This coming weekend. 5/6 - 5/9

[top_dollar]

                       My brother and I will be headed down this coming weekend.  @Big Keene We will be generally targeting crappie and walleye trolling crankbaits.  If/when that doesnt work, any ideas on what to do?  How deep have folks been catching crappie and walleye?  Seems like its been cooler than in years past.  Thanks in advance for any pointers.  Ill post a report when we return.  

[MrGiggles]

I think it's still a little cold for pulling cranks, but I've heard that some guys are doing it.

Crappie will be either in prespawn or spawning depending on where you're at in the lake. Coves are the places to look. They'll either be up shallow or in cover close by in deeper water.

Main lake points are a good place to start with walleyes. I like to start at 35ft and make my way in. A lot of guys like bottom bouncers or jig and crawler. 

[Old dog 417]

I've had good luck recently (week-10 days) long lining cranks for crappie on the Big Sac side. Trolling creek channels or just off those channels

concentrating on depths of 24'-32'. Typically run 4-5 rods at 1.2-1.5 mph starting out with a mix of Flicker-shad #7's and Bandit 300's. The most

active fish were at 12'-16' and seemed to prefer the Bandits a little more. Brighter days a Fire-tiger color, cloudy days the purples were best. Ran

the Flickers @ 105' back,  Bandits @ 60' back with 14# Power Pro braid and according to the Precision Trolling app that should put the baits in

that 12'-14' depth. Water temps have been in the 60-63 degree range with a clarity of 3-4'.

I haven't tried cranks for walleye yet but would fish during low light conditions pulling #5 Flickers or #200 Bandits in 6'-12' along shorelines

Try starting at the main lake point and work back into the creeks 1-1.3 mph. If you run across a point created by 2 feeder creeks converging

I'd work that area a little extra. Just my thoughts...  

Good luck,

 

olddog    

[top_dollar]

8 hours ago, Old dog 417 said:

I've had good luck recently (week-10 days) long lining cranks for crappie on the Big Sac side. Trolling creek channels or just off those channels

concentrating on depths of 24'-32'. Typically run 4-5 rods at 1.2-1.5 mph starting out with a mix of Flicker-shad #7's and Bandit 300's. The most

active fish were at 12'-16' and seemed to prefer the Bandits a little more. Brighter days a Fire-tiger color, cloudy days the purples were best. Ran

the Flickers @ 105' back,  Bandits @ 60' back with 14# Power Pro braid and according to the Precision Trolling app that should put the baits in

that 12'-14' depth. Water temps have been in the 60-63 degree range with a clarity of 3-4'.

I haven't tried cranks for walleye yet but would fish during low light conditions pulling #5 Flickers or #200 Bandits in 6'-12' along shorelines

Try starting at the main lake point and work back into the creeks 1-1.3 mph. If you run across a point created by 2 feeder creeks converging

I'd work that area a little extra. Just my thoughts...  

Good luck,

 

olddog    

Great info! Thank you! 

[top_dollar]

             As advertised, we were able to fish Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday.  We stayed at Southwinds.  We always try to stay there if we can, they are absolutely great.  Like has been mentioned already, the lake was 10 feet high with lots of mud and debris in the upper ends.  The water just outside the bushes right now is about 10-15 feet deep.

             Friday evening we put in at Mutton creek and trolled crankbaits all over the cove.  Mostly flicker shad 7s and bandit 300s.  Fish were biting well but scattered.  Some were right up on the bank, and others were in the middle of the cove.  I forgot the net! DOH! We caught 6 keeper crappie, and had a few others come off at the boat.  We also caught a short walleye and a few bass.  WT was 61 around mutton and few foot of visibility.  There was quite a bit of brown water in the main lake. 

           Saturday was high skies and mostly calm winds.  Put in at mutton again.  It was a grind, but we caught 5 keeper crappies and a keeper walleye with some largemouth and white bass mixed in.  We trolled crankbaits, pulled bottom bouncers and threw soft baits in the bushes most of the day.  No real consistent pattern, just one here and one there, some shallow some deep.  Most of the keepers came on crankbaits though.

          Sunday we put in at Orleans trail.  The wind was blowing like crazy so we stayed 3/4 the way back in the cove most of the time.  WT again about 60, but visibility was great.  I could see the bottom in 8 or 10 feet of water probably.  Trolling only produced 1 keeper crappie and 1 keeper walleye, but we were able to catch 2 keeper walleye jigging worms as well.  Later in the afternoon we started pulling bottom bouncers around some good marks in 25-35 FOW and immediately started catching walleye.  We ended up with 13 keeper walleye, a few shorts, a few white bass, and 1 smallmouth, and despite not having a net, lost very few at the boat.  Something absolutely CRUSHED my spinner rig, but after 2 or 3 hard pulls bent the hook completely out.  After that, I took that slow death hook off and put on a heavier gauge hook.  I have never had consistent luck pulling spinner rigs before, so it was really fun catching them so well on a technique I had little confidence in.  I love Stockton Lake so much.