Stockton Lake Guide Service

I've had trips out all week. Tues was very tough, wed we found lots of crappie in 12 foot of water on channel drops. Thurs was the same as wed, but for some reason friday was tough again. Not as bad as tues, but still a little hard to get the bite going. I think we had 8 keepers friday morning, but we were off the lake by 11 am. Your best bet is to find channel drops and swings and fish in that area. Minnows didn't seem to help until we hit some deeper brush on the way back in friday.

I'm sure that the conservation agents would love to hear about what type of vehicle etc he was driving. We have some awesome agents around here. If anyone sees someone keeping to many, or keeping short fish etc, give them a call and report the guy. Some people have a problem stopping when the fish are biting good, but if we all did that then fishing would go down hill pretty quick. You can call the country sheriff dept and to report and they will contact the agent on duty/for the county you are in. As far as the cleaning and then going back out, people need to remember that even if you "give your limit" away in the morning, you can't go back out and get another limit that afternoon. You don't even have to give your name etc to report someone doing these things. OK, Murray state is back on, got to go.

I saw that. I am going to take a pic of me releasing a fish and post it on my page, but I love to eat fish. I love to fish also. As long as we don't all overdo it and we leave a couple for seed then we should all be able to have fun for a long time.

I'm not sure what you are talking about. Those are walleye in the pic and crappie on the other pic. I tried to pm you but it said you cant get messages.

well we have all had days that start off slow, then things look like they might pick up. On tuesday, I took out some guys from Nebraska and we had a few fish. Great guys that were having lots of fun, and didn't give up easily. We ended the trip with 27 keepers, several over 1lb each. Not a bad day for a cold n wind and a little rain etc. fish for crappie on channel drops in 10 foot of water with jigs. color didn't matter. some big fish bass are on jerkbaits on points and up the creeks. walleye are on the lucky strike (literally) jig while crappie fishing. can't get them to hit my jerkbait, but have heard of some being caught. sorry about short report. got to get to bed. Going again in the morning. wont let me upload a pic. I will keep trying

you should be able to go into the menu and when you mark a point, it should have an option to enter the info. Will you be on the lake tomorrow? Love to take a look and give you a hand. I have a trip all afternoon. if you are coming in from the south call me at 4172089535 and I will see what I can do. Thanks

Water temp at dam 38, up the rivers is around 47 Water level is .71 high Fishing was tough to say the least today. Talked with lots of people who said they were not doing very good. Few fish here and there, but no real pattern. The cold front and rain changed a few things, but it won't be long (a day or two) before its back to normal, at least until we get another front. I did get to fish with a 9 year old today that had more patience than most adults I've fished with. He fished all day in the cold and wind, and only complained (and less than I did) about the cold after he couldn't feel his feet anymore. Walleye are on the move. I have heard a few reports of fish up the rivers and creeks. We tried that today but didn't have much luck. The reports I have gotten have been from reliable sources, but they just didn't bite today. try throwing small jigs and jerkbaits up the rivers. The bite around the dam hasn't got going yet. The water is still pretty cold. The weather is supposed to be good thru sat. And then turn cold again with some snow. We really need the snow, haven't had any in days!! Crappie are still under some shad in the creeks, but this bite is almost done. I did have one big crappie on a jerkbait in the mouth of a creek. Most everyone that we talked to crappie fishing said they were catching small fish. Best bet for bigger crappie would be under the shad or in brush piles in 15 foot or less. Bass had been great thru the weekend, but were slower today. Most of the bass have been coming on tubes and jerkbaits. Your best bet is to throw the jerkbait until your arm falls off. This will give you the best chance of catching a big walleye and a big bass. Sorry I can't tell you more. I have been off the lake for a few days with a death in the family, and we didn't do as good as I hoped for today on a trip. Spring brings lots of surprises and along with the tough days comes those days that you can catch the fish of a lifetime. Tomorrow will be an entirely new day that could change everything. I have trips everyday this week (except tomorrow) and things will go better as the weather warms this week. I will try to post some updates as the week goes on. If anyone did good today, please let us know. I hate days like this, but it was still a great day on the lake.

I would hit the shore to the right of the ramp at cc. The channel swings thru there and you can catch some crappie and bass this time of year, and could catch some walleye heading up the rivers. Good luck and hope you catch some

Water temp today was 36-37 in the main lake. It hasn't really warmed up much in the past couple days, but since it is finally warming up outside this will probably start to change. DONT FORGET IT IS TIME TO GET YOUR 2010 LICENSE. MDC did a great job putting the brush piles in for us to fish over, so make sure you get a license before you try them. No need to pay twice for the brush piles, save yourself a $100.00 and spend it on one of us guides to take you fishing. I had to turn around 1/2 way there today and go back to get the guy I was taking out, and good thing we did. The law was watching us fish from the ramp and he would have been a nervous wreck if he would have not had it with him. Buy a license, don't keep short fish, and don't go over your limit. Another rule that most don't understand is once you put a fish into your livewell, it counts to your daily limit. If you catch 15 crappie, and keep fishing, you can't release the smallest and keep the 15" one you just caught. By law you must release the 16th fish of the day, the biggest in this case. If you are catching 10" and looking for bigger, just let them go as you catch them. MDC has done a great job keeping this lake full of great fish so if you see someone doing something illegal, no shame in turning them in (or telling the person doing it that they are wrong) I would love for the fishing to stay this good for another 20 years. Just wanted to add all this in to hopefully keep someone from doing something they didn't even know was wrong. The agents will answer any questions for you before you do it wrong. Just don't walk up to them with a spotted owl on your stringer and expect them to show you some sympathy, just give your agent a call and ask. In this case you would have clearly been told that you couldn't shoot spotted owls. Thanks for reading now back to the fishing report: The walleye bite has been a little spotty, with most of what I have caught and some other being caught while crappie fishing. Most of these have been smaller males that have moved into the creeks. I have heard of a few being caught on jerkbaits on points and some in creek channels. I think they will start moving next week for some spawning areas. I hope so, its easier to clean 4 walleye instead of 15 crappie. Last spring was awesome for catching the spawning walleye. We had several trips that got limits and a lot of happy fishermen. I think it should be just as good this spring. If you are looking to catch some spawning walleye book a trip fast. I am booked thru April on Saturdays, and have several trips during the week. Marty has been saying for quite a while that he is getting booked up, and I am sure that Les and JR are about the same way. If you want a trip, get in touch with one of us soon and book a trip. I have a few weekdays open for the walleye spawn, but like I said, weekends are gone for now. (you can still try just in case someone has to cancel.) If possible for you, I can still work in some 4 hr trips for walleye in the evenings. The crappie have been excellent all week long. Nothing has really changed since the last report, and lots of crappie are being caught. 1.8 oz jigs with a 2" grub of some type is catching lots of fish. Locate the shad in the creeks, about 30 foot down, and go to the bottom. Come up about 3 cranks, or about 8-12" and wait. Todays bite was very lite, and several of the fish we caught were taken while slowly raising the jig and you would feel some weight. Or you can very slowly use the trolling motor to stay on the move and you can feel the bite a little better. I don't mind telling anyone where I am fishing (usually) but we had 15 boats out there today and there wasn't much room for anymore. But if you go to places like hawker point, price branch, etc and find shad in the channels, you should find crappie. Even back in the area of rb or orleans trails would be great. The bite was the lightest I had seen this winter today, so you really have to pay close attention and always have tension on your line. You can't let it set on the bottom. This bite should continue until the water warms enough and the shad move. I have had a trip everyday this week and am booked on saturdays thru April now. The weekdays are really better, less pressure, for fishing anyways. Bass have been fair up the rivers on jerkbaits and jigs. Most of the fish have been feeding on the shad that have been moving around up there. Try fishing close to channel drops and points and fish slow. You can get some big bass this time of year. The fish depth have been changing, so don't want to confuse by telling you how deep, just work deep to shallow and see how you do. Catfish are still in the freezer section of summer fresh and price cutters. I tried the other day but guess I had spent to much on my debit card and was denied. I will keep eating crappie instead. If anyone has a real catfish report, let us all know. A coupld of people have asked and I can only tell them to fish under the shad out in the channel. They gotta be there. OK, thanks for reading and again thanks to everyone that had a part in putting out the brush, doing the program for us to get the gps spots, and everyone that helped get the info out to the fisherman that paid for these spots thru their licenses (and fines in some cases) I really hope this report helps everyone. I am open this coming wed and thur but booked the rest of the week. If someone wants to go one of those two days let me know. We can fish, search brush piles/take side imager pics/or a little of both. Great way to learn where to fish for later. As always, please call me if you have questions or need anything and thanks to everyone that has recommended people to me over the past couple of months. So far this has by far been the busiest spring I have ever had. I also understand that several of you only have sundays to fish, which makes things really tough. I only have sunday to go to church, so I can't fish until afternoon on sundays. If you too want to go to Church, feel free to contact one of the members on here that are Christians. Myself, Shockley32 or one of the others and let us know. Maybe we can take you fishing for a day and do a little talking while we fish. Who knows you just might find a secret place and some stuff about Church. OK, enough of being on the soapbox. If you want the newest coordinates on a .gpx file then send me an email asking for me to forward them to you. Keep your hook sharp!! See you on the lake!!!

The missouri dept of conservation has finished the download for all of the new brush piles that they put in this year. They did a pretty good job putting in new brush piles for us to fish, now we get to find them all. Here is a link with a map, and on the bottom of the legend at the left you can download all of the waypoints etc. If you have a gps, then finding them will be pretty easy. If you would like to go on a trip and locate some of them then give me a call and I can take you out to help locate them. I will try to get out and take some pics of the brush piles with the side and down imager and see if I can get them posted on here. Also, the crappie have been excellent all week. Find the shad on your graph, and concentrate in 30 foot of water. cut and paste this into your address bar http://mdcgis.mdc.mo.gov/website/stocktonlake2/viewer.htm Any problems let me know. I have been pretty busy over the past couple of weeks and will do my best to get back to you if you need some help. Thanks and good luck1!

I should have them all tomorrow night in a .gpx file hopefully. If not then a pdf and then we all get to type them all in to the graphs. Oh fun!! I will get the places out to you as soon as the new file is done. It should also be up on the mdc website pretty fast. They are working on it tomorrow. They have done an awesome job putting in these brush piles for us, so don't forget to thank them if you see them.

If you are going fishing on stockton, concentrate on the creek channels and flats in about 30 foot of water and find the shad. We caught lots of fish today on a trip, everyone had a limit, but that could change pretty quick as the water warms up and the fish start to transition.. I have trips thur fri and sat so I should be on the lake each day. If you get out there and have some questions give me a call, but not always the best reception out there. As for the temp of the ponds, they will warm up first, but they also cool faster. I would think they are about the same or a little warmer than the lakes right now. The fish always have to eat, just like us. They just slow down in the winter. Fish slow or verticle to have a better chance.

Corey, Brad is telling you right. The best thing to do this time of year is to locate shad either on a flat, points, or creek channels and mark them with a marker (the crappie and walleye have been in approx 30 foot of water so stay in that depth) Then drop your jigs (I use a double set up of 1/8 oz jigs and blue/grey panfish assassin) crank it off the bottom about 2-3 cranks. I don't really jig it at all, just hold it still just under the shad. It is sometimes hard to stay on the schools of shad, but work on locating and following the schools and you will catch fish. I will be on the lake about 10 am tomorrow so if you have problems try to give me a call. I have a 6 hr trip but I should be able to give you some help if we are ctching fish. The shad have been hanging from on the bottom to up to 10 foot off the bottom and are sometimes so thick that you can't tell the diff between shad and brush (until the disappear) Good luck!!

Thanks Mike and glad we had a great trip. We had 32 today, a little tuffer than yesterday, but still had lots of good fish. How was dinner?? Those crappie out of the cold water taste better don't they?

It's open

Lake temp is still about 35 and the water level is still close to normal. If you are planning a trip up here, make sure to check things out before the drive if it has been a cold still night. Things can freeze over in a hurry. Crappie are excellent on 1/8 oz jigs on brush piles and with the schools of shad anyplace from 15 foot to 30 foot. All the fish I have been catching in 50 foot have moved and I'm not getting any bites that deep anymore. There are lots of crappie biting and if you make a day of it you won't have any problems catching some. Color of the jig body does not seem to make much of a difference. Bass are biting good on suspending jerkbaits on bluff ends and deep points in 20 foot of water. Been some big bass getting caught, keep on the move unitl you locate them and then work the area hard. Walleye are biting on both jerkbaits and jigs in 20-30 foot of water on flats and main lake points. The daylight is getting long enough, but the water temp is really cold, so they are just waiting and eating. Catfish are still excellent on debit and credit cards at price cutter and summer fresh. Just walk them up to the cashier and ring them up. I had a crappie trip today that was only a couple of hours. Had a big slab in the boat in the first minute, then things changed. I made the mistake of going other places but should have stayed there. A buddy of mine had 15 in a couple of hours in a different part of the lake. The crappie are there and will bite, don't give up on them. The corp of engineers has been dropping lots of new brush piles over the past 2 weeks. I will be posting all of the gps coordinates so everyone can find them ok, if you would like a trip around to see them give me a call and I can show you where they are at. This lake is full of brush piles, the secret is finding the ones that produce this time of year. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't catch fish in the winter The main thing that you need to catch fish this time of year is a good graph. I have the humminbird 1197c si, which is pretty much the top of the line. It can show you things that you never knew was down there, and with the new down imaging, will pinpoint schools of shad etc that won't show up on regular sonar. Don't just run out and buy a graph because of price, take the time to make sure you are getting what you really want. It's worth the wait believe me!! Thanks and hope everyone stays safe and has some fun. I don't see to much movement on the fish until this water starts to warm up. If you cant find the ones you were catching the day before, they won't be far away. Thanks for reading and feel free to give me a call if you want any help. I get phone calls all the time from people that don't want to go on a guide trip, but want info on the lake etc. I have no problem helping someone out if they ask. Peace in the middle east!!

The lake is finally at, or very near, normal pool. The water temp is still very cold, about 34-35 all day today, but that isn't slowing down the fishing. If anyone tells you that fish can't be caught in the winter, it's not hard to prove them wrong. Crappie are schooled up, and once you start catching them you should have a limit in a couple of hours. Remember that the length limit on stockton is 10", and lots of fish are very close to this length. Don't make a costly mistake and keep the ones that are to short, plus it will keep our fishing excellent for years to come. Your best bet to catch crappie is to jig (I use a double 1/8 oz set up with 2" plastic grubs like a triple ripple or bass assassin. All of the fish I have caught in the past week have been about 1 foot or less off the bottom. You really don't need to move the jig, hold it as still as you can and if you do anything just lift it up and let it fall back a little. Be ready for any resistance and set the hook. I have also been using some smelly jelly (you can order it from burtonsbaitandtackle.com or get it at fins and feathers in springfield. I have been using the garlic flavored and it has really helped get more bites. There are millions of shad (that is a ruff estimate) and it seems like anytime you get a jig into these shad you will get a bite. Don't give up to easy, sometimes it might take a little while to get the hang of things, but most of the people fishing this time of year are catching fish, the cold weather is just a bonus. Walleye are being caught on jigs in 20-30 foot of water on flats and around the schools of shad. Seems to be a lot of smaller fish, but they will grow up soon, so take care of them when you take them off the hook. It just might end up being that 7 lb walleye hanging on your wall in a few years. Fish the jigs slow and pay close attention for any slack in your line or if it's moving to the side etc. You can also pick up a few walleye while you are crappie fishing. Bass are mainly located on main lake points and on bluff ends on jerkbaits and plastics. Use a suspending jerkbaitm, and don't be afraid to add some weight to them to get them down a little further. Fish them VERY slow, and be ready for one of those big stockton lake winter lunkers. Again, if you find one fish, you need to really fish that area, and duplicate the spot on your next stop. Catfish are located in the freezer section of price cutters and summer fresh. Debit and credit cards with available balances seem to work the best, but they will take cash (but no out of state third party post dated checks) Hope this helps everyone a little bit. I won't be out monday, but if you are having trouble I'm planning on going tuesday, so feel free to give me a call and I will see if I can't help you some. Winter is the best time to catch fish, the lake isn't crowded, and it's really hard to break a sweat. And please do all you can to take care of the short fish you release. These are the fish that we want to catch later. If we kill them now, then things will be a little tougher later. Good luck to all and don't forget to bring dry clothes with you to the lake, and never be ashamed to wear a life vest!!

If I could figure out how to delete this I would have. Sorry it posted twice

It's that time of year. Only 6 weeks away until the tournaments start back up. You can read all the rules on my website, but here they are in a nutshell. $40.00 to enter-23 goes to that night, 10 goes to big bass (sometimes we have 2 big bass) and the rest is kept for the end of year tourny. This is a buddy tournament, however you can fish 2 by yourself during the season while your partner is gone. The champ tournament must have a partner that has fished at least 2 times in the reg season. No dead fish will be weighed in. Please do all you can to keep the fish alive. Only 2 people per boat, must have pfd and wear them when big motor is running. I will announce the time to be back inside the no wake bouys. Anyteam coming in late will lose lbs (see rules for details) And finally, you can't outfish me. This is not in the official rules, but I made it up. I like this one the most. Bring a friend out this year and lets try to avg 20 boats per week. Last year we avg 14, but had a couple with over 30 boats. To make the fishoff, fish 15 of 20 or make the top 50% of the avg weekly attendance. Lots of money to be won on a thursday night!!!

Yep, everyone I called said it was all open. I had a crappie trip this morning, but at 10 am everything was frozen. We started at ruark and drove to hawker point. I could see ice north of the mile long bridge all the way to edge island. I felt bad for the guys for driving all the way up. I would have busted thru, but didn't see enough open water to try to even get to. I hear it's all gone now, but it's not very windy out there now. I have to be at 107.7 (auctioning off another full day trip tomrrow) then I am going fishing, probably go out of rb boat ramp near stockton. If anyone wants up to the minute ramp reports/fishing reports. Follow me on twitter at fishstockton (username) I text updates while im out there so you can pick them up on your phone or computer etc. I don't know about all this high tech stuff. For now, it all appeared to be open. I will be going across the lake about 730 so feel free to call me also and I will tell you what I have seen. Keep your hooks sharp, it shouldn't be long now!!

WOW, the lack of wind last night really let things freeze up quick. Ruark, Hawker, Hartley, were all frozen in pretty bad. The ice isn't that thick, but lots of it. I could see ice North of mile long bridge. Had to cancel my trip today. Could probably bust thru it pretty easy, but would be pretty tough to fish with ice floating by the boat all day. I would guess it would be better by this afternoon with this sun and wind today. If you decide to go, good luck and let everyone know what you find out!!

OK, I will keep an eye out for someone that needs a partner. Thanks

Looks like at least for this year the tournaments will all go out of ruark bluff, thursday evening, 6pm. we will weigh in about dark, the time will be announced before takeoff. Don't forget the first tournament this year will be april 15, 6 pm at ruark bluff. Come out and have some fun!! more details at www.fishstocktonlake.com

no snow and the ramps are open. It's the ice on the lake I would worry about. I'm going to try to go for a drive in a little bit and look at a couple ramps. I will try to post something later unless someone else already answered.

I'm wanting to go tomorrow also. I will try to get a trip around the lake in a little bit and let you know this evening.