April 19, 2006 Stockton Lake Fishing Report

[Thompson Fishing Guide Service]

Walleye: Yesterday I had another client land a big walleye, this one a 7 1/2 pounder. This shows there are still some pre-spawn females around Stockton Lake. Concentrate your efforts above the 215 bridge. Look for rock bluffs that have points sloping into deep water. Spoons and white 1/2 oz jigs work well. Another good location is rocky banks with a 45 degree slope close to deep water. I've been catching good fish by casting tail spinners like Little Georges. Position your boat at least a long cast away from the bank and bounce the lure off the bottom back to the boat. Stay focused, most strikes will occur on the fall as soon as the lure is picked up off the bottom.

Large mouth bass: In the Sac Arm area of Stockton Lake large mouth have already started to spawn. These fish can be targeted with Carolina rigged lizards in shallow water with pea gravel bottom. Spinner baits as well as crank baits all produce fish. However, my preference is to target bigger fish in deeper (10-15 feet) water. Spinner baits and plastic worms will catch quality fish in these areas. Look for rock bluffs connecting to long points sloping into deeper water. Try deep diving cranks on flats early and late. A word to the wise: big females need to be released if you expect Stockton Lake to remain a top bass lake.

Crappie: Timbered coves are the ticket for good crappie. I've been casting Road Runner and Beetle spins around the cover to catch a limit. Traditional methods, like minnows and crappie jigs work well also. The marked crappie beds are also producing fish. A minnow/bobber combination seems to work best on these brush piles.

White bass are still hot all over Stockton lake. A lot of fish are being caught in the Master's cove area. Cast white 1/2 oz plastic jigs off the points in the middle of the day and small white/chartreuse spinner baits in the backs of coves early and late. Wherever you fish on Stockton, if you find shad, you will find white bass. Ruark Bluff, Mutton Creek and Orleans Trail cove are good spots, just to name a few.

Marty Thompson

417-424-BASS

www.fishstockton.com

[wily]

Thanks for the report. We put in at Ruark Bluff saturday (4/22), and went to Sons Creek first. We fished the timber along the bluff bank just south of greaser and caught quite a few on a chartreuse beetle spin and also on a white road runner. We also caught a few on minnows and bobbers. We tied up in an area of cedar trees.

Next we went to a gravel cove in open water and fished for bass. I threw 1/4 oz white spinnerbait, while my brother stuck with the beetle spin. I caught a handful of non-keeper bass, but my brother picked-up a couple more nice crappie around the isolated brush piles. The bass seemed to be on one bank and the crappie on the other.

Next we went to birch branch and fished the timber again for crappie. We fished the south side and only went about a 1/4 mile back into the trees. We caught a couple more to finish the day.

There were a lot of boats. The dept of conservation was at the Ruark Bluff boat ramp checking livewells saturday afternoon.

[gonefishin]

Fished flooded timber today and caught a limit of nice slabs and several sandies. Caught a lot of non-keeper crappie also. Most of the females were still full of eggs. Used black and chartuse tube jigs with a red hook. Hoped to catch some walleyes but no luck. It was a tad damp on Stockton today. Been so long since I seen rain it almost scared me.