The Fish Are Finally Biting!

[Stockton Lake Guide Service]

It's been a long time but the crappie are finally starting to bite better. Went out yesterday and today and catching fish in 8-12 foot of water on jigs tipped with minnows in the Ruark Area. The crappie seem to like the minnow thing right now and had very little action on just jigs. I don't like minnow fishing to much, but if they really want it then thats what they get to eat. Bass have also been biting good on jigs in the backs of creeks. The bass are chasing shad, but didn't seem to like my spinnerbait. I also talked to some guys that said they have been catching lots of catfish on worms, shad and chicken livers in the trees. I didn't even ask how they got them out of the trees and into their boats, but they seemed honest enough. Haven't been out for walleye in a couple of weeks so can't help you there.

Give the minnow a try for the crappie. It worked excellent the past couple of days.

[Whack'emGood]

What are the water temps up there at Stockton?

[Hooked]

What are the water temps up there at Stockton?

The highest temp I saw this past weekend was 61. We only caught to small bass. Fished Sunday evening and Monday until noon.

[echoXLT]

From a bass fishing stand point, Stockton has been like the dead sea for the last 3-4 weeks. I have been somewhere between 10-20 days in that time frame, and only had one day and an afternoon or two that I would call decent. That was probably two weeks ago and I had 5 keepers, probably go in the 14-15# range. I will say that day, I had one of the biggest bass on in my life, on a jig, that would have went an easy 8 or so that got me wrapped up in the bushes. On that day, three of the keepers came off of two bushes that were side by side. The others, including the monster that came off, was on one stretch that was about 100 yards long, on a jig and spinnerbait. All the other days, I would be lucky to catch a handful of short fish.

The afternoon bite started to pick up last week, and we were catching a few decent ones (3# or so) and several others on top-water. I think if we could ever get some stable weather, Stockton might break loose. Who knows, but I can tell you that it can't get much worse. As soon as things started to pick up, another cold front would push through and screw them all up again.

As far as water temps go, two weeks ago, we had 2-3 days of 63-68 degree water, but then cold fronts have it back down to low 60s now, which is a warm up from a week ago when it got back down in the mid to 50s. It's just been a yo-yo and I guess that is what has them so screwed up. You can go shallow and find all the shad you want up in the bushes, but nothing chasing them or anything. Pretty strange...

[Whack'emGood]

Thanks for the info guys. Great detail echo. That kind of stuff is helpful... gives me a picture of exactly what is going on up there. I have been itching to try it. I love bass fishing at Stockton. You don't get all of the crowds and hubbub that you do at Table Rock... just good fishing. Table Rock has just been too good lately for me to come up there though. Maybe I'll try it in the next few weeks or so. I will give a report when I do.

Good luck on the water.

[echoXLT]

If you are on them good down at TR, I wouldn't waste my time right now at Stockton. From everything I've been hearing, I'm going to try and line out a trip or two for TR in the next couple of days.

You know, we were talking the other day about how good Stockton can be. Yet the last couple of springs, it has absolutely sucked compared to several years ago. What happened to being able to go out and catch 100 bass per day? You used to be able to do this late April when they were staging up good for the spawn.

You would have thought that a few weeks ago, or even right now, you could back off of main lake points and secondary points and throw jigs, carolina rigs, whatever, and just hammer them. You used to be able to, but I have tried and tried it this spring, and no luck. I understand that it is high and everything, but so is TR and yet they are still catchin' em good there.

I don't know, just don't get it. I'll quit ranting now...

[Whack'emGood]

You know... you are right echo... I always wonder why Stockton is different, but I haven't been able to do well with the water way up there since I can hardly remember. It seems like if the water is either really high or really low at Stockton the fishing is awful. It doesn't make sense to me either. I almost always hammer them at Stockton with the water close to normal pool, but if it is more than 5 feet up or down, forget about it. Yeah the fishing at TR is as good as I've seen it in a long time... I think I'll stick to it for the Spring season anyway. Then, when the boat traffic gets unbearable and all the idiots (boaters and jet skiers with no respect for anybody) start coming out of the woodwork, I will change over to Stockton.

Good luck on the water.

[Stockton Lake Guide Service]

sorry, had a tournament on table rock and just got back. I will be out in the morning and can give you an update. It should be hovering around 63, but I've had 1.78 inches of rain on the south side of the lake. It'll be coming up again!!

[Stockton Lake Guide Service]

The bass fishing is good right now, but not a lot of big fish. There is a good topwater bites on points in the evenings. I didn't go today, but went last night after the heavy rain and the fish were still there. Hopefully some fish with some size will move up. The water temp is to the point that the fish are stating to spawn in some areas of the lake.

Tuesday night we had 3 spinnerbait fish, 2 jig fish, and 3 top water fish. The biggest was just 16" long. Not great by far, but we have all had worse days. Your best bet is to find some isolated flooded willows and flip them or concentrate on points. Good luck to all if you go out and give it a try. I did hear a report that crappie were running good up around cc. I will try them sunday after church.

[Dutch]

I just came back from fishing Stockton for a few days. About 1/2 dozen bass per day was all I could scare up and most of them were smallmouth. I never got a fish to even look at a spinnerbait. Next time out it will be Table Rock for me.