February 7, 2007 Stockton Lake Fishing Report

[Thompson Fishing Guide Service]

February 7, 2007 Stockton Lake Fishing Report

Walleye: Trolling has been the most productive method for winter walleye. I use a removable rod holder in my bass boat that can hold up to four rods and with the two outside rods on planar boards, you cover a great deal of water. My lures of choice have been Wiggle Warts, the Lucky Craft Pointer 100 crank bait, or Rapala RapShad. Shad colors seem to be the most consistent, but I would experiment with colors. I troll approximately 1.5 mph along the main lake bluffs and in the dam area. Fish are being caught with this technique around Masters boat ramp, Hawker Point, and Old State Park. Walleye are also being caught around the Twin Bridges following the river channel. Another technique that has been good this winter is slow drifting minnows on 1/4 oz to 1/2 oz jig heads. As usual, find the bait fish and stay with them as long as you can. As the spawn approaches, I would check out the main tributaries such as Little Sac, Maze Creek and Son's Creek. A few of the fish have started to stage in these areas to run up the rivers to spawn. With all of the snow and ice melt, and rising water, this should contribute to an excellent spawning year. For bank fishermen, I would spend time in the CC bridge area. Crank baits such as Husky Jerks and the Excalibur XS4 work well in the shallower water. Casting small curly tail plastic jigs in white, yellow or chartreuse works well also. As the spawn turns on, bigger fish (5 lbs - 10 lbs) will show up. My clients have caught plenty of legal fish, which are the smaller males, and those are the eating fish. I make it a practice to release the bigger females because they support the population.

Largemouth Bass: The best action this time of the year when the water is so cold is to slowly fish the bluffs by dragging Pig n Jigs or plastic worms. I like to get as close to the bluffs as I can and pull the bait parallel. The bluffs are good winter habitat for bass because the fishes' metabolism is very slow, they don't travel far and they can change depths by only moving a few feet up or down. Try suspended jerk baits in the same locations. I let the jerk bait suspend for 15 or 20 seconds before I move it again. If you have a series of warm days (which we haven't), seek out warmer water in the backs of coves early and late. The shad will be drawn to this slightly warmer water, which will in turn bring in the bass. Remember, you can't fish too slowly this time of the year. A bass may feed once every several days and his bite will be very light. Bass can also be found in deep water timber 25-30 feet deep. In this situation, I like to use a Texas rigged 4 or 6 inch worm and fish it through the branches. A drop shot rig works well with 8 or 10 pound test line using finesse plastics.

Crappie: Look for deep timber in close proximity to the crappie spawning beds which consist of isolated pea gravel banks. Fish are still relatively deep (25 - 30 feet) and small crappie minnows or crappie jigs seem to work the best. Places to start: creek channel bends in Price Branch, Turkey Creek, and the Sac River. If you still have a lot of limbs frm the ice storm, now is a good time to put them out; by spring they should have attracted fish. The good thing about staking out your own crappie beds is that nobody knows where they are except for you and your trusted fishing companion, providing that he doesn't tell all of his trusting fishing companions where they are.

White bass: The white bass spawn will basically coincide with the walleye spawn, which is not far off. These white bass run up the same tributaries the walleye do to spawn. At present, white bass are being caught around Crabtree Cove, Masters and Orleans Trail. Small spoons and tail spinners, like the Little George, have worked best by making long casts and allowing the bait to drop to the bottom. Most of your strikes will happen on the fall, therefore you need to keep a tight line and stay focused. As we push further into February, the white bass fishing will continue to get better and most of the fish caught will be 2 - 2.5 lb females.

Marty Thompson

Thompson Fishing Guide Service

www.fishstockton.com

417-424-BASS