packersooner

Fished the mid-lake area targeting crappie. Ended up with a double-limit along with a few bonus walleye and a nice white. Incredible weather! Water temps varied from 49-53 degrees with water clarity pushing 10 feet. Fishing near the bottom around channel drops seemed to be the ticket in the 23-33 fow range. There were times we caught fish as shallow as 12-15 feet. There were also times where we would see a pod of suspended shad/crappie come through and catch them much higher up in the water column. We probably caught an equal amount over/in brush versus just the straight channel drop with no apparent cover. We used jigs with a slow retrieve out-catching vertical jigging 2 to 1. Color didn't seem to matter too much. Jason

Thanks for the responses, everyone. Yeah I've used bungee cords on my front unit cover in the past but have now gone to larger rubber bands. They seem to hold better (more friction). Just never imagined that the wind would dislodge the back unit cover given that it is protected by the console. Jason

Hey all, I lost my HB 997 cover on the way to the Aunts Creek launch on Monday. Went Hwy 60 in Republic to James River and then down Hwy 13. If anyone finds that needle in a haystack, please PM me. Thanks! As for the fishing, fished late morning to early evening. Bass were going nuts on main lake points in 15-30 fow. Fished mainly cranks. Also caught occasional walleye, crappie, and three nice cats. Jason

Absolutely for crappie. Not so much for walleye. I just don't have faith that I am going to scope walleye right on the bottom, especially with hard bottom. Jason

Lead core for most crank baits. Long line for Reef Runners. Have planers and clips weights, but don't use them much. Probably need to use planers more when the water is clear. Jason

Yeah she was rolling Old Dog. Trolling motor prop came out of the water several times. Olfishead, the trolling bite should keep up for awhile 12-20 feet down. Keep after it!

Did some more trolling for crappie on Friday in the mid-lake region. Mainly used #7 Flicker Shads and targeted spawning coves. The fish were a lot more scattered than a week ago with some coves producing and some not. We caught them anywhere from 12-25 feet down in 15-40 fow. Ended the day with a double limit but had to work for them. Tried for walleye on a few main lake points and caught two just under 15" on bouncers. Honestly didn't spend much time out there due to the wind. Jason

Thanks guys. It was good to be on the lake again. Life keeps getting in the way. Been living through everyone's posts for quite awhile. Glad some of you were able to get into them too. Jason

Fished out of Mutton and trolled in and near spawning coves with Flickers. Had a limit of crappie in a few hours. They were 15-18' down in anywhere from 15-40 fow. Pretty scattered but once you found a pod, had some doubles. Then switched to walleye around 11:30 and caught a limit and then some. All fish came around wind blown main lake points. Fished bottom bouncers and Road Runner heads tipped with a half crawler. Also had a couple of nice cats and a sow white while fishing for walleye. One of my better days on Stockton with a north wind. Jason

Thanks for the advice Lvn2Fish. I tried some shallower brush piles at that depth, but I guess they were the wrong ones!

Fished from late morning until about 6 pm and struggled. Caught a decent amount of dinks and a few white bass. Ended up with three keeper crappie that were no-doubters. Fished the mid-lake region and hit a lot of brush piles. Most of my focus was on piles near creek channels (especially bends), but did also fish piles well back into creeks. Marked quite a few fish on channel drops around 24 fow, but could not get any to bite. The three keepers came off of one pile that was fairly close to the creek channel just into a cove. Caught them around 16 foot down in 19-21 fow on jigs. I am honestly not sure if they came out of the pile, or if they were following shad through. All three were white crappie. Water temps were 61-64 degrees. Hopefully you all can figure them out!

Here are a few others to try... https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=37.644&lon=-93.7653&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical or if numbers are more your style: https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=37.644&lon=-93.7653&lg=english&&FcstType=digital

Ditto what these guys said. Went out Thursday had had a mixed bag of crappie, whites, and walleye. Most of the crappie came 10-12 feet deep in staging areas. Some very good quality to many of them. Half on jigs and half on minnows. Water temps were 54-57 degrees. Jason

Hey there Steve. I got out with my daughter last Friday and couldn't really figure them out. We mainly fished up the lake from Nemo. We fished typical pre-spawn timber and brush piles and could only manage four keepers and a handful of shorts. I fished jigs and she fished minnows. We tried anywhere from 2 to 14 fow. Water temps ranged from 54 to 56 degrees. Maybe someone else has had better luck! Jason

Thanks for the info! Sounds like they have the post-spawn feeding bags on.

Great day and report! Were you fishing secondary points in coves or a certain type of structure? I am thinking of getting the father-in-law out on Thursday. Was going to target crappie, but now you have me second-guessing myself.

Now that's good daddy/daughter time! Jason

Great report and well done as usual Brad. Also, thanks again for the advice! We tried that "moving shad ball" bite from late morning through mid-afternoon in the same general area you've been fishing and could only manage two keepers. Around 3 pm or so, we then scanned for timber on the edge of the channel holding fish. We found a good tree top and ended the day with 20 keepers and a few nice whites. You would get a flurry of action as the smaller balls of shad moved through the tree top. Same depth of water (35-38 feet) and distance down (18-22 feet). We caught about three-quarters of them vertically jigging, however my partner also caught some casting with a slow retrieve. Jason

This ought to help at least a little... http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=sgf&gage=mszm7 They took some serious rain in southwestern Polk County late Thursday evening. Jason

Kramr, Nice job on the walleye! As for crappie, troll #7 Flicker Shads in large spawning coves. Do what you can to get them down into the 15-18 foot range. That may include snap weights, lead core, etc. Try and keep your trolling speed around 2 mph. Do not be afraid to get into the middle of these coves into 30+ fow. Jason

Nice job y'all!

Love the detailed report and pics. Many thanks! After many years of fishing Stockton, I have never been to the quarry. Is the fishing any good? I have done well on the steep ledges just outside of the quarry on the main lake. Jason

Nice job there lmt out! Good size to a few of those...especially for Stockton! We were also out on Monday and managed a double-limit plus some. All of them came on bouncers with crawler harnesses and half a crawler. 15-18 feet seemed to be the magic depth with chunk rock shoreline being the best. Tried trolling cranks early on and could only manage crappie. Had several nice slabs too. One of them came from 40 fow. Pretty far from the spawning banks. Jason

Got the wife and daughter out for about a half day on Friday. Fished up the river from Nemo. Could not find any crappie on the banks. We backed off to brush piles along the shore side of the channel. It was still slow, but we managed a dozen with some really nice slabs. Caught some on jigs, some on straight minnows, and still others on a jig/minnow combo. Jig color seemed to change throughout the day. Gray and pink/chart seemed to work the best. Water temps were 62-67 degrees. BTW, gotta give a shout out to the marina at Nemo. Motored over there to buy minnows and found out that my live well pump had quit. They promptly took a garden hose and filled up the well for us. Jason

We fished from about 9 am until just before sunset. Launched at Nemo and went up river. Went in thinking we would be beating banks but that did not produce. The vast majority of boats thought the same, but we would only see an occasional crappie being caught near the bank. Decided to move off the banks and target possible staging areas. That seemed to be the ticket. We caught all of them on brush piles with shad in the vicinity. The optimal depth seemed to be 10-14 feet. Some of these piles were well away from shore. Once we got into the evening, we found a brush pile close to the shore right on the edge of a channel drop. We finished out a double limit that way. Some big slabs in there too with my buddy boating one that probably went close to 2 pounds. Water temps were 58-62. The females we caught were ready to do their thing. Just breathe on them and eggs were spewing out. Next few weeks will be go time! BTW, took a break and shot up to the Pittsburg launch to the weigh in at the Crappie Slayers tournament. Good bunch of guys and gals with a great turn out. It was good to finally meet you Brad. Jason