October 24, 2007 Stockton Lake Fishing Report

[Thompson Fishing Guide Service]

October 24, 2007 Stockton Lake Fishing Report

Outside of the last cold front, which started Monday, the last week and a half has been pretty good fishing. It’s still the same ticket: main lake points in the middle of the day are the places to be for walleye, providing that the wind doesn’t blow like it has been. We have been slow drifting worms and minnows on a ½ oz jig head at the fishes’ depth (around 30 feet around high sun hours). This seems to be the most consistent during the middle of the day. The fish are still moving up late in the afternoon and evening around the brush to attack shad, and then we go to deep diving crank baits. I was asked by a client the other day “Why do you use deep diving crank baits in 5 feet of water?” The reason for this is because with the big bill it bounces over the brush better than a medium or shallow diving crank bait, and you get far less hang-ups. These fish will spread out when they come up into shallow water, so my best approach has been getting close to shoreline cover and casting ahead of the boat. We have discussed this in previous reports. Another good technique during the middle of the day with walleye is slow trolling crawler harnesses. Mutton Creek, Ruark Bluff, Cedar Ridge, and Masters are producing fall pattern fish. When the fishing gets good, like it was for the last several days (minus cold front of course), fish are relatively easy to find and catch.

Crappie fishing in the timber has been fair to good, with a lot of fish 10-13 inches (which is not as good as it gets on Stockton, but that’s what’s going on now). Turkey Creek arm, as well as the Sac River arm around CC bridge is doing real good for crappie right now. Fish are being caught by slow trolling in line spinners like Rooster Tails and Panther Martins, white or chartreuse in color, in about 15 feet of water just below the brushy shore line. I had a man from Michigan call me the other night and say that he has been catching a lot of good sized crappie (I assume better than legal) on a fly rod. He says he has been using weighted fly line with any kind of a trout fly about the size of a small crappie jig. Something you might want to try if you are a fly fisher aficionado.

Largemouth bass fishing has been real good all over the lake for about the last 10 days. The cold front slowed it down a little, but I still caught GOOD fish (3+ pounds). Crank bait fishing has been the best I have seen all year and even the spinner bait bite has been good. We even caught a 5 pound and a 7 pound catfish throwing crank baits the other day. My client thought it was because of my guide school university training and skill, but I think the stupid catfish would hit anything you threw out there. Anyway, back to bass fishing. Tube jigs and regular jigs are doing good on your chunk rock points, especially above the 215 bridge. The reason for this is that during the fall pattern (I just love to use these technical terms), bass will eat a lot of crawdads, and the habitat above the 215 bridge is very conducive to crawdad populations. Greens, brown, blues, with a dab of yellow or orange, those are good colors in this situation (cause that’s what color crawdads are and that’s what’s on their minds, particularly smallmouth). I caught a 4 ½ pound smallmouth last week with this technique using a jig, but I can’t tell you where. Fall means wintertime is in the near future and Bighorn sheep, elk, black bears, and bass, crappie and walleye ready themselves by eating as much as they can. Therefore, good fishing conditions. Need I say more? Plus it is one of the greatest times of the year to observe the glory of God in all of its grandeur. November fishing is good for everything…I am booked the last two weeks, but have some days open in the first half of November. Guide’s tip of the week: remember as the water continues to gradually cool off, bass will gradually slow down, therefore you must slow down. You can’t fish this week at the same speed you did two weeks ago.

Marty Thompson

Thompson Fishing Guide Service

www.fishstockton.com

417-424-BASS