A Few Fall Observations

[The Southerner]

Although I've been spending some time down at Bull Shoals catchin Walleye (highly recommend guides around Tucker Hollow), I'm back to Stockton for Fall fun! In fact, I've been out the last two weekends with astounding results! Two weekends ago I caught nearly 20 walleye, a dozen crappie, and several bass, including two small mouth. All were caught trolling rocky bluffs (near crabtree and near Hawker ramp were best). Lst week, however the same effort returned only a few fish (3 small walleye and a few crappie). So for those going out to Stockton for the day, I thought of some "things to consider". Please note that better fishermen like Bob can probably overcome these things, but for me it's like this:

1. If a front has just passed through, the bite will likely be off. I've been catching them like crazy and have the wind shift and it's all over. On Stockton, I associate an east wind with no fish.

2. For most of the year, Stockton is a main lake fishing place. What I mean is that the fish tend to like main lake points, rocky bluffs, main lake tree lines, channels, etc.. They do move back to find food and certainly move back into coves and rivers to spawn, but in summer and fall, your best to start in the main lake.

3. Summer and fall fishing also tends to be better as you get closer to the dam. Not neceessarily at the dam, but coves like crabtree, cothwell and nearby points/piles do well in summer and fall. (A special note: about this time of year, keep checking Cothwell for shad and fish. A lot of the time it produces nothing, but there has always been a day when it's an OMG situation. I've limited out on walleye and crappie in just a few hours there on those days. What fun!)

4. A spring comes along and the line no longer freezes on your rod tip (a true die-hard's experience), start moving back to and into Son's and CC and cedar ridge (maze). The trees do consistently well.

I'm sure there's more, but that's my limited experience without discussing the myriad of baits, lure's, and methods. I leave the serious catching up to the great guides on the lakes.