Thread: Dock shooting, what time of year? What bait? What rod?

Tim , crappie will use docks all year but you have to fish the right docks for the time of year you are fishing. Summer will have crappie using docks in all depths and sunny days will have the crappie looking for the shade a dock offers. In colder months I like to fish the docks that are the closest to deep water. Understand that if you are in a cove with 10' being the deepest water in the cove fish the docks closest to the 10' depth although you will not find many times in the winter that crappie are this shallow in deep lakes. Sunny days are the best to shot docks but they still use docks on cloudy days to. Hartwell has depths over 100' deep and the main feeder rivers have deep channels that can go from say 10' to 60' in a short distance. If fishing in a area like this on a cold day I will fish the docks that are the closest to the deepest water although the docks them self may only be in 15' depth. Last week I shot docks on Hartwell and only found crappie under two docks out of the 50 or so I fished. No good reason they picked the two docks they were under so at time you will spend more time fishing than catching but when you find the right docks they can pay off Bigtime.

For the rod you want a 5' to 7' medium action. I used Ulgystick rods for a long time and they can shoot the jig very well but now I use the BmM sharpshooter using 4 lb line.
For jigs a 1/32, 1/24 & 1/16 oz are used the most with the 1/32 used 90% of the time. I always use handtied jigs but plastics will do the job also. Slow falling jigs and light line is a must for me. Most bites will be light so watching the line for movement will put fish in the boat.
For jig colors pick white, white/chart, chartreuse seem to work well. I also use a lot of jigs with squirrel tail and a mix of body color and am always testing new jigs.

To learn to shot the jigs practice at home using a 5 gallon bucket as the target and when you get good at hitting the 5 gallon drop down to a gallon size can as the target. There will be a lot of small places you will have to hit. Be ready to lose many jigs because of cross braces and other stuff that is put or is washed under docks.

Like other styles of crappie fishing time on the lake shooting docks will help more than anything I or anyone can say but I'm here if you need any help.


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Originally Posted by STUMP HUNTER

Tim , crappie will use docks all year but you have to fish the right docks for the time of year you are fishing. Summer will have crappie using docks in all depths and sunny days will have the crappie looking for the shade a dock offers. In colder months I like to fish the docks that are the closest to deep water. Understand that if you are in a cove with 10' being the deepest water in the cove fish the docks closest to the 10' depth although you will not find many times in the winter that crappie are this shallow in deep lakes. Sunny days are the best to shot docks but they still use docks on cloudy days to. Hartwell has depths over 100' deep and the main feeder rivers have deep channels that can go from say 10' to 60' in a short distance. If fishing in a area like this on a cold day I will fish the docks that are the closest to the deepest water although the docks them self may only be in 15' depth. Last week I shot docks on Hartwell and only found crappie under two docks out of the 50 or so I fished. No good reason they picked the two docks they were under so at time you will spend more time fishing than catching but when you find the right docks they can pay off Bigtime.

For the rod you want a 5' to 7' medium action. I used Ulgystick rods for a long time and they can shoot the jig very well but now I use the BmM sharpshooter using 4 lb line.
For jigs a 1/32, 1/24 & 1/16 oz are used the most with the 1/32 used 90% of the time. I always use handtied jigs but plastics will do the job also. Slow falling jigs and light line is a must for me. Most bites will be light so watching the line for movement will put fish in the boat.
For jig colors pick white, white/chart, chartreuse seem to work well. I also use a lot of jigs with squirrel tail and a mix of body color and am always testing new jigs.

To learn to shot the jigs practice at home using a 5 gallon bucket as the target and when you get good at hitting the 5 gallon drop down to a gallon size can as the target. There will be a lot of small places you will have to hit. Be ready to lose many jigs because of cross braces and other stuff that is put or is washed under docks.

Like other styles of crappie fishing time on the lake shooting docks will help more than anything I or anyone can say but I'm here if you need any help.


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Wow sounds great stump thank you for the extensive reply. Same a photo of the post for future reference. I think my 6' st croix ul with fast action will work just fine then. Thank you.

I think stump hunter just hit the nail on the head with his reply. I prefer using a 4.5-5 ft rod but a lot of folks use a longer rod and probably get a little more distance out of their shots. I'll second 4 lb line and 1/32 oz jigs. The light line is a must and the best jig is a slow falling one for sure. Be sure to watch your line for the subtle bites. You may not feel the bites, your line will twitch or it may just go slack before the bait hits the bottom. Attention to detail is a must. And like stump said, crappie use docks year round. I prefer sunny days and fishing the shade but I've caught fish on docks in overcast conditions as well. Deeper docks relative to the area you are fishing are generally better, but you will find fish on docks that you won't have an explanation for. One spot I've fished in the past is a dock in about 3-4ft of water on Murray. Nothing about it says it'd be a great dock but the fish love it. I've caught a limit from it in the late summer months on more than one occasion. One last thing I'll add is that docks by themselves are generally good. Good luck and be prepared to become addicted. Wateree is a good lake for fishing docks in the spring time. It's been several years since I've tried it over there, but I've done fairly well shooting docks around the state park in March and April.


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Originally Posted by Crappie Buster

I think stump hunter just hit the nail on the head with his reply. I prefer using a 4.5-5 ft rod but a lot of folks use a longer rod and probably get a little more distance out of their shots. I'll second 4 lb line and 1/32 oz jigs. The light line is a must and the best jig is a slow falling one for sure. Be sure to watch your line for the subtle bites. You may not feel the bites, your line will twitch or it may just go slack before the bait hits the bottom. Attention to detail is a must. And like stump said, crappie use docks year round. I prefer sunny days and fishing the shade but I've caught fish on docks in overcast conditions as well. Deeper docks relative to the area you are fishing are generally better, but you will find fish on docks that you won't have an explanation for. One spot I've fished in the past is a dock in about 3-4ft of water on Murray. Nothing about it says it'd be a great dock but the fish love it. I've caught a limit from it in the late summer months on more than one occasion. One last thing I'll add is that docks by themselves are generally good. Good luck and be prepared to become addicted. Wateree is a good lake for fishing docks in the spring time. It's been several years since I've tried it over there, but I've done fairly well shooting docks around the state park in March and April.


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thank you for the reply, that is exactly where i was going to start and up alittle more.

Here is a good video of Pro Mike Parrot shooting docks in Lake Wylie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YGUeH7jc6k

Good video CK.
I shoot a lot of docks while kayak fishing. I set low enough to the water to be able to get my jigs in very tight places. These crappie came out of the same dock, love that tap!


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this is my favorite technique and for me I fish mostly Greenwood. Look for the docks that are well established. One that comes to mind looks like the dock is about to collapse and I pulled 60 off this one dock. I use a 5 6 ultralight uglystick. The slower falling the bait the better. I actually use the smaller trout magnet lures and they are 1/64oz and watch the line. The line will start to move and get ready to set the hook. Black green combo and purple pink work great for me. typically I start targeting docks in the upper end of Greenwood above Harris Landing restaurant in late Feb to early Mar depending on the weather. I usually look for water depths between 4-8 feet of water. Going during the week is better then weekends because people will crowd you when crappie are spawning. It was funny one time I took a buddy from work and we watched a charter boat get all up on our bumper trolling and couldnt get anything and we we all up on the dock wearing them out. White roadrunners 1/16oz work good too when crappie arent quite under the docks but hanging out just on the edge. Ive located some big females early in the season that way.

Micorps ... I started using a 5' UL rod, because it was the only one I had at the time. My mentors were using 6' med action rods. Eventually I switched to a 5'6" ESP UL (fast action), but after breaking it (my fault) I just started shooting docks with my 6'6" ESP PowerLite spinning rod. It works just fine, and it's also my primary jig casting rod, so I can cast or troll a jig between docks as I move from one to the next.
I started with 4lb test (Stren Gold, Mr Crappie, and others) but moved up to 6lb Vicious Panfish copoly for greater strength & abrasion resistance. I use hi-vis, as I have for the last 30yrs or so. I also always use a weedless jighead, usually 1/32oz or 1/16oz, and originally they had a #4 Aberdeen hook ... but I've started using bigger baits than when I originally started, so I've gone to using both those jigheads with a #2 Aberdeen hook. I have them all custom made by the member known as Grousefly. I prefer the ones he makes with the Y-guard, but the fiber brush style work very well, also.

I started shooting docks with what I was familiar with using when casting ... hollow body tubes. Got tired of getting the skirt yanked down on the hook, so I started using glue to hold the tubes on. Got tired of that and went to using solid body tubes ... then on to Panfish Assassins (1.5" size) ... and now use a variety of stinger shad style baits along with the Assassins. Blues, greens, purples, and pinks with a chartreuse tail or belly have been the more productive color combos.

Anytime I'm shooting docks and catching fish from under them ... and the action slows or stops ... I use what I refer to as "Vertical Casting" (esp. around the outer dock support poles). I even use it on deep water tops of blowdowns and brushpiles. I've been using it for probably 40 some years, but just never heard it called by any particular name ... so I made one up for it, and wrote an article about how I do it. Here's the article : Crappie Pappy Article

I don't say so in the article, but I believe it works because you may move the fish from their original position under the dock. By that I mean ... the fish are schooled up under the dock, and when you catch one others may follow. They may give up on the chase, or get spooked by the boat, or whatever ... but they don't always go back to the school, and instead go back to the safety of the shade and ambush point of the support pole. That's my theory, anyway.

I've mostly shot docks at Watts Bar Lake (E TN) & Weiss Lake (Ala), since the lakes I fish locally here in KY don't have stationary docks, and some don't even have private "floating" docks.

Luck2ya, on your dock shooting adventures ... hope it's a blast !!