you catch 20 short fish, and just throw them back in the water, most of these fish will not live. So instead of taking 15 fish out of the lake, there could be 30 dead fish. You will notice this problem very early on when you see your released fish swimming in circles, or their eyes are bugged out etc. When the fish are biting good, it's tuff to take the extra time to "fizz" the fish, and it is not an easy technique to do without causing injury to the fish. Our main goal when releasing a fish is that the fish lives to bite and fight another day. In no case that I know of are you allowed to keep an short fish because that fish would have died anyways, it's the same fine as having a live short fish. So that leaves us with only one option, do our best to save the fish. One technique if you don't mind doing it is blowing into the fishes mouth, like during cpr. However it's kind of gross and your breath can quickly start smelling, well "crappie". no pun intended. Another more effective and less time consuming technique is to take enough fishing line, and enough weight about 6 oz, to lower the fish back into the water and to a suitable depth so the fish can stay bouyant and not float on the surface. It's a pretty easy technique, all you have to do is thread the mono thru the fishes jaw, but not the bone, and keep hold of the both ends while allowing the fish to return to the depths. then you pull the line through the fish and your back to fishing. And I relize that the eagles need to eat also, but there are enough shad for them to eat. They don't care if they eat gizzard shad, crappie, or walleye. I would rather keep the last two for us.!! If anyone else has some ideas on saving these fish for later catches feel free to add some good ideas. Good Night!!

Sorry about the confusion on last weeks post. I accidentally wrote to follow me on twitter and put my user name with a .com after it. The correct twitter username is just fishstockton and has nothing to do with anyones website or domain names etc. Sorry about the mistake. You can still follow me by using the correct name. I try to post up to the minute fishing reports while i am on the lake to help everyone out. It's limited to how much information you can put on there, but if you see me posting something then you can at least get an idea if I'm just fishing or if I'm catching.

The lake is pretty open now as long as you stay out of the creek arms. I have been fishing about everyday around the mile long bridge. I had to break ice to get out monday, but it was open today. it'll all change again in a few days. We are going to get some much needed snow tomorrow and friday. It's a good thing because my well was about dry.

Crappie are biting good in 50-60 foot of water on blue and gray jigs. I used 1/8 oz today to get them down faster and had just as many bites. I also think they hit better with a little smelly jelly on the lure, garlic of course. But it seemed to make me very hungry while I was fishing. Also, I try to hold the jig as still as I can in the colder months. The boat moves around enough to get the bite, so if you are having trouble, try not jigging or moving it and see what happens. It was a very light bite today, not like last week. Pay really close attention and be ready to set the hook. Ramps have ice on them and ice in the coves, so be very careful. It's not to thick to drive your boat thru, but don't try going to fast and watch it while your running down the lake. If you hit one you could end up like the titanic. Sorry, didn't fish for anything but crappie today. It was really cold. Wont let me upload the vid. Oh well, had to drive thru the ice for a couple hundred yards, but it's worth it.

just east of the mile long bridge. well the 1/2 mile long bridge. it was iced up this mornign. had to break ice to get to the fish, but it was fun.

To cold to stay out to long today, but I got 12 nice crappie, no shorts. They didn't bite as good as last wed, but they were going good when I left. Im having trouble with the video, but got a pic of the fish.

I plowed hartley boat ramp this afternoon. However there is ice in the cove, not to thick, but it is iced over. A little sun will fix that. I'm gonna try it in the morning and see if I can get through it ok, probably wait till about 10 or so. If anyone wants to know if you can use the ramp and get through the ice, follow me on twitter and I will post you an answer as soon as I get the boat on the lake. If it's hard to read and says "help, sos" then assume I am going down and if you get there soon enough, you can laugh at me as I go under.

we got about 6", but it melted some today. You can get your boat out if you get a running start. Just don't hit the brakes to hard.

Hey ranger21, you don't know how to make friends very good. If you noticed, nobody is replying to your "i'm in tropical heatwave response" Have fun and catch the big one!! Were stuck in the snow up here.

I got the 1197c si and don't know what I am seeing half of the time. But it makes life easier finding brush piles. I'm clearing a ramp Sunday afternoon or Monday morning, so give me a call if you are coming up. we can go out fishing for a little bit monday if you are free.

I am planning on making a path to put my boat in the water tomorrow or monday. I won't have access to computer, and not sure which ramp I am going to plow, but if you are planning on fishing and want to know which ramp will be accessible, follow me on twitter.com and I will update the ramp after I plow us a path. I'm not sure what part of lake I am going to fish, but it will come down to ruark or hartley ramps. Wont be home from church till 4 tomorrow, but already have the tractor loaded and ready. To follow me on twitter, go to www.twitter.com and look up fishstockton, which is my user name on twitter.

OK, I added the old state park ramp for a vote. I personally like this ramp and it's location might be better for some. If I decide to change this year, then I will need to redo the regatta permits. Be a little bit of a pain and last year we avg about 18 boats per tournament. Guess we just wait and see what happens.

Crappie are still going strong, at least for now. Fish with jigs in 50-60 foot of water over brush piles and/or schools of shad. The fish are on the bottom or just off the bottom about 2-3 cranks. Doesn't look like color matters much, but if you are fishing with a 1/16 oz jig either use a double rig or some split shots. Jig them right under the boat and you can catch fish all day long. Bass are pretty slow still. Slow working jigs and plastics on bluffs and points are the best bet. The jerkbait bite shouldn't be far away. Walleye are fair to good on jigs in 40-50 foot of water. Catching some while crappie fishing. Sorry, no report on the catfish. Don't forget to bring the dry clothes just in case. And starting tomorrow a snow shovel might be needed. Good luck

do your best to answer all the questions to your best. I will take a look and see if anything needs to be changed to help better the tournament. If you have any problems about me, please let me know so we can get them worked out. Love to see everyone back out there april 15th.

Thursday Evening Bass Tournaments will start again on April 15th, 2010. The tournaments will be going out of Ruark Bluff, and take off time will be 6 pm every thursday. Weigh in will vary a little, but will be at dark. Entry fees are $40.00 per boat. Out of the $40.00, 10 will go for big bass, and 23 will go for the nights winnings. The rest will go for the end of year tournament which will be held on october 9th. I have all the regattas already, so we shouldn't have any changes. had a great turnout last year and (i think) most everyone had a good time. Come out, fish for a while and meet some new people. To make the fish off you will need to fish 15 out of 20 tournaments, or be in the top 60% of the avg weekly attendance. It won't be as easy to make it as last year unless you make 15 out of 20 (then you are there automatically) The more that show, the more someone wins. 1 in 7 boats get paid!! 1-3 big bass depending on the number of boats. Give me a call if you have any questions. 417-208-9535 or 417-234-8988 Thanks and see you on the lake.

I got an excuse for not helping with the lake conditions! I was in Florida. Ramps were all open, no ice on the water!! Red snapper and grouper were biting great. Looks like this topic will be going again after this thursday and friday (Jan 28th and 29th) Calling for lots of snow 5-10". Anyone want to head back south for a couple of weeks??

Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico over New Years was excellent. Caught lots of red snapper and grouper in 70-100 foot of water. But now I'm back in missouri and the water is a little bit colder here. I was out on the 19th and 20th. The water was still frozen from mutton creek south, but most of the lake was open. The water temp was in the upper 30's most everywhere we went. Crappie are biting on 1/16 and 1/8 oz jigs over brush piles and under the schools of shad. You need to watch your graph really close and mark the shad. Once you have found them (can be anyplace from 35-60' deep) then try fishing just under them and in the school. Some really good fish are being caught, and it's one of the most consistent bites you can have all year. Lots of people don't like being out in the cold, but if you love to eat some fresh crappie during the cold winter months, there is not reason to not give it a try. Even several of the marked fishing beds are producing some good fish. Bass are pretty slow. They are not hitting what I throw at them right now, but if you want to punish yourself try jigs and plastics off of points and bluff ends. Fish very slow and don't be afraid to set the hook. After you get tired of trying, hit the crappie. Sorry, haven't been walleye or catfishing yet. I would like to go back to the gulf until march, but had to come back home. If you decide to go out, take some dry clothes, a towel, etc just in case you fall in. The water is very cold and it wont take long for the cold to get to you in these conditions. And remember, never be embarrassed to where a life vest!!

brush piles and channel drops. I know there are lots of fish being caught off the bluffs down around ruark.