Fishin' Report 05/27

[rangerman]

Well, I was off the lake by noon, unfortunately WM had just gotten there so I didn't get to see him.

This was my first trip to stockton and I was fairly pleased. With the exception of the WIND. Jeeeessuusss, My legs hurt, my knees are killing me. The bow of the ranger almost went under a couple of times.

Only caught 2 eyes on bottom bouncers and spinner rigs around Master island. Switched to the 45 degree bluff banks across the lake from Master island, broke out the leadcore, flicker shads and went to work.

I was trolling two leadcore set ups, working the kicker and steering with the foot pedal on the MG exceL from the back of the boat, while being tossed about.

Managed a REAL good limit of crappie with a 12 inch average some were 13 plus. A couple of keepers eyes with another lost at boatside which was about 17 inches or so. I got so used to just pulling them in the boat at BS that I didn't even think about it being a keeper at the time. Total caught about 25 crappies and 13 or so walleye. Had 2 or 3 doubles on which made things very interesting.

Then the sky got dark and a couple of strikes of lightening chased me away. Figured I better not push my luck. All in all a good trip.

Upwind I had the kicker throttle little past half open. Trolling down wind, I barely had it idling and still couldn't slow down past 2.3mph. Had the trolling motor on full blast trying to steer, at least when it was in the water.

I don't know if the whole lake was windy like this or it was just one of those spots where the wind hit it just right.

Both the crappie and walleye were in 30 to 35 foot of water and I was fishing about four and half colors of core.

Good luck guys and may the force be with you, I'll definitely be back.

[MstStudent10]

Oh there's definitely calm days on Stockton... I think I remember one, oh... back in '99 or so... : ) anyway yeah, that lake is a wind tunnel.

[minnowhooker]

That's what I like about Stockton in the summer you always catch bonus crappie when BB or crankbaits.

The wind can get old but the upside is less people on the water, just wear a life jacket.

[Jacob]

Fishing over the years I've learned the water is clam in the morning and at dusk. Anything in between just hold on. I was dipping the nose of my nitro for hours last weekend. The ole terrova with I-pilot kept me right on the point with no issues other then my bilge turning on every now and then .. lol

[Chasin Crappie]

Rangerman. I am new to fishing for eyes. Can you get me some help with how to fish the lead core you talked about? I think I understand the bottom bouncer method. Any help would be great. Also you talked about the walleye and crappie being in 30-35 feet of water. Are they suspended in the depth of water or are they on the bottom? Thanks for your help. I am new to the forum, you people are awesome with the information you give.

[rangerman]

CC,

We use leadcore to get smaller cranks to run deeper. I as alot of guys run 18 pound leadcore. I find pulling cranks at around 2.0mph, it will run about five foot deep for every 10 yards (1 color) you have out. Once you figure a depth you want to fish and the crank you want to use take half the depth the crank would run on normal line and use the five foot for every color formula added to it. Use a rod with a medium action as the leadcore really has no give. I use a 12 pound hybrid leader to soak up some of the shock.

I was really never into leadcore much until forum member powerdive turned me onto it. I am sure glad he did because it is one of the most effective ways to target fish I have ever used.

The fish I found on the mainlake bank were on a 45 degree bank and were suspended off of the bottom at about 28 foot. Sooooooo, I ran

a flicker shad which dives about 16 foot normally. Cut the dive depth to 8 foot and added four colors of leadcore which equals 28 foot.

It is quite simple when you get used to it.

Good luck.

[Walleyedmike]

I swear, that Rangerman could pull a keeper walleye out of a mudhole! Had a chance to chat with him on the phone Friday as he was pulling out. Look forward to meeting him on the lake someday. Also met kwall this weekend. He was such a nice guy I'd swear he was from Nebraska! My wife and I fished Saturday and Sunday. Tried trolling deep with leadcore like Rangerman suggested. Had limited success, but I was on a different part of the lake. Ended up keeping six walleye Saturday and one on Sunday, as well as some crappie and whites. Fished points in 15-20 feet of water most of the time. So, here's my take on the current Stockton walleye fishing. There are fish at various depths all over the lake. Use the method you have confidence in, and you will catch fish. But, don't be afraid to experiment with new techniques, you will still catch some walleye right now, and might find a new method that will be your go to technique.

WM

[kwall]

WM, glad we got to meet , Go Huskers!!

Looking at that Terrova , may have it next time if I can scratch up the coin, gotta' have it

[powerdive]

Leadcore is amazing...so incredibly precise once you understand its properties. It's very speed dependent, so it can give your lure some vertical swim on demand (by speeding up or slowing down your troll, sweeping or dropping back your rod tip, pulling in or letting out line). It follows your trolling path more precisely than flatlines, and once you get the hang of it, you can put any lure at any depth and adjust at will to account for depth changes, swim over brushpiles, strain different parts of the water column, etc. Its only drawbacks are that it's heavy and clunky, and requires bigger gear. (Small fish aren't much fun.)

Normal lure dive depths are figured on 10-lb. mono, per the manufacturer or as listed in the Precision Trolling system published by Steven Holt and Mark Romanack. After awhile, though, you can pretty much just ballpark it. Most of us use line counter reels, but because core is color-metered, you can do just fine without the counter mechanisms--just count colors. The key is to always know how much line/how many colors you have out (like RM did), so when you catch a fish you can repeat it. Most of the time, you do have to decide what relative depth you want to run your lures at, esp. if targeting suspended fish. But if you let line out until your lure scrapes bottom at trolling speed, then pull a little line back in, you can run any contour pretty effectively, adjusting on the fly by letting out more line as the water gets deeper, or cranking line in to account for shallower water.

At 2 mph you're moving 3' per second. So if you troll over a brushpile with 90' of line out, it'll take about 30 seconds for your lure to get there. Let's say your lure is running 2' off bottom, and you want to run your lure just over the top of that brush you just went over. Best approach is to simply speed the boat up to say 3.5 mph for about 30 seconds. Your line will respond by bellying and rising in the water column, pulling your lure up with it. Bam! Fish darts up outta the pile to whack the lure going overhead. Otherwise, just slow back down to normal trolling speed, and the line and lure will settle back smoothly.

It takes a few trips to get comfortable with core, but no other system works quite like that. Definitely worthwhile for trollers.

[kwall]

Powerdive, thanks for the info, used that same technique on BSL last July with Mike Worley in deep water we caught 3to5lb bass , crappie and two 7+ lb walleye , darn sure works