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

nice article CP thanks for the detailed method.

Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

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 !!

Wow, a lot of good information. Based on rod selection, I think even some of my ML st croix rods for walleyes will work. Good point on hi-vis line. For plastics, it seems everyone has a different preference which makes it difficult or a newbie to figure out where to start, like anything else new, I guess just jump into it and figure it out as I go. =) thank you, sorry for the delay in responding. Just when I think work can get worse, it does.

Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

so I made one up for it, and wrote an article about how I do it. Here's the article : Crappie Pappy Article

Great article!! Thanks.