Mother Stockton Was Generous This Weekend

[powerdive]

I have yet to fish Bull Shoals. I need to get on it.

I think you'd love it, 9LB. Might even bring you back from the dark side.

[Ham]

From what I read from AGFC, the only reason that the walleye spawning is not more successful than it is relates to lack of cover for the young of the year to hide in. Panfish (and I think they singled out Green Sunfish as being the worst about that) eat the vast majority of the fry. So maybe we should all start eating those Green Sunfish we catch to try to help the Walleye out.

Hopefully, BSL will continue to be heavily stocked with young walleye.

[REDSOXWSCHAMP]

From what I read from AGFC, the only reason that the walleye spawning is not more successful than it is relates to lack of cover for the young of the year to hide in. Panfish (and I think they singled out Green Sunfish as being the worst about that) eat the vast majority of the fry. So maybe we should all start eating those Green Sunfish we catch to try to help the Walleye out.

Hopefully, BSL will continue to be heavily stocked with young walleye.

I would be okay with that, they are quite tasty!!

[Ham]

I meant to add that while the walleye are very easy to catch at Stockton and the 15 inch "keeper" makes it easy to get some for the table, they are a mere shadow inch for inch for the walleye at Bull Shoals. I don't have the first guess at a reason, but it's night and day the difference in the amount of meat on them.

[Dirtracer35]

Stockton is stocked every year with walleyes. 1-2" in size may be small. But numbers prevail. They reach 15" in two years. If you want a walleye season. Expect numbers to drop. Not rise. Creating a season will force MDC to slow the rate they stock the lake. I see no problem with the size of eyes in Stockton. If you're only catching keepers. Then change tactics. Don't become complacent with 15-17". Fish for big fish. Catch big fish. There are BIG Walleyes in Stockton!

[Lvn2Fish]

To my knowledge and research Stockton's natural spawn for walleye is never very successful. There are a lot of factors that have to sync up for there to be a natural spawn. This is probably the reason there is not a season for them on the lake.

[powerdive]

To my knowledge and research Stockton's natural spawn for walleye is never very successful. There are a lot of factors that have to sync up for there to be a natural spawn. This is probably the reason there is not a season for them on the lake.

The year-round open season is statewide. It is true that while the Stockton eyes spawn every year, recruitment is negligible in most years primarily due to lack of food for the fry. (Predation is a factor for all species.) Only a fraction of a tiny percentage of the fry survive, most years. But in high-water springs, you can have a normal in-the-wild survival rate. MDC stocks the lake every other year and manages it as a put-n-take fishery. Compared to other lakes in this area, Stockton is heavily fished for walleyes. And incidental catches by people fishing for other species usually result in harvesting the eyes, due to their uncommon desirability as table fare. The wild card in all this is the late winter/early spring meat blitz--people who otherwise would not fish for walleyes hitting the spawning runs up the creeks and on the extreme lower lake. It's very much like the white bass craze. Anyway, a lot of the lake's larger fish are removed from the system during the spawn.

Some call Stockton the Dink Factory. Yes there are some larger fish in the system, but the percentage is much smaller than you'd find in a lake with normal size distribution. The numbers are way out of whack, partly due to the put-n-take management approach, and partly, I believe, due to the wholesale removal of the bigguns during the spawn..

Of course, you never know what kind of spring we're going to have. But the fish are going to spawn every year, and people will always take advantage of the easy pickin's.

Based on the above, I'd like to see the walleye season closed from March 1 to April 15. All waters, but especially Stockton. Just my opinion.

[9LB]

i am trying to post pics but the site keeps telling me the file is too bit only 2mg and my pics are 2.37? I usually post them from my phone but this is from my new camera. I will try to figure it out. I h ave posted dozens pf pice on the site B4 ?

[Quillback]

i am trying to post pics but the site keeps telling me the file is too bit only 2mg and my pics are 2.37? I usually post them from my phone but this is from my new camera. I will try to figure it out. I h ave posted dozens pf pice on the site B4 ?

Are your pics stored on your PC? If so, try right clicking on one of them, then select "Edit" from the drop down window. You should then get palette with your pic in it and on the toolbar select "resize". Then you should get an option to resize selecting "pixels". Lower the pixel choices and the total file size will drop and you'll be able to post your pics.

[9LB]

thank you, i was able to uplodad the pics