Thompson Guide Service's weekly Stockton Fishing report

[Pole Bender]

While I was review this weeks reports I thought I would put this up too.

September 11, 2007 Stockton lake Fishing Report

Lake level: 870.58 Water temperature: 79-80

Largemouth Bass: Bass fishing has been good for the last week up until today. The cold front that came in yesterday was followed by a cloudless sky, which slowed the fishing down somewhat. I was still able to catch fish today and I’ll tell you how I did it. The fish were in the same place as yesterday, which was a good day because of overcast sky and cooling water temperatures. I marked fish consistently on my sonar, I backed off and I used a deep diving crank bait. No takers. I fished the same area again with a black spinner bait and a willow leaf blade…caught one keeper fish. Then I went through the same area with a plastic worm and caught five fish. What have we learned from this weed hopper? When you have a cold front, it affects the barometric pressure, which in turn affects the fish. The fish slow down and therefore the obvious bait to resort to is a plastic worm or jig. I favor the worm. People ask me questions about color; you have 5 basic colors. Purple, blue, black, green, and red. This applies to plastic worms as well as jigs and crank baits. However, if you are into the colors that the “pros” use, try the following colors: blueberry muffin, red revenge, west end, green marble, southern delight, blue shadow grass, and Florida 5-0, to name just a few. In other words, color is not that critical. The top water bite has been off and on; I always carry a rod rigged with a top water bait because you’ll see fish break the top from time to time while they are chasing shad. Be ready. Try fishing the bluffs in the main lake. Here again you will have to experiment, but basically bass fishing is good anywhere you want to go.

Walleye: like bass, walleye have slowed down just a little bit because of the cold front, but I expect to put my clients on fish for the rest of the week. Your main lake points are the best bet for consistency, and we have been using jigs with night crawlers or crawler harnesses with a bottom bouncer. Crank baits have been working pretty well later in the day in shallower water (5-10 feet). My theory for this is that at that depth, flooded brush ends (this is what is referred to as the weed line) or in our case, the brush line. Now that the water is stained, these walleye utilize shallow brush more than they normally would. Small bass crank baits work well for these walleye. If they are in these areas, they will hit about whatever you throw. If you don’t catch fish late in the afternoon, don’t reach for your secret high dollar guaranteed to catch walleye crank bait, you just need to move. Back off in a little deeper water (10-20 feet).

Crappie: crappie fishing should be good for the rest of the week. Before the cold front, crappie were being caught in around 15 feet of water by slow drifting crappie jigs or minnows off secondary lake points. If the point has brush, that’s the one you need to fish. If you are not familiar with the lake, it’s better to spend a little time on your sonar than to drift around in vacant water. Or better yet, contact a highly skilled professional fishing guide like me. Crappie in the timber has also picked up. Price Branch along with the Turkey Creek arm is producing decent sized catches in about 15 feet of water with crappie jigs or jigs and minnows.

Guide’s tip of the week: Slow down and watch for timber that may be floating in the lake. Most of it has settled down, but no matter where you fish you should always be cognizant of what may lie ahead just inches under the surface. Timber isn't the only thing you need to look out for. Giant bales of hay...not the little square ones, the big round ones. I wonder what they weigh full of water? Because of the excessive flooding, one farmer lost 40 head of cattle (hadn't found any of them floating in the lake yet), and several have lost fields of rolled hay and some of them are in the lake.

Marty Thompson
Thompson Fishing Guide Service
www.fishstockton.com
417-424-BASS

[PSM207]

Pole Bender - I response to your comments on plastic worms for bass, I recommend the K&E Bass Stopper worm in the "Natural" color. This is a pre-rigged worm with 3 small hooks in it (front, middle, & rear). Use a snap swivel on your line and fish it real slow. An awesome worm, which they can't resist or spit out.