Trip Report 4/19/11

[straw hat]

Bummer of a day. Spent 4 hours on two off my favorite spawning banks. One crappie. Ever since that cold front last Friday it has really been tough for me. I finally went to one of my best postspawn spots, two brush piles just off of a good gravel point. An hour and a half and no bites. NOTHING. I gave up and went home. The water was fairly clear near Ruark, about 3 ft visibility. The water at CC was also pretty decent with a good 1 1/2 ft visibility.

[kwall]

Can't blame ya' . I think I'd go home to and did when I got skunked on the lake in OK. That front and wind sure has messed things up, I only got 16 total crappie in the freezer after 3 trips .

[Stockton Lake Guide Service]

Bummer of a day. Spent 4 hours on two off my favorite spawning banks. One crappie. Ever since that cold front last Friday it has really been tough for me. I finally went to one of my best postspawn spots, two brush piles just off of a good gravel point. An hour and a half and no bites. NOTHING. I gave up and went home. The water was fairly clear near Ruark, about 3 ft visibility. The water at CC was also pretty decent with a good 1 1/2 ft visibility.

its tuff for everyone i have talked to. even the game wardens said they had only talked with one boat that had 10 fish between 2 people, and that was about noon or so. maybe, if we don't get lots of rain, it will be better later this week1!

[straw hat]

its tuff for everyone i have talked to. even the game wardens said they had only talked with one boat that had 10 fish between 2 people, and that was about noon or so. maybe, if we don't get lots of rain, it will be better later this week1!

If the fishing is tough for someone like you Bob then I don't feel quite so bad.

You know Bob, twice during my working years I saw what we use to call a "spoiled spawn". This happened when the spawn started out like normal, the fished developed the mature eggs and started spawning when a major front happened and dropped the water temp around 10 degrees. That temp drop lasted for nearly two weeks in both cases. The remaining ripe females simply stopped producing hormones and the eggs deteriorated in the egg sacs and were reabsorbed. I have seen this happen in both crappie and bass. I sure hope it doesn't happen on Stockton. In both cases the lake had a very poor recruitment year and really effected the fishing for several years. Keep your fingers crossed.

Good luck out there on the lake Bob and be safe.

[Gilly]

If the fishing is tough for someone like you Bob then I don't feel quite so bad.

You know Bob, twice during my working years I saw what we use to call a "spoiled spawn". This happened when the spawn started out like normal, the fished developed the mature eggs and started spawning when a major front happened and dropped the water temp around 10 degrees. That temp drop lasted for nearly two weeks in both cases. The remaining ripe females simply stopped producing hormones and the eggs deteriorated in the egg sacs and were reabsorbed. I have seen this happen in both crappie and bass. I sure hope it doesn't happen on Stockton. In both cases the lake had a very poor recruitment year and really effected the fishing for several years. Keep your fingers crossed.

Good luck out there on the lake Bob and be safe.

That wouldn't be so good, straw, but mother nature does have the upper hand.... she humbles us every now and then.

[BlackWaterFishing]

Hey Straw Hat,

My uncle owns a big fish farm in AR. and we deal with water temp. all the time. The spawn can spoil if the weather hits wrong and stays wrong. But they have a good month yet before it would really mess them up. They can stage for quit some time before they absorb the eggs back in. It can happen but we will have to wait and see.

My buddies were there the 18th and 19th they caught 25 keepers and 10 shorts and 5 walleye on the 18th that is on top of killing a turkey that morning. The 19th they spooked their turkey and then went fishing til noon. They caught 5 keepers and 3 shorts along with 1 walleye in about an 1 1/2 hours. They were just down from CC 17 feet of water and fishing 5 feet down.

I will be back up there in a week from today so save me a few hope to see ya on the water.

[straw hat]

I hear you BlackWaterFishing. With the fishing pressure on Stockton for crappie I would really like to see a heavy spawn just to be sure the fishing stays good in the future. I see in the forecast they are predicing a lot of rain over the next week. That should really turn on the cats too. I could handle a little cat fishing also.

[jamesedward]

I hear you BlackWaterFishing. With the fishing pressure on Stockton for crappie I would really like to see a heavy spawn just to be sure the fishing stays good in the future. I see in the forecast they are predicing a lot of rain over the next week. That should really turn on the cats too. I could handle a little cat fishing also.

Since crappie fishing is so easy and cats are harder to catch, I hope you can let us know when the cats are somewhat on. Thanks

[straw hat]

Since crappie fishing is so easy and cats are harder to catch, I hope you can let us know when the cats are somewhat on. Thanks

Be glad to. They should start moving onto the chunk rock banks and rock rip rap soon.