It's been a while since I have gone fishing, but I was wondering if there are any good places around Katy/Houston, or within 100 miles or so to fish for crappie on a bank or pier?

I remember going to Lake Sommerville as a kid, before they removed the floating dock/marina from Overlook park where we used to go almost every weekend. Thanks.

no suggestions?

This time of year is tough for crappie bank fisherman. I don't know your area at all either but even if you lived here I could probably only tell you 3 or 4 places out of all the lakes in the metroplex...

Thanks for the reply,and for the help. You are most likely right, I didn't think about that.

MWfisher,
I am also looking for crappie and I don't have a boat. I am thimking of going out to one of the state parks, renting a canoe, an hopefully finding them.

Good Luck!

Are you in the DFW??? If so I would recomend trying White Rock ake. Get a kyak and fish the bridge columns and timber in the creeks... This is a hot technique in the Fall winter and spring. Also might wanna try hiring a guide. Carey With, texasoklahomafishingguide.com... Really popular guide. Also the max hp motor for the lake is 9.9hp

Hey Mark Ray. What bank spots do you know of in DFW for Crappie?

Try White Rock, amazing crappie fishing action out there in the fall-spring.... Head to the creeks in the winter. Fish will hold to the bridge columns from my experience. Cast a 1/8oz chart. Road runner tword them, let it sink then reel slowly.

Thanks so much Crappieking. I will give it a try.

-Crappie Fishing the Creeks: Quick notes.

- Jig and Bobber-(bobber is a peggable 2 inch slip on line type so you can adjust it as you move about the creek into different depths, or your typical slip bobber w/ bobber stopper for fishing deeper than 5 ft.) 1/32 oz jig w/ 4-6 lb line (fluorocarbon is my choice) Here in the DFW area I use a pink headed jig w/ a black and chartreuse hard body plastic, not hollow tube. (Just my preference so I can thread diff colors on the hook throughout the day if needed. Hollow tube style you have to cut the line to change colors.)-A minnow will work with these two rigs as well.
- 6.5 to 7 foot rod medium action. I don�t care to much for the ultra light gear. My creeking gear consists of a Berkley Cherrywood Rod ($20) w/ a Quantum Optix 20 Spinning Reel ($20), Berkley Trilene XL mono ($5-$6), and at the end of the line I tie on 6 ft of Fluorocarbon 6 lb ($5-$6) The creeks are usually pretty clear around the DFW area in the winter.
- Polarized Glasses- takes the glare off the water so you can see fish and structure
- Baseball Cap- Helps with the glare
- During the winter, the shad migrate up the creeks to follow the shad. If the shad stay in the main lake in some areas that are shallow, they will die. The creeks are usually warmer than the main lake with rocks and mud that hold heat. Some days the shad get so thick it looks like you can walk across the creek on them.
- Look for stucture- crappie obviously holds to structure. A small boulder, tree, brush, sunken objects, debris piles, trash build ups (foam, plastic, and other floatable objects build up behind a laid downed tree; it produces a tent for the crappie. They will be stacked up under the mat of trash on the surface. And usually there is some good structure under the trash mat. Just poke a hole in the mat with a stick and make a hole to fish in. You will be amazed what comes out of them. Last year I stayed most of the year in an area with two debris piles, one up stream and one downstream about 30 yards. In between them was a 10 foot deep pocket connected to a sandbar w/ a channel that was 3 ft deep nearby as well. The crappie would push the shad up onto the sandbar and pick them off all day long. My bobber was set at 2.5 ft for most of the season till I moved to another creek later in the season. I would watch many people walk by this spot and never see the fish. If, they had Polarized glasses on, they might have seen them swimming right there. The water temp was 41 degrees with an outside temp of 32-38 and they were in 3-4 ft of water. Crazy stuff sometimes. Look for creek bends as well. There are usually deep pockets right at the bends.
-Stay out of fast moving water
-if you catch one crappie, there are more right where you got that one usually.
- if you dot catch anything in 15 minutes of covering every depth in one little area, MOVE!
- If the barometric air pressure is 30.20 or above, clean the house or something. They have headaches basically and usually won�t bite. (in my opinion fishing over the years in "shallow waters": 29.80 and below are good fishing, falling pressure is usually better, rising pressure usually turns them off a bit.)

Another good crappie dock in DFW is Lake Arlinton at Bowman Springs.