Dock Shootin’ Questions? ? ?

Ok Guys. . . I am back on the water with a nice pedal kayak. Cedar Creek Lake is convenient and so I went today to try the bridges and some dock shooting. Bridges were a bust, so I went to the docks. I go from one dock to the next and get nothing. I did get one bite that was a Good one, but didn’t get the hook set. Even when I had my boat, I never did any good dock shooting. I watch plenty of guys on YouTube doing it, but I never have the same result. Anyway, here are some questions.

- Is there a better time of year than another to hit the docks?
- Is late spring and summer good. . . I would assume the shade in the summer would be good, but the water still might be too warm in 6’ even though it’s in the shade.
- I was using primarily a 1/16oz jig head. Ever so often trying a 1/8oz.
- Is there a certain thing I need to look for in a dock that might hold the fish better.

I think those questions will get me started. I just don’t know why a good sunny day like today didn’t have any crappie under the docks.

Thanks guys.

I dock shoot from my native slayer so I hope I can help. From my experience, now is past the best time to dock shoot. Typically April and may are prime months. Right now, they are on deeper docks and just in less docks than they were in April. I would not even stop on a dock right now without it having at least 8-10 ft of depth under it. Water gets hot and they only get on deeper docks (not many on cedar creek). I only use a 1/16th oz jig head when dock shooting. Most hit it on the fall and the lighter jig head gives it more fall time and more time to get bit. I like docks with big decks. The bigger the deck, the more shade and more chance for it to hold a school of crappie. I typically catch fish under the decks and not so much around the boat slip part. I hope this helps!

Ahaaaaaaa. . . Yeah, I was thinking the water may be too warm. Thanks for the info.

Try to find the wet slips that are used without a Yacht in it and no lift. Fish love the shade. If you park in the wet slip and it's a good one your fish finder will light up with fish at different depths. If you don't see fish you gotta move. At PK in summer I see Crappie at 25-40 feet. I fish for these guys same way as on a bridge with a barrel sinker above a swivel with Fluorocarbon leader to jig or minnow. I drop it down below them and slowly bring it through the school stopping for 7-10 seconds every crank.

That’s pretty solid advice right there!! Had a couple kiddos on the boat the other day and they wanted to reel so we left the timber and I would shoot a jig in there and let them reel it back slowly and they put 15-20 in the cooler that way! We finally got them satisfied playing with the minnows and I got grandpa back in the timber to finish up the trip! If your new to dock shooting pick up some thump chubbies from Constant Pursuit Outfitters. Shadow boy. White hot and ghost minnow are my favorites. They skip better than anything I’ve seen and can help you get back under the docks farther!

I agree with the above. But, Cedar creek has a lot of shallow docks but only a few deep ones that are scattered.

I may only fish 10-15 docks per outing and will usually catch lots from most of them but they may be scattered over 5 miles of shoreline. Tough to do in a kayak. I spent many days locating the deeper and productive ones.

I started somewhere south of the spillway and worked north up the west side checking docks near points. I found about 10-12 deep docks that held fish and marked those.
I most cases I only caught 2-3 fish per dock but added up that’s a nice stringer. I’m sure I covered 3-4 miles or more. With a little effort over time it gets easier to spot docks worth checking.

That is exactly how it is there this time of year. I would go through 2 tanks of gas when I had the boat and would maybe have 15 nice fish to show for it. Would only catch a couple per dock. Now April and May are completely different stories.

This time of year I look for structure around 15 feet on channel bends, creek mouths, and saddles. If I find them near docks with structure, I can usually catch them on the docks early in the morning. They will bounce from deep to shallow structure after a mild night.