11/05/2016 Fishing at Stockton Lake

By Bob Randall on Sunday, November 6th, 2016 in Fishing reports, No Comments

November 5, 2016. We had hoped to fish for trout at Jolly Mill/Capps Creek Conservation Area but a maintenance project at that location caused us to reconsider. So instead, nine of us went fishing at Stockton Lake where Hwy CC crosses the lake. If we had been able to plan our trip based on the best weather conditions for white bass we would probably have put it off for a windy, cloudy day. I’m told that wind can force the shad up into shallow water in coves or along points… and that brings the white bass in. There was almost no wind but it was partly cloudy. Dan Ditzler caught a bass on his fly rod early in the morning but was called away from fishing due to a family emergency. Best to Dan and his family. I tried the fly rod but was having some pain in my right arm due to recurring tendonitis and soon put that aside. Harry Morgan was using his spinning rod with a rapalla type lure that was colored as a life-like shad. He caught five or six white bass. He must have been holding his mouth just right or was in the right place. Nobody else landed anything. John Bush was really diligent about it and had a strike. Fred Brown finally put his rod down and did a little bird watching as there was a flock of white pelecans nearby. They probably marked the spot where the shad were schooling but we had no way to get there. Leo Trowbridge and his buddy, Joey, fished a while but took off for another spot. Leo give us a report here. The rest of us congregated out on the old bridge support. Keith and Myrna Coffey joined us. Keith used his fly rod and may I say is a darned good caster. Myrna caught at least one fish but I’m not certain what it was. Was a fun day anyway. Really enjoyed lunching back at the truck, telling stories, and generally bantering around. The fishing was good but the catching was lackluster.

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