Stockton Lake, Missouri – In a thrilling showdown on a warm Saturday in early June, the MoYak Fishing Series Kayak Bass Trail sponsored by Old Town Kayaks held its third stop of the season on Stockton Lake. The event saw a record-breaking turnout of 88 anglers, who battled it out to secure their spot in the prestigious tournament. With an impressive fish-per-angler ratio of 5.52 and a remarkable 67% of the field submitting a limit of bass, it was fierce competition from start to finish. In fact, only 8.5″ separated the top 20!

At the end of the day, it was Mason Brock who emerged as the victor, claiming his first win with MoYak. Brock secured an 84.75″ bag, narrowly edging out his closest competitor, Chris Robbs, by 2.75″. Rounding out the top five were three rookies who are all in contention for the ROY title; Lando Mitchell, Zach Woolverton, and Pat Lassek.

On the team side, Everharts A-Team, consisting of Chad Davison and Chris Robbs, secured an impressive victory with a combined total of 99.5″. Their triumph not only solidified their dominance in the event but also gave them a substantial lead in the Team AOY (Angler of the Year) race as they head into the fourth stop of the season on Truman at the end of the month.

Mason Brock, the eventual winner, had planned to target schooling fish on or around main lake points. However, he quickly adjusted his strategy when he found that the fish were scattered. Brock capitalized on his adaptability and caught fish around points using a shaky head, drop shot, and finesse jig.

Chris Robbs, who finished in second place, employed a methodical approach, covering water and targeting post-spawn bass transitioning into their summer homes. Despite the tough pre-fishing conditions, Robbs slowed down his presentation and relied on a mix of topwater lures, crankbaits, and soft plastics.

Lando Mitchell, the third-place finisher, initially planned to throw topwater lures early and transition to crankbaits or chatterbaits. However, his strategy did not pan out as expected. Mitchell primarily relied on Texas-rigged worms throughout the day, with his final two fish coming from a bluff wall.

Zachary Woolverton, who finished fourth, had a comprehensive game plan that involved starting with topwater lures and gradually slowing down his presentation as the day progressed. Despite the challenges of the morning, Woolverton found success using an underspin with a 4-inch swimbait, a worm, a jig, and a chad shad.

Pat Lassek, who secured fifth place, employed a similar strategy, using topwater and moving baits early in the day and transitioning to a slower presentation once the sun was high. He targeted rock walls and points in the 8-12 ft range and managed to cull multiple times throughout the day.

Here are your top ten for the 2023 MoYak Stop #3 Stockton presented by Everhart’s Outdoors.

Mason Brock – 84.75″
Chris Robbs – 82″
Lando Mitchell – 81″
Zachary Woolverton – 80″
Pat Lassek – 80″
Joe Hayes – 79.75″
Brian Hillman – 79.75″
Trevor Motzkus – 79″
Cody Huffman – 79″
Johnathan Dominguez – 78.5″

Team Winners
Everharts A-Team (Chad Davison & Chris Robbs) 99.5 (Best 3 from each angler)

Let’s take a closer look at the top five finishers and hear how they navigated the challenging conditions on Stockton Lake in their own words:

What was your strategy going into the day?

• Mason – Looking for schooling fish on or around main lake points. Plan didn’t fully come into play. Schooling fish weren’t there. But they were scattered around the points.
• Chris – My strategy was to fish methodically and cover water. I figured the majority of fish were post spawn and moving into their summer homes.
• Lando – My strategy going in was to throw top water early and then transition to a crank bait, chatter bait, or something along those lines that was moving. That’s not what worked at all.
• Zachary – My plan was to start with top water throwing a spook and buzzbait shallow to find a fast limit hopefully then as the sun and heat started I would slow down cover water and look for upgrades throughout the day using a worm, jig, and a 4in swimbait on an underspin. I also threw the chad shad more as a searching bait to see if I could get followers or find some big fish then get the bite with another bait.
• Pat – Topwater and moving baits early then dragging something slow after the sun got high.

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

• Mason – I wasn’t able to prefish.
• Chris – I was able to pre fish Friday. It helped a little bit. Prefishing was tough for me so I kind of knew I was going to have to slow down to get some bites and that I was going to need to learn on the fly.
• Lando – I did not get to pre fish. I’m actually new to Missouri all together. I did map studies on the lake and saw the lake for the first time at my launch.
• Zachary – Nope
• Pat – I fished a couple hrs Friday and found an area that I felt I could get a very small limit pretty quick.. I wasn’t very confident.

What was your best finish on Stockton before this?

• Mason – Took a few checks in small bass boat tournaments before getting into the kayak world. 4th in the Moyak winter series.
• Chris – 3rd
• Lando – As I stated before I’m new here. Still in my first year of living in Missouri so I’m still meeting people and learning everything I can about the area and culture.
• Zachary – This is my rookie season but I did fish Stockton Lake only last year and took 9th just out of the money.
• Pat – First time fishing Stockton.

What was the general tackle you used?

• Mason – Shaky Head, drop shot, finesse jig
• Chris – Mixed bag. Topwater, crankbaits, and soft plastics.
• Lando – Soft plastics have always been a big part of my arsenal. All but one of my catches came on Texas Rigged worms. That one other smallmouth was caught on a Cranky Yanky Jig.
• Zachary – I did not catch any top water fish and hadn’t figured much out until about 9 am when the worm and jig bite picked up in the timber and tree tops. I didn’t have much figured out. I used an underspin with a 4in swimbait, a 6th sense crankbait, a Senko worm, a pb and j jig, and a chad shad to catch my fish.
• Pat – My main baits were spinnerbait and frog fishing shallow

How far did you have to travel to find your fish – General area of the lake you chose?

• Mason – Pretty much started fishing the main lake from my ramp around mid-lake and heading north. I did point hop for roughly 4-4.5 miles.
• Chris – Upper end. Started fishing near the launch and covered a lot of water from there.
• Lando – From my map study I thought I was gonna make a long run right off the bat. Once I launched I looked around a bit and decided to stay where I was at. I stayed there most the morning and ended up not going more than 10 minutes from where I started.
• Zachary – North end on the east side. I did travel in the morning quite a ways to find some fish. They weren’t where I planned on them being and they weren’t feeding like I had hoped so most of my morning was wasted looking for fish. I had to push further toward the main lake and less into the cove. Also, deeper structure was key.
• Pat – Saturday I was able to get a small limit in 30 minutes only about a 15-minute peddle from my launch…

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

• Mason – Every fish but one came from 4-6ft deep. 80° water temp, roughly. 15ft visibility.
• Chris – 1-10ft, 78-81 degrees, 1-2ft visibility.
• Lando – To start off I targeted 10′ and under. As the day got further along I slowly moved deeper. To end the day I moved over to a bluff wall where I caught my last two fish. I tried to make sure I was in somewhat stained water all day. I also avoided a couple of pockets that were quite a bit warmer than the points I had been getting bites on earlier in the day.
• Zachary – Water temp was 79 to 80 degrees and easily 6 to 8ft water clarity. I was fishing in 8 to 10ft water.
• Pat – Once the sun came out, I started to fish painstakingly slow in the 8-12 ft range on rock walls and points to cull a few more times.

Did the weather affect your bite?

• Mason – I don’t feel it did. Boat traffic and fishing pressure from bass boats did though.
• Chris – I think the heat and bluebird skies made the bite a little tougher.
• Lando – Early in the week I thought things were gonna be a lot different weather-wise. As the week went on what I was going to throw changed. Once I was out there I just followed the fish out deeper as the day went on.
• Zachary – Not really. It was hot and I think that made the bite a little slower than I anticipated.
• Pat – Had to slow down after the sun came out.

Anything else special about the day?

• Mason – Thankful to be able to have fished clean!
• Chris – Just a beautiful day on the water.
• Lando – The thing that stood out most to me was that I only ever saw one other competitor. I saw him when I launched and when I loaded back up. I thought for sure that morning I had made a mistake in my research.
• Zachary – I was cruising through a cove when I saw a nice bass guarding some fry. I threw in a swimbait and it swiped at it and missed the hooks. As I went for another cast I got a phone call asking how the tournament was going and it wound up spooking the bass and I was very upset. I went around and fished the rest of cove and made my way back to the spot. To my luck and surprise the bass was still there I threw the chad shad in and right as it went by the fry the bass attacked it and I landed my biggest fish of the day. A solid 18in bass which enviably pushed me into the top 5.
• Pat – After I got my limit I just covered a lot of water and I was fortunate to upgrade the rest of day. I think I culled 12 times

Big Bass Story?

• Mason – About 2 hours left, scanning with my live scope. I saw 2 fish in about 18ft of water. I casted across a point to them. It landed just passed the fish. Immediately my jig became hung in the rocks. Trying to pull it out it wouldn’t budge. Finally I wrapped the line around my hand to pull it out or break it. It came loss. Unwrapping my hand the line was slack. Reeling the slack out, it became heavy and pulling back. Ended up being my 20.5 inch big fish. Talk about lucky!
• Chris – Big drum story 🙂
• Lando – No report
• Zachary – No report
• Pat – No report

See any wildlife worth mentioning?

• Mason – Several Bald Eagles, love watching them!
• Chris – Bald eagle
• Lando – No report
• Zachary – No report
• Pat – No report

Lose any bigguns?

• Mason – This time, thankfully no!
• Chris – Fished clean! Very important with this bunch!
• Lando – No report
• Zachary – No report
• Pat – No report

Do you plan to fish the remaining MoYak schedule?

• Mason – I plan to fish everything from here on out. As long as work allows.
• Chris – Absolutely!
• Lando – I do plan to fish all of this year’s events. I’m a rookie this year for Mo-Yak and I would love to end up on top for the Rookie of the Year points!
• Zachary – Yes! Shooting for rookie of the year and possibly a shot at angler of the year. I don’t think I will be able to achieve that one quite yet though.
• Pat – I’m hoping to make some more events

Derby Stats
Anglers 88 (New Stockton Record)
Fish caught – 486
Total limits – 59 (67%)
Margin of victory – 2.75″
Trash Pot – Aaron Gardner (20″ Flathead)
Smallest Bass Award – William Abell 7″
Air temp at launch – 75
Air temp at takeout – 89
Water temps reported – Mid to High 80’s