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Stockton Lake Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The walleye surprise of the Ozarks: clear, windy and underrated.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Gauge
862.26 ft
Air / High
81 / 81 F
Wind
SSE 8 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 06918990, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Stockton Lake rewards those who follow the bait as the water cools. The gauge reads 862.27 ft, 4.73 ft below pool, easing 0.11 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind SSE around 8 mph, steady pressure near 1019 hPa and a high of 81. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:51 AM-11:51 AM and 10:19 PM-12:19 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

WalleyeGood

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Northern pikeGood

The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

White bassFair

The spring run happens in this band: tributaries, shoals and the upper ends of reservoirs as the water reaches about 55Β°F.

CrappieFair

Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

Tomorrow: Similar at 83 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Missouri requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $14.00 for residents. What a Missouri licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing walleye here? Check the size and bag limits with MDC before you keep anything. The season dates for Missouri, read off the agency, are on the Missouri seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Stockton Lake near Stockton, MO.

Gauge height, last 30 days

USGS gauge 06918990. Conservation pool is 867 ft.

863.10864.63866.17pool 867862.27 ft09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp81 F
High / Low81 / 49 F
WindSSE 8-10 mph
Pressure1019.1 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:30 / 18:26
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Stockton Lake this week

The best day on Stockton Lake this week looks like Monday Oct 26, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Monday, Oct 26 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:51 AM-11:51 AM and 10:19 PM-12:19 AM
Minor period
4:13 AM-5:13 AM
Sun
07:30 to 18:26
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 11 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Stockton Lake: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

White bass illustration

White bass

Best: the spring run up the tributaries, then summer surface schools

A silvery temperate bass of rivers and large reservoirs, also called sand bass, that schools in open water after shad and runs up tributaries to spawn in early spring. The spring run happens in this band: tributaries, shoals and the upper ends of reservoirs as the water reaches about 55Β°F.

Northern pike illustration

Northern pike

Best: cool water, from ice-out through spring, in fall and under the ice

A long, duck-billed predator of weedy lakes, slow rivers and backwaters that ambushes fish from vegetation. Wisconsin DNR points out that, unlike most of the state's common game fish, pike do their best feeding in cool water. The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

When to come: the Stockton Lake calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Walleye
White bass
Northern pike
Crappie
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Stockton Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 80 F, wind to 3 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 73 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 74 F, wind to 7 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Missouri requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Walleye: 15-inch minimum, 4/day. Black bass 15-inch/6. Confirm with MDC.

Access

State park, Orleans Trail, Mutton Creek, Crabtree Cove ramps; marina at the state park.

About this water

24,900 acres on the Sac River, Cedar/Dade/Polk counties, MO. Corps of Engineers, impounded 1969.

Fishing Stockton Lake: the full guide

Missouri's walleye water

Stockton behaves like a northern lake dropped into southwest Missouri: clear water, pea-gravel points and a genuine walleye population that locals defend like a secret. Add magnum white bass runs up the Sac and Little Sac arms, smallmouth on the rock and summer topwater, and Stockton earns its cult. Sailboats own the wind; anglers own the dawn.

The walleye calendar

Stockton walleye run the Ozark-fringe cycle: March spawners on the dam riprap at night, May-June on wind-blown flats with jig-and-crawler, summer trolled over 20-30 ft channel breaks. Annual stockings plus clear water grow them fat: a 25-incher surprises no local.

Wind, sails and structure

Stockton's steady southwest wind made it Missouri's sailing lake: for anglers it is a positioning tool. Wind-blown points load with white bass and walleye; calm coves hold spring crappie; and the highway CC bluffs give smallmouth a rocky home rare for the region. Chart the wind first, the map second.

Common questions

Is Stockton really Missouri's best walleye lake?

By density and size together it leads the conversation with Bull Shoals: clear water plus a steady stocking program built a genuine destination fishery two hours from Springfield or KC.

Walleye on Ozark wind

Stockton runs Missouri's steadiest walleye program on its clear Ozark flats: jig-and-minnow springs on the gravel points, summer crawler harnesses over 15-25 ft, and an October blade bite the locals keep quiet. The lake's steady wind (sailors love it for a reason) is the walleye angler's friend: drift the windward flats and let the chop do the presenting.

Is fishing good at Stockton Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Pomme de Terre Lake29 miTruman Lake36 miBennett Spring44 miNiangua River44 miLake of the Ozarks56 miLake Taneycomo65 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 06918990 β€” Stockton Lake near Stockton, MO
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 20:30 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 37.5475, -93.6169 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.