Finally...

….for the first time I felt like i knew what I was doing. I have been after crappie going on two years, coming to this site and watching YouTube, trying to learn how to catch these things. Oh, I can sit on a tree top with a bucket of minnows in the spring and catch a mess but plastic, forget about it. Last week a guy at a marina told me to try some docks sitting in deep water. I found a community dock, roofed with a dozen slips, in sixteen feet of water. Some of the slips were empty so I could drift in close to the central walkway that ran the length of the dock. I started shooting a two inch crappie assassin under the walkway with a 5.5 foot rod, I was getting little tics but couldn't hook up Then I started line watching. When I saw something that didn't seem normal I set the hook. I started catching fish! When I drifted into vacant slips the sonar showed me fish from ten to six feet depth. I started vertical jigging, counting down from the surface or up from the bottom, like I read about on this site. Again nothing hammered the jig but when the line moved I set the hook and began catching again. A lot of times the taunt line would suddenly go slack. It took me a time or two to catch on but finally figured out that the crappie must have been coming up and taking the jig. I caught twenty or so and took home enough for a good feed. I felt like I gained a lot confidence on that trip. When I was catching them on the two inch winnow colored Alewife I tried switching to other colors trying to get them to hit more but they wouldn't have it. I remembered what I had read, "give them what they want", and stuck with the Alewife. and kept catching them until they quit. I want to thank all of you that post and explain different techniques and especially all of you that took the time to answer my endless questions.

Awesome! Sounds like you're hooked now. :highfive

Gonna get yourself hooked on shooting docks:biggrin
Congrats on a great time on the water

You hear people all the time saying ... " I live for the thump" ... and while I also enjoy getting my jig "thumped", I REALLY get excited when I get that sudden slack line :woohoo

And yes, you are correct that the fish has come up from underneath the jig and grabbed it ... but their momentum took them past that point, which created the slack line. I've had that happen to me more often when *Vertical Casting, than when simply casting/retrieving.

*Vertical Casting explained -- Just a moment...

We really appreciate you posting the kudos to those that may have helped you ... that's the whole idea & spirit of this great website and its awesome members.

Good job! Congratulations on your success

Happens a lot when slowly swinging a jig from under a dock. Can't feel the jig anymore set the hook

Glad it worked for you. I love it when the light comes on. A very good lesson learned.

That’s awesome! Dock shooting is hard to beat in my opinion.


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slack line bites make my day , and as it is what it is , color does most definitely matter , size has play in it and for sure if you can piece together the puzzle , you can ketch crappie with great consistency , congrats and KABOOM

Congrats on your success! It’s a great feeling when you figure them out


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Your 'vertical casting post" was the one that put me onto that way of fishing. Thanks

You learned a valuable lesson. Become a line watcher don't depend on the tip of your rod. Hi-vis line really helps with line watching. It's great when you execute everything you read about and the plan comes together. CONGRATS!

Congrats!! I hope to be there soon too! Just finishing these last two classes and I'll be hitting water trying to put these tips to use!

Congrats on putting it all together and making it work. I was in your shoes with the same sense of accomplishment 10 or 11 years ago and I know what you're feeling. It's a great feeling, isn't it?

Happens more with white crappie than blacks on my lake but I don’t even feel the bite I just see them fly up past the jig on livescope so I set the hook