Stockton water temps and crappie spawning

[Marsh hawk]

Was at stockton last 3 days. Go up in the river arms and you will find crappie. Had a limit in 45 minutes on Monday morning . Using jig and bobber set at 18 inches casting right up to the bank. Caught fish using this same method everywhere we went as long as temp was 55 or better. Color did not matter alot. 

[slab slinger]

You will have a great trip the second week of May. There will still be spawning fish shallow but there will be alot of post spawn crappie  suspended in the coves as well. You should be able to take your pick between beating the banks for males or long line the big females that are suspended. Either way you'll catch fish. I would focus on big sac arm in May but that's just my opinion. I'm going after crappie this Friday if the wind will let me. I'll post report. Might end up in the river looking for whites if its gonna howl. 

[bassfisher]

I have never fished past 215 bridge how deep is the water past aldrich

[bassfisher]

 

Lots of people were trying last weekend around the cc area, but few were successful. We were jigging visible timber in one cove and saw another boat catch 4-5 crappie right next to the bank, but the action was far from furious. There only keeper crappie we caught were on trees in 8-20 ft of water.

I saw same thing Monday morning guy was on the bank at cc fishing the gravel 

[slab slinger]

Heading up river from Aldrich there's a flat on left (north side)  first then flat on left (south) past old bridge pillars. The channel is real narrow and swings side to side. There's also stumps so he careful. You'll come to a small island stay right then You'll see cedar bluff on the right. Waters good there till you come to the split stay right and then swing left all the way around the horse shoe than you'll see Orleans bridge. From there to Taylor you have your normal river obstructions to keep watch for. You can limp to Taylor with good look out but you'll be pushing your luck above Taylor with a prop. Net would be fine above Taylor on. You'll never make it to 215 with your rig I would stay below Taylor. Sorry...This might be confusing but it's the best I can describe it. 

 

[LoweSTX175]

14 hours ago, bassfisher said:

Lowe is correct and crappie are being caught late in the evening and at night in 4 ft

For the last 3-4 years I've really got to spend some time on Stockton during the spring (April-May) and early summer months (June).  I also spend one week per year fishing the lake typically in September or October.  Here's how the lake has worked for me over that time.  Most of my trips allow me to fish for 3-5 days each trip.  I personally now avoid going up to CC and into Turnback Creek during this time of the year.  Way too much boat traffic.  So I try to stay south of Mutton/RB.  Not as many boats.  But I tend to troll, so I'm going to be able to cover about 10 miles of water in about 5 1/2 hours on the lake.  Eventually I'll find some action.

As mid-May rolls around it always seems like in that area the lake turns and you'll see lots of moss floating.  The lake turns almost green.  I've been skunked before in May south of Mutton.  The water temperature has climbed also.  I'll run up north to Hawker or State Park.  Water up there in May is cooler and it seems to me like the crappie really turn on at that point in that deeper water.  I find them suspended with walleye in about 20-30 fow.  Once again I'll be trolling, so I'll cover ground until I find them.  Once June and July hit I'll move over to Cedar Ridge when things die down around Hawker for me. 

Once again just my own experience over the last 4 years that seems to work for me.  Once again you have to adapt and sometimes go against what would seem normal.  Sometimes I think the guys crappie fishing close to the bank think I'm crazy when I'm trolling in 45 FOW because that's the only open area to run.... then they stare when I keep turning around and going through the same area picking them up.

[Kramr]

Lowe,

What kind of lure(s) do you use to troll for crappie?

[LoweSTX175]

1 hour ago, Kramr said:

Lowe,

What kind of lure(s) do you use to troll for crappie?

You'll hear me as well as SlabSlinger and Dan Hufferd talk about FlickerShad by Berkley.  Those are my go to cranks.  When the crappie get later in the spring I'll transition all the way up to the 9 cm size.  Typically you can go with a 7 cm and have good success on the suspended ones either post spawn or waiting to spawn.  You'll also hear me preach about using a counter reel.  The counter reel allows you to precision troll when you see them on the finder.  A number 7 cm with 150 foot of line (per a Depthmaster reel from Cabela's) will get you down to about 14 foot.  That's about the deepest you can go with a 7.  You can adjust up if needed by reeling in a bit to get your bait to go through the zone once you find them.  The 9 CM will go to about 18 foot.  Troll that at 2 MPH.  Put those cranks on a quick snap on the end of your line so you can quickly change colors.  Also when trolling a flat I have been known to change out to a Hot n Tot.

Now once you start wanting to get to the walleye I will change my line out to the lead core line with leader versus the braid with leader on it.   That helps you go deeper if you so desire.  I have several counter reels already rigged differently so I can quickly change up a technique once I find out what's working.  This is just something I started doing 3 years ago and has put a heck of lot more fish in the live well.  I used to simply drive on top of a brush pile and jig.

I'm going to try and get a post/article out after this weekend's trip with what I consider the 5T's of trolling with explanation.  Temperature, Time, Terrain, Technique, and Targeting (technology).  If any other guys out there can think of another T to add let me know.  I am also considering adding Temptation... which is "something to avoid" when trolling.

[packersooner]

Excellent post LoweSTX175! You've got the system down pat. From the way it sounds, I probably use the leadcore setups more than you do. It's overkill for crappie, but very effective. Speed control becomes critical with the leadcore setups though. If going straight braid (flouro leader), snap weights can also be effective.

Saw that your residence is in Lenexa. Have you tried Pizza Man on Pflumm Rd.?

Jason

[LoweSTX175]

33 minutes ago, packersooner said:

Excellent post LoweSTX175! You've got the system down pat. From the way it sounds, I probably use the leadcore setups more than you do. It's overkill for crappie, but very effective. Speed control becomes critical with the leadcore setups though. If going straight braid (flouro leader), snap weights can also be effective.

Saw that your residence is in Lenexa. Have you tried Pizza Man on Pflumm Rd.?

Jason

My house is exactly 1/2 mile east from there just off of 103rd......the answer would be yes sir.  It's Chicago style.

As far as lead core is concerned, don't let someone new to trolling/fishing use it.  Just my own thoughts.  It does have a different feel and some additional weight on the reel.