straw hat

I don't have any experiance with night fishing. What I have read suggests that the light needs to shine directly down into the water to be the most effective. I am sure there are guys on this site that know a lot more about this than me.

I just finished looking at the web sites for the stream levels for both Sac rivers and Turnback. They never reached levels that my records indiate have caused mudiness at either CC or Aldrich in the past. In addition they are already dropping fast. I think we will be good to go any time. I am planning on taking a trip to the lake on Wednesday and will post a "Trip Report" when I get back.

Great trip. I also had a bad trip on Saturday. My regular spawning places near Hawker, CC and Roark are no longer producing many spawners. I was wandering if you caught those further north. Obviously I don't expect a specific location just a general idea how far north you were. I would appreciate the help.

I hate to admit my recent trips have been bad but they were. Wednesday, near Roark, one 19" walleye and no keeper crappie on the bank (only a few small ones). Friday evening we went to same place and only caught 8 total crappie and 4 keepers. Today we went to a pea gravel bank near Hawker. Only two small ones but the weather was really bad at the time (heavy wind and rain). Decided to go to a post spawn brush pile near Springfield Cove. We only fished for one hour but caught several small ones. I really hope you guys are doing better than me.

Nice cats. The shad are up along the bank spawning this time of year and the cats often move in to feed on these shad. Because of this you often hear of people catching them on crankbaits this time of year. This is the beginning of their prespawn now so they are beginning to put on the feed bag.

The crappie should just be starting to move into the bank there. I would suggest 3 to 10 foot deep, depending on clarity, early in AM or just before dark. I suggest minnows but jigs will work just as well.

I agree that Roark is your best bet. It has 4 different sections to the ramp. I drove by today and there were about 60 boats there. It was real busy. The overflow area was over half full. Good luck.

At my age I have had trouble "wanking" it for years! Still, you had a nice batch of fish by the end of the day. May your next trip be even better.

We were on a pea gravel bank about 2 miles from Roark.

Went two days. Friday, Fished a few hours in the evening in the cold drizzle. We caught 12 keepers, about 15 short ones and one short walleye ona pea gravel bank. The two guys next to us were fishing 12 fwwt deep on the bottom with minnows and nightcrawlers. They caught several cats and walleye but only one walleye was a keeper. Today, a different story. We fished all day and caught 8 keepers, maybe 6 short ones and 5 short walleyes. Tough slow and soft bites. Hopefully after it warms back up they will move back in to the bank.

Good job. That's a nice stringer of fish.

I understand. But I am not sure I would describe my wife as demure. That woman is the most serious focus person I ever fished with. She concentrates so hard she vertually never talks. Myself I like to relax and enjoy the surroundings. Her on the other hand... well it is all about catching fish but she sure is a great fishing buddy.

Started at CC. The water was covered with green slime of filimentous algae, clarity good (2'?) and slightly stained. Still a lot of shad spawning. I decided to move. Spent the day fishing a pea gravel point near Roark. Water was clear (2' visibility) and slightly stained. We caught around 3 dozen crappie with 11 keepers. Considering it was my wife's birthday I decided to let her catch the bigger ones (two of them were just short of 14"). We also caught a 16" bass, and two nice whites (13"+/-). The crappie were from 3' to 12' deep. The deeper you went the larger the crappie but the less number of bites. I was suprised that we caught most of our shallow fish during the middle of the day and only had a few bites before dark.

Well back on my feet a little bit. My wife was kind enough to run me to the lake this afternoon. We caught about 10 crappie and 5 were keepers. Most were caught 5 to 10 ft deep starting about 1 1/2 hours before dark. We were fishing a small cove about 2 miles from Roark Bluff. The water was sort of algae green in color but had 2' of clarity. Thermometer was not working (either that or the lake temperature was 80!!!).

She simply told them that her husband was sick and she wanted some help carrying the stuff back to the car. I was within the range of a cell tower. My heart condition is due to nerve damage to my heart and there is nothing that can be done for it. I do always try to stay in range of a cell tower and if need be I could have called a freind from Springfield to come help. I was just disappointed that out of 4 people no one would help her carry the gear back to the vehicle nor did anyone ask what was wrong. I guess there are just people like that in the world.

Thanks for the offer. It is deeply appreciated.

Just want to blow off some steam. The wife and I went bank fishing this AM near CC to see if there was any crappie spawning. After about an hour my heart started to act up. I laid on the ground for over thirty minutes. During that time my wife was unable to get any assitance. She then wound up making three trips back to the vehicle to take the gear back to the car. Afterward she got under my arm and help support me on the way back to the car. On the way back we passed four people, none of which offered any help or even asked what was wrong. I felt like my life had no value. I am know resting comfortably in bed. There is no need to respod I just had to get it off my chest.

I have been fishing backs of coves on Turnback arm not too far from 160 bridge as well as Birch Branch. Temps at 63 with one foot visibility and stained.

Cabezon; I must tip my hat to you. I did fishery work for nearly 30 years and much of it centered around taxonomy (species determination). While I have caught a number of cats out of Stockton that I thought were blues I may have been wrong. I never did count the anal fin spines to be sure. The channel has 24 to 29 and the Blue has 30 to 35. You can bet that next time I will check. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources publishes a book called "The Fishes of Missouri". This book is a cummalative work of fish sampling and identification dating back to 1945. I worked on one of the revisions back in hte mid-70's and can assure you they are very thorough in there work. The latest version does NOT show any blue cats in Stockton. This leads me to think that you are correct.

Yes, using a cast net is legal. I am not sure if you need camping reservations or not but I do agree that Roark Bluff is a good site.

Bob is dead on with the crappie. I fish blues a lot. Stockton has a very good population of 3 to 10 lb blues. Right now the big shad are spawning so look for the blues about 1/2 way down the steep rocky banks or rock rip rap, especially in the early morning hours. Fresh cut bait is a must. Fish the steep channel drop offs not too far from where a main creek comes in. There is very very little pressure on this lake for cats. Where ever you wind up going I hope you have a great trip.

Tried to find a few early spawning crappie. Fished one cove on Turnback arm about 2 miles above 160 bridge. Water was 62 and stained. After 3 and 1/2 hours I only had two keepers (8' deep). Went to a cove near Roark. Water was lightly stained and 56. Nothing shallow. I dropped out to 15' deep and caught about 7 fish but no keepers. When I got home I checked the eggs in the one female I kept. They are about 7 - 10 days from being ripe. I may have been ready for the spawn but obviously the crappie weren't.

Thanks KCBear. Sound like a very good day.

It was 60 F.

I believe there was more boats per acre on Saturday then fish per acre! The lake sure was busy. When we went fishing last week we noticed the shad had started to spawn. Given the lake conditions (still a little muddy) the wife and I tried for cats. They were at about 15'. We came home with 8 keepers. The biggest one was a 5 pound flathead and the rest were channels around 1 to 2 pounds each. We used fresh cut bait.