Night fishing 5/16/22

[Terrierman]

Went to Stockton with two good friends Monday evening/night.  Tied to the bank with about a 40' rope and anchored in the back.  Fishing in about 40' of water with minnows under the lights.  We started catching even before it got dark, crappie, three or four undersized walleye and about a dozen white bass mixed in.  Started fishing about six and all three of us were limited out on crappie by eleven or so.  It was real steady until moonrise and that huge bright full moon did slow things down a bit.  Crappie were nice, very few that we had to measure.  Most were somewhere between 11" to 12".  The biggest was 14 1/2".

Beautiful night to be out.  Later on the breeze stopped and the lake turned into a big mirror.  Sorry, no pictures, it was dark.  There'll be a nice fish fry later.

[Johnsfolly]

Sounds like a great time Rick! Nothing better that fishing with friends. Being successful is just the cherry on top.

[BilletHead]

                   Nice Rick! 

   I need to get on some of that.  Did any of you try a jig?  How deep were you hanging your minnows? 

[Terrierman]

2 hours ago, BilletHead said:

                   Nice Rick! 

   I need to get on some of that.  Did any of you try a jig?  How deep were you hanging your minnows? 

No jigs.  We were catching best by casting about 20' and letting minnow just slowly fall with slow retrieve.  When the line was straight down from the boat, just let it soak.  I'd say most of the fish were caught at 12 to 15 feet and usually close to the boat and lights.  We've found it best to be close to deep water.  Think bluff end where the channel swings close.  Bridge pilings can be good too.

[JCreek]

How clear was the water where you did that?  I went up to Masters Monday and it was frightful.  About 2 feet visibility.  Reminded me of the Missouri river.  Cover is back on the boat for now.

[Terrierman]

21 hours ago, JCreek said:

How clear was the water where you did that?  I went up to Masters Monday and it was frightful.  About 2 feet visibility.  Reminded me of the Missouri river.  Cover is back on the boat for now.

Not super clear but not muddy either.  Didn't have a secchi disc but would guess it at about 4'.  I'd call the water stained.

[fishinwrench]

2 hours ago, Terrierman said:

Didn't have a secchi disc but would guess it at about 4'.  I'd call the water stained.

4' meaning 8' ?

Or 4' meaning 2' ?  

[Terrierman]

14 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

4' meaning 8' ?

Or 4' meaning 2' ?  

4' meaning about 4'

[Johnsfolly]

18 hours ago, Terrierman said:

Didn't have a secchi disc but would guess it at about 4'.  I'd call the water stained.

I haven't used a Secchi disc in a couple of decades. Worked on a lake with a secchi depth of 13 to 15 meters. If we had one of the large oceanographic ones we may have been able to set it on the bottom (18 to 22 m) and still see it. Another lake the avg summertime secchi depth was less than 0.5 m. Very different productivity levels between the two extremes.

[Terrierman]

Secchi Disc clarity is one of the easiest tools to help define and document overall water quality in a lake or reservoir.  Pretty much everybody understands what water clarity is.  A steady decline at Table Rock Lake in secchi disc clarity and a couple of really ugly algal blooms ultimately led to more research, which showed the limiting nutrient for algal growth to be P, which then resulted in effluent limitations being placed on P in point discharges in the Table Rock Watershed  and Taneycomo Watershed in Missouri.  Arkansas has not followed suit.  Also, major efforts were expended in Missouri to reduce nutrients and other "stuff" in stormwater runoff from municipal and ag sources.  Which over the past decade and a half or so have reversed that trend.

However, keep in mind this work was mostly done by biologists.