April 25, 2007 Stockton Lake Fishing Report

[Thompson Fishing Guide Service]

April 25, 2007 Stockton Lake Fishing Report

Walleye fishing is excellent now. Most of my clients in the last two weeks have limited out. Depending on the sunshine and cloud cover, I have been finding these fish between 18-23 feet deep. The main method of attack is a white curly tailed jig with a minnow. Main lake or secondary points should be your target. Any other techniques that I use at this time are highly classified, therefore you are on your own. If you are a fly fisherman, this could be for you: every evening when I take the walleye out of the live wells, there are dozens of mayflies. If a person had a mayfly pattern, and tried it in the shallows late in the evening, I bet he would catch walleye on a fly rod.

Bass fishing has also picked up considerably. I have caught fish in the backs of coves in the thick brush flipping creature baits and in 25 feet of water on plastic worms. With frequent dramatic weather changes and heavy rains, the bass have been bouncing back from shallow to deep water. Try flipping the shallows in coves and if they are not there, back off until you find them on the secondary points adjacent to spawning banks. You'll have to experiment a lot; these fish have been making major changes...one day it's spinner baits, and the next it's crank baits.

Crappie fishing is still somewhat slow for the most part, but fish are being caught in the State Park cove, Orleans Trail cove, and Turkey creek arm of the lake. For the most part, as of this report, most crappie have been deep and scattered, deep meaning around 15 feet or more. We have caught fish drifting 1/4 oz white or chartreuse curly tailed jigs. Fish are being caught around the CC bridge area in the timber, where the water is the warmest. This seems to be your best bet for concentrations of fish. As the water approaches 65 degrees, crappie will begin moving into the shallows on the main body of the lake. Small bass plugs, small spinner baits, or jigs will catch fish when they move up. This should be an excellent year for all species of fish in Stockton Lake, particularly crappie, because the high water provides sanctuary for the nests and the baby hatchlings.

Carp: if you want to hone your skills on your archery, you'll find thousands of carp in the shallows spawning. I know some of these fish have got to weigh 30 pounds. I have also observed schools of carp as they feed across the top of the lake gorging themselves on mayflies. Here again is an opportunity for a fly fisherman. I am sure if you laid a dry mayfly pattern ahead of this lip onslaught you'd have your hands full. Who knows? You could develop the world's first carp fly and even have your own place in Bass Pro.

Marty Thompson

Thompson Fishing Guide Service

www.fishstockton.com

417-424-BASS

[Hooked]

Thanks for the report Marty. I have a question... What is considered a secondary point. You mentioned that in your report on Bass fishing.

[Thompson Fishing Guide Service]

A secondary point is a point on the inside of a large or small cove off of the main lake. Main lake points connect to the main river channel in the main part of the lake. The thing that makes a secondary point a good point is that it is located in a cove that has a deep creek channel (30-35 feet max). This kind of environment gives bass everything they need to survive and never have to travel very far, no matter what the season. I find that my most productive bait for big bass are plastic worms fished off of these secondary points. However, not all secondary points are created equal. You need to find two things: cover and structure.