Jugging

[Krazo]

I'm relatively new to jug fishing & been able to fish Stockton as well as lake of the Ozarks. I use weights to anchor my jugs and leave em out, sometimes over night, sometimes just the day. However I've had jugs disappear that I would bet my paycheck a fish didn't take & surely got picked up or stolen or run over. Its happened on both lakes & seems to happen with a surprising regularity. Anyone else finding it more & more common to come home with one less jug or think your jugs are getting jacked while your not there?

Heres a couple blues I got on one jug from LOZ last march. these guys were swollen from gorging on shad!!

[straw hat]

Yea, nothing new there. I use pool noodles to jug a few times each summer. We put them out and then fish close by so we can keep an eye on them. Many times boats come by and try to pick up our pool noodles. They always have the same answer. "Oh we thought they we abandoned." That is just the way people are I guess. I stopped trying to understand them years ago.

[blue79]

I scatter about 20 jugs and stay close enough i can see them with my binoculars.Whenever i see a boat get close to my jugs i head back.Ive never had one stolen.I have came back the next morning and found no bait and no fish on my trotline and always figured someone else checked them.

[Krazo]

I use to run more trot lines but seems like the jugs are easier for me. I usually run a 1 man operation and that gets tough with a trot line and wind pushing the boat then trying to pull in fish....know what I mean. Lines were good in that they are more inconspicuous relative to a bright yellow or red noodle (I run noodles too) i think you guys are right on though, you really gotta stay with the jugs to guaranty the dont get handled while your gone. where you guys run your jugs/lines at on Stockton? I'm always down by aldrich. looking to try different part of lake though & not sure where or what depths in bigger part of lake.

[blue79]

Orleans Trail area and south and south of crabtree cove.Between these three spots i can find some calm water on windy days.15-20 fow.Im gonna try like stockton lake guide service said and go where the creeks are coming in.I plan on flooding the little coves behind orleans trail marina with all of my orange jugs saturday and sunday morning.Jetskis and pleasure cruisers never go back there.

[Krazo]

I fished my jugs last sat & bass angler was telling me to go to same places, back of coves where creeks are dumping in, said he caught flatheads on shad patterns. I'm thinking the same thing friday night and saturday morning but I'll prob head to cedar ridge area. i've heard its not bad around there but i've never fished that part of lake so ....... what do you usually bait the jugs with? i tend to use a lot of liver on stockton and blue gill at LOZ. tried goldfish for first time last week and was not impressed. 4 channels in 8 hours out, and 2 drum.

[blue79]

bait shrimp or shad.

[phiber_optikx]

I had a jug disappear just last weekend at cedar ridge.

[Fishslayer88]

I was fishing tablerock the other day around point 15 and there were a bunch of jugs coming down out of the james then some yahoo coming out of flat creek in his ski boat did his darndest to run over every jug he could. Wasn't even my jugs and it still made me mad.

[Krazo]

Some people have no respect for others. It's frustrating when that happens. Then when they get caught they're sorry.......sorry for getting caught.