August 29, 2007 Stockton Lake Fishing Report

[Thompson Fishing Guide Service]

August 29, 2007 Stockton Lake Fishing Report

Walleye: We are finally back to business and we have been catching a few walleye off of main lake points around Masters Cove area and Crabtree Cove. The water has cooled off because of the large amount of rain a week or so ago. The lake rose over 4 feet in 2 days. After it stabilized, the fishing got better. Currently, the lake level is 871.77. Along with the rising level came a lot of timber in the lake, so watch out for that. With a full moon this week, late afternoon and early evening til about 10:00 pm are your best bets. Deep diving crank baits either cast to the shore or trolled have caught fish. Shad imitators seem to work the best. Another technique that has been successful has been slow drifting a jig and large minnow across the points at the depth you see the fish. Spend a little time with your sonar, but forget about the old adage “Find the bait, find the fish” because the bait is everywhere. Structure is what you want to look for to locate the fish in a situation like this, and that structure is main lake points that lead to the river channel.

Largemouth bass: Top water has picked up quite a bit since my last report. Try a Buzz Bait (or any top water bait for that matter) and cast it over submerged brush off main lake points. Late in the evening seems to be the best time. The backs of coves are holding fish and Jig n Pig or plastic worms are good to work these areas. Or if you do the flipping and pitching thing, dark colored creature baits with a pegged weight will also catch fish. Bass fishing has been good up the Sac River arm and the Son’s Creek arm by fishing the timber with large spinner baits and large crank baits. The reason I say large is because the water is off colored in these creek arms due to the rain, therefore a larger lure is easier for the fish to locate. Fish are being caught deeper off of main lake points dragging worms or jigs; color doesn’t seem to matter. I caught 5 fish on 5 different colored worms in one hour.

Crappie: with the full moon coming up early, your best bet for good crappie action is from 6:00 p.m. on. Secondary points with brush that connect to deep creek channels (30-35 feet) are a good place to start. With no wind, you should be able to sit right on top of the fish with your crappie light and not have to worry about an anchor. Jig and minnow seems to be the easiest and most effective bait to use for crappie in deep water, but any standard crappie rig with an Aberdeen hook will work. Medium size minnows will produce bigger fish than your small crappie minnows. Any timbered cove on the lake, such as Maze Creek, Turkey Creek, will produce crappie. Fish the deepest timber (25-35 feet deep) next to a creek channel or sharp break using the above technique.

White bass have started to show some top water action throughout the lake and fish are being caught on Zara Spooks, Chuggers, or PopRs, to name a few. The majority of these fish have been bigger class (2-3 lb). Troll the main lake points with Road Runners, small spoons, such as pepper spoons, Cast Masters, etc. or in line spinners and you should have fair white bass action. Here again, the best time for top water white bass action is right before dark.

Channel cats have really been turning on right at sundown. The best places to start anywhere in the lake are the points in your larger lake coves such as Miller Cove, Orleans Trail Cove, or Mutton Creek cove. I try to find structure about 20 feet deep and with no wind, I can vertical fish holding my gob of night crawlers about a foot from the bottom. A 7 or 8 pound fish is not uncommon. Stockton Lake is an excellent channel cat lake and they are generally not hard to find no matter where you fish.

Marty Thompson

Thompson Fishing Guide Service

www.fishstockton.com

417-424-BASS

[adjust555]

Thanks for the report. Do you know what the rain did to the water temp. Thanks, Vince

[carolina-rig-01]

adjust...saturday i was there and put in a mutton creek. at the ramp at daylight i had a reading of 78 degrees, when i took out at about 4:00 i looked again at the ramp and it was 82 degrees. i was bass fishing and first ran up sac river looking for colored water, but i think that the recent weather kinda had the shallow fish freaked out, ran to the main lake and started catching some fish. so i seen a lot of different readings from shallow dingy water to the main lake water that was more clear and deeper. but dock to dock those are the readings i got.

[adjust555]

Thanks

[carolina-rig-01]

your welcome adjust.... and p.s. if you decide to flip and pitch the brush towards the bank, be sure and work the bait all the way back to the boat. i pitched tubes a lot and would only bounce the bait a few times while it was in the brush and the burn it back to the boat. had a lot of fish boil on it at the boat as it was coming out of the water, the water has more color to it even on the main lake so they aren't as aware of the boat, causing some bites late in the retrieve. be quick enough to be efficient but give them every chance to eat it. marty, does this post and my previous post make any sense or did i make a mistake by running away from the creek so quickly?

[Thompson Fishing Guide Service]

If I understand your question, here's something you need to consider: the lake has been going down a whole lot more than up due to the fact that the Army Corps of Engineers is trying to maintain a normal pool, which is 867. When that happens, the bass will pull back into a little bit deeper water. Your flipping and pitching will be better when the water is going up. The vast majority of the bass that I have caught this summer have come off of main lake points or secondary points. The crank bait bite and spinner bait bite have been fair at best, and my theory for that is the lake is full of bait and these fish usually will regurgitate bait, meaning you need to show them something different than the shad. Plastic worms has been my mainstay and jigs are #2. When you see bass busting the top chasing shad, and they won't hit a top water, throw a plastic worm at them. If most of your strikes are right at the boat, you might be fishing too close to the fish. Sometimes they position themselves a little farther out than what you think. Give that a try and let me know. I have had the same thing happen from time to time this summer. I had a big small mouth that almost jerked my rod in the lake as a result. I was fishing for white bass with some clients in 60 feet of water and the bass grabbed the jig as I was getting ready to lift it out of the water.

If this doesn't answer your question, let me know.

Marty