Fishing in Lake Stockton

About 51 road miles northeast of Springfield in the Ozarks of southwestern Missouri, Lake Stockton is a 25,000-acre Corps of Engineers flood-control, power, and recreation reservoir on the Sac River that was fully impounded in 1971. It contains good populations of largemouth bass, walleye, and crappie, and is considered by many an overlooked body of water. Smallmouth bass, white bass, bluegills, and catfish are also present. Smallmouths aren’t abundant, but they have been of good size; the lake produced a state-record 7.2-pound smallmouth in 1994.

Ultraclear water often makes this lake hard to fish. That water clarity makes it a favorite with divers, however. It is also popular with sailors, who take advantage of its preponderance for wind. Being somewhat like a prairie lake, Stockton does not benefit from the protection of hills, as other Missouri impoundments do, so it is prone to wind at all times, especially early in the year.