Stockton, Missouri – The Eco Fishing Shop – MoYak Kayak Bass Trail Series Stop #3 greeted 65 anglers with bluebird skies and water in the bushes and rising on Stockton Lake. Catching a limit was not a problem for most. With 72% of the field reporting at least five fish and a FPA of 5.6, the late-spring bite was on!  In the top ten, there were seven bags over 80″ and only 3.5″ separating them. Coming off his recent River Series win, Aaron Gardner led the pack at the end of the day with 83.5″. For his efforts, Aaron took home $770!

Trevor Motzkus and Josh Keatts of Team Highly DeBaitable grabbed their first team victory of the year. Their six bass tallied 97.75″ which earned them $400 and two pairs of SolarBat Sunglasses.

 

 

 

Blake Weilant’s 20″ bass was the only 20+ entered which earned him $300!

Here are your top ten for the 2024 MoYak Stop #3 Stockton Lake presented by Eco Fishing Shop.

Aaron Gardner – 83.5″
Spencer O’Neal – 82″
Chad Davison – 82″
Josh Keatts – 81.5″
Mike Dent – 80.75″
Dakota Dunklin – 80.25″
Eric Easter – 80″
Blake Weilant – 79.75″
Tyy Ward – 78″
Daniel AuBuchon – 78″

Let’s take a closer look at the top five finishers and hear how they solved the puzzle on Stockton in their own words:

What was your strategy going into the day?

Aaron – I didn’t have much strategy going into the day as I had zero prefishing. Watching the water level all week was the deciding factor in my game plan. I knew if it was high enough, bushes would come into play and I would concentrate my day flipping my heart away.

Spencer – My plan going into the day was flipping flooded bushes all day. The water level was about 4ft high and I’ve fished Stockton plenty during the spawn so I had an idea of where to go.

Chad – I was hoping for an early topwater bite and then planned to throw a wacky stickworm the rest of the day since that was my best bite in practice.

Josh – I have never had much success at Stockton so I decided to go somewhere completely new,  I went to a ramp that I had scoped out in the past and knew the area held good fish.  I had about a 2-2.5 mile run to get to the creek that I wanted to fish, I started just outside the creek throwing buzz baits, whopper ploppers, and a popper without a sniff.  After 45 min of that, I decided to switch to a spinner bait, I was throwing it as far as I could into the bushes and slow rolling it back to the boat.  Later in the afternoon, I started throwing a glide in the cleaner water, the first follower ate the follow-up wack-o from AAFC Bait Co, next cast I had another one so I threw that the rest of the afternoon. I was able to cull up 2 times in the last hour.

Mike – I had heard the water was up so I went in with the state of mind to target fish in bushes

Were you able to prefish and did you find anything that helped you on game day?

Aaron – No prefish

Spencer – I’ve been tied up with work so prefishing wasn’t an option for me.  I decided to pick an area that I knew a lot of people wouldn’t hit and I’ve had success at in the past.

Chad – Yes, I did practice the day before for about 6-7 hours, but didn’t get on the water until the sun was up.   I was able to locate an area that had fish, and found a shallow bite, so I had a basic gameplan.

Josh – No prefishing

Mike – I did not prefish at all I rarely ever prefish I got down to Stockton about 9 pm Friday night .

What was your best finish on Stockton before this?

Aaron – This is my best finish on Stockton so far. My first winter series there I think managed a 5th or 6th. All other times I was mid-pack.

Spencer – This tournament was the complete opposite of how I did last year.  Only had 53 inches and it was all I could find by the dam, finished close to last in the standings.

Chad – Tied for 1st in 2021, but lost the tie-breaker, so 2nd I guess.

Josh – 23rd the last two years

Mike – I believe it was 16th place last year

What was the general tackle you used on game day?

Aaron – I caught my first couple of fish on a white fluke. A couple on the tube but my main hitter was a baby brush hog with the tail dipped in chartreuse.

Spencer –Bone strike king popper in the morning, weightless Yamamoto Senko all day, Ned rig with a Missle Baits Ned bomb in the afternoon.

Chad – Ended up catching 3 of my best 5 on a popper, and 2 on a texas rigged beaver.

Josh – War Eagle Screamin Eagle Spinnerbait and a Junebug Wack-O from AAFC Bait Co.

Mike – Finesse worm fluke and senko on a bed head wacky.

How far did you have to travel to find your fish? If you are willing, please give the general area(s) of the lake you fished.

Aaron – I didn’t have to travel far. Maybe about a mile all day going back and forth on 2 different stretches. I stayed in view of my truck most of the day. I was around the Cedar Park area. I was fortunate to be able to stay in the same creek all day.

Spencer – I found my fish all fairly close to my launch up a river arm. Caught fish anywhere from the backs of creeks to the main lake and in-between.

Chad – Stayed within a mile of the ramp and fished lower lake.

Josh – I fished E of Ruark Bluff, had about a 2 mile run to the mouth of the creek arm and fished that whole creek most of the day until late when I went to the main lake area and fished some bluffs.

Mike – I traveled about a mile to get to my spot i was fishing around Mutton Creek

What depth range were you looking for (what was your water temp/clarity)?

Aaron – After the first few fish, I decided to keep my water 5 foot or less. If I went any deeper, I wasn’t getting bit or it would be little guys. I actually shut my sonar off all day as I usually do when I’m dirt shallow so I didn’t see the water temp but once. I think it was low 70s and had about 2-foot visibility.

Spencer – All of my bites came from about 1-8ft of water and my visibility had some stain to it, probably around 2ft of visibility. I was pretty surprised by how warm the water had gotten as the day went on. The warmest area being around 78 degrees.

Chad – Water temp was lower 70’s and about 4’ of visibility.   Popper fish were over 10’-15’ of water.   Beaver fish were less than 5’ deep.

Josh – Less than 10ft all day

Mike – I was looking for depth of 10 to zero feet water temp was 67 visibility was 4 feet

Did you lose any fish that would have made a difference or do you have a story to tell about your biggest bass of the day?

Aaron – I did lose one fish that might have given me another half inch or so but I only seen it for a split second. I had blue gill beds under me and it seemed like every indention in the bush line behind them held a fish. My better fish came around those beds.

Spencer – Caught a 19″ post spawner in the morning on a Senko and had to get in the bushes to dig it out. Also had what I believe to be about a 16-inch fish come off at the boat on a Ned rig that would’ve possibly put me in 1st with an hour to go.

Chad – I did not lose any fish that would have helped.   I caught my last upgrade with 6min to go in the event, and that last cull is what bumped me up to 3rd.

Josh – Pretty clean all day, did lose the tension cap on my spinning reel so I ended the day throwing a weightless wack-O on a baitcaster the last 2 hrs.  Shimano SLX MGL 70 is amazing

Mike – I had a fish over 20 come up out of a tree thought it ate my senko but it missed it outside of that I fished clean

See any wildlife worth mentioning?

Aaron – No abnormal sightings of wildlife. But I will say after all these years I still find it neat to watch the bucks protect their fry. It’s awesome to watch nature in its prime, following their instincts. The carp were absolutely insane, they were all but flopping on the bank trying to get their spawn on.

Spencer – No report

Chad – Not that I can recall

Josh – Not much wildlife this time, but the most amazing sunrise ever

Mike – Couple turtles

What are your tournament fishing plans for 2024?

Aaron – My plan for the rest of the year is to keep plugging away at the MoYak Lake series and river series. Also, try to jump into as many AAKS as time allows. Also, jump into Sunday series and midweeks too.

Spencer – As far as the rest of the 2024 tournament season goes I plan to fish the rest of the main series Saturday events. It’ll be a good learning experience seeing as I haven’t fished hardly any of the remaining lakes for this year but it’ll be a good time regardless of how I finish.

Chad – Focusing on MOYak Trail, Onlines, and AAKS.

Josh – Moyak lake and river series.

Mike – Really unknown at this point. My sister was killed in a hit-and-run walking home from the gas station on St Patrick’s Day since then I was going to quit fishing and sell my kayak the reason I didn’t sign up for Truman Moyak is the all American was going to be my last tournament but I’ll just let time decide on what the year holds.

Do you have any sponsor or personal shout-outs you’d like to give?

Aaron – I do want to thank all my sponsors for everything they do to keep myself and others on the water. Makes life a lot easier when your gear keeps up with the amount of days we spend on the water. Also my fellow Eco guys. We have a blast at camps and we’re always willing to lend each other a hand. This is only my second year competing and I owe a lot to some of them for having my back.

Spencer – I want to thank Eco Fishing Shop for the continued support and congratulations to the rest of the winners for this event. I’d also like to thank MOYAK and Joshua Boothe for hosting these great events.

Chad – Old Town, H2 Bait Design, Everharts Outdoors, Cashion Rods, Council Bluff Crankbaits, Dungarees Carhartt, and Apex Tackle Co.    Shout out to Josh for all his work, Troy for all his behind-the-scenes work to support the series, and Dominguez for doing pics, social, and podcasts.  It is all much appreciated!

Josh – As always the Eco Fishing BW132 handled the long runs like a champ. Bait WRX for all the tackle and AAFC for the Wack-O and all my other plastics.

Mike – Id like to thank you and Josh for all the hard work you guys put in and Jonathan Dominguez for getting us a podcast and lake information always a great watch.

Derby Stats
Anglers 65
Fish caught – 365 (FPA – 5.6)
Total limits – 47 (72%)
Margin of victory – 1.5″
Twenty+ Club – Blake Weilant (20″)
Trash Pot – Lando Mitchell – 20.25″ Catfish
Smallest Bass Award – William Abell 8″
Air temp at launch – 61
Air temp at takeout – 78
Water temps reported – Low to Mid 70s