Anyone Else Having A Tough Time?

[Frost1920]

I've been having a terrible time on Stockton lately. I caught a limit a month ago, and a 20 1/2 inch bass but since then we cannot get on a pattern. Ive been going 2-3 times a week with no results. I try something different everytime. Ive even had a few trips where we didn't catch A fish. not 1. We love the weather and no loud rap music coming from the next boat (why do they put radios in boats anyway?) I can appreciate the lords glorious creation but would also like some of those creations to end up on the end of some 12lb test! I'm not looking for any secrets in this post by the way. And we release everything we catch. I was just wondering if any of the average joe fisherman are having it rough too. Id gladly take Marty or Bob up on a fishing trip, but I can barely afford the gas up and back each time!! (which would probably be better to hire a guide once, than make 10 trips. you think they'd take a payment plan? anyway, i was just hoping for some other feedback and what depth people were finding some fish. (and if you read this post, and fish stockton lake, we would really appreciate some feedback. Its nice when 400 people read a post and only 3 people respond!)

[Dutch]

I haven't been for a while but last time I was there I could catch fish inside the cove points on spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, and swimming jigs. They were from 3-12 feet deep.

As far as reading and posting goes. I do read a bunch of stuff but only post on the ones from the lakes that I frequent. I'd probably post more if there were general forums like crappie, bass, general fishing, etc. but that is not the way this site has been designed.

[Whack'emGood]

The bass fishing has been pretty good lately for us.

Last weekend, my dad and I came up there and caught about 50 (give or take a few). Mostly LM, with just a few small Smallies mixed in. We caught them on main lake points near outside river channel bends (5-15 feet deep). We caught them on jigs and plastic worms. We caught fish on every spot we fished. Not alot of keeper sized fish-- we only had 5 or 6 that were keeper size, including one that went 5.49 lbs on my digital scale... all fished were released.

Two weekends before that, I had a friend visiting from out of town and we fished Saturday and Sunday (afternoon and into the night both days). We caught about 35 on Saturday and close to 50 on Sunday. Basically same pattern as last weekend.

I am going up tomorrow with a friend to fish the afternoon and into the evening. I will post my results. Hopefully I can give some good up-to-date info that will help.

Hope this helps.

Whack'em

[zarraspook]

I've been having a terrible time on Stockton lately. I caught a limit a month ago, and a 20 1/2 inch bass but since then we cannot get on a pattern. Ive been going 2-3 times a week with no results. I try something different everytime. Ive even had a few trips where we didn't catch A fish. not 1.

I was able to get up to stockton weds and thurs... Wednesday -- Launched at 0620, caught 3 short LM by 0650, caught a 23" 3.9lb Walleye ( LM on 6' Hyper Tail worm- Plum ) ( Walleye on Norman LiL'N ) all on secondary points.. Fished till 1230hrs and caught and released 22-25 LM on same worm and secondary points in 7 different coves/creeks.. I had 5 that would keep biggest 5.92 lbs and 19"...

I had total cloud cover till 1200hrs and no hits 1200-1230hrs....

Took my neighbor back Thurs.. arrived 0900 hrs (sun was up and out) we fished same pattern same places till 1500hrs caught a total of 5 LM and one just barely 15".......

SO ????????? One day they are the next they ain't !!!!!!!!!

Mike

[wiggle wart]

My wife and I went last Sunday and we had a good day.We caught quite a few bass between 12 and 17 inches. Fished Zoom Craws in melon/red flake on main lake points in 5 to 15 feet of water. The skies were cloudy with no wind. The fish inhaled those craws! My wife did catch a 17" LM on a Heddon chugger type topwater plug. The strike was explosive and she got a thrill with that one! The bite lasted most of the day before slowing down in the afternoon. I went back the next day by myself and the skies were clear with a good wind out of the SE. I did not do any good at all. I tried the windy points with crankbaits and caught nothing. Tried jigs, plastic worms, spinnerbaits, and the craws too. My point is that Stockton can make you look like you know what you're doing one day and put you in your place the very next day. If you are there at the right time it sure helps. Gotta love it!

[Whack'emGood]

The bass fishing has been pretty good lately for us.

Last weekend, my dad and I came up there and caught about 50 (give or take a few). Mostly LM, with just a few small Smallies mixed in. We caught them on main lake points near outside river channel bends (5-15 feet deep). We caught them on jigs and plastic worms. We caught fish on every spot we fished. Not alot of keeper sized fish-- we only had 5 or 6 that were keeper size, including one that went 5.49 lbs on my digital scale... all fished were released.

Two weekends before that, I had a friend visiting from out of town and we fished Saturday and Sunday (afternoon and into the night both days). We caught about 35 on Saturday and close to 50 on Sunday. Basically same pattern as last weekend.

I am going up tomorrow with a friend to fish the afternoon and into the evening. I will post my results. Hopefully I can give some good up-to-date info that will help.

Hope this helps.

Whack'em

We went yesterday and did pretty well again. Pretty much the same pattern as before. We caught numbers somewhere in the 40s, with 10 keepers. Most of the keepers were 15-16 inchers, but there were a few pretty nice ones and one was a little over 3lbs. All were released.

We caught all of our fish on crawdad imitation baits in darker colors, dragged slowly on the bottom. Visibility is pretty low right now... especially up in the Sac where we caught alot of our fish... only a foot or two. We did pretty well up in some pole timber areas. Alot of our fish seemed to be relating directly to wood. The sun was out all day.

Hope this helps.

Whack'em

[Frost1920]

Well we went today and didnt catch anything. I think we each caught about 3 fish. No keepers. Fished from 7am till 1pm. A good 3 hour stretch without a single bite. We fished main lake points, secondary points from 1ft to about 20 was the deepest my lure got. Nothing. Crankbaits produced nothing, spinnerbaits nothing. no topwater bite at all. The wind picked up and we fished windblown points and shoreline with no bites. We fished shallow water, backs of coves and everything in between. Nothing. I don't know what advice anyone could possibly give that I didnt give the old college try. I finally just settled for a 6" worm (tried all different colors), and worked all depths with nothing. I would say 95% of my trips to stockton are exactly the same as this. And its not just me. Same results when I fish with my dad, brother, step-brother, step-father, friends, and neighbors. So I would credit my lack of catching to inexperience, except when I take experienced people with me, its the exact same. Its worth going because every 10 trips or so, I will have a good one and it will almost make the bad ones worth it. I just can't figure how 2 guys in one boat cant buy a bite for 3 hours and the next guy posts that he caught 50. I just dont get it.

[Dutch]

That is called time on the water and learning what the fish tend to do given different weather and water conditions.

What part of the lake were you fishing? What types of points were you hitting?

There are two things that I have come to take as gospel when it comes to fishing:

1. If you are running the bank, most of the time 90% of the fish are behind you in deeper water.

2. 10% of the fishermen catch 90% of the fish.

[Guest csfishinfool]

Well we went today and didnt catch anything. I think we each caught about 3 fish. No keepers. Fished from 7am till 1pm. A good 3 hour stretch without a single bite. We fished main lake points, secondary points from 1ft to about 20 was the deepest my lure got. Nothing. Crankbaits produced nothing, spinnerbaits nothing. no topwater bite at all. The wind picked up and we fished windblown points and shoreline with no bites. We fished shallow water, backs of coves and everything in between. Nothing. I don't know what advice anyone could possibly give that I didnt give the old college try. I finally just settled for a 6" worm (tried all different colors), and worked all depths with nothing. I would say 95% of my trips to stockton are exactly the same as this. And its not just me. Same results when I fish with my dad, brother, step-brother, step-father, friends, and neighbors. So I would credit my lack of catching to inexperience, except when I take experienced people with me, its the exact same. Its worth going because every 10 trips or so, I will have a good one and it will almost make the bad ones worth it. I just can't figure how 2 guys in one boat cant buy a bite for 3 hours and the next guy posts that he caught 50. I just dont get it.

I also had a rough go of it today. We fished from sun up till about three. We caught the hell out of fourteen inchers. Around fourty fish. Flipping a jig on pole timber. The best trees were on flats close to deep water. But there were no keepers to be had. We had a little fish off with a buddy and they only had two keepers with just as many shorts. The fish seem to be inbetween patterns. We caught fish shallow and fish deep. We graphed good keeper sized bass in the guts of the coves and creeks. Im assuming with this weeks weather the bite should pick up hardcore. The big gizzard shad are in some pockets, its just a matter of a few weeks and those six pounders will be right in there with them.

[Frost1920]

We fished long tapering points and fished basically drop off points. I tried throwing to some timber. We tried burning spinnerbaits through them. Ive definitely heard both of the rules about the bank and the fishermen. I ran some shoreline while casting to it and we ran some shorline dragging in about 20ft of water.And every depth inbetween. We didn't fish any bridge pilings and that was about all we didnt get to. Again, I would agree time on the water is the #1 thing a guy can do. That's why I continue to go. How much fun would it really be if anyone could just go and catch without the fishing part? But i put in time alone and with experienced fishermen. I wouldve been thrilled to have touched 40 short fish today. Instead I touched 1. the other 2 fell off my line as I was reaching for em. So ill continue fishing and enjoying the water and hopefully more people will post their experiences (without neccessarily giving up secret spots or locations)