Shooting for Croppy!

Let me start by saying that I love to fish and I don’t care what kind of fish it is. Except when I’m at a bass fishing tournament; then it’s all about the money! Anyway, that will be another story, so let’s have fun and catch lots of fish. My three favorite fish consist of crappie, stripers, and bass. We will start with winter crappie fishing, that is, from October to February. The best Crappie fishing takes place during these months, but most people think that spring is the only time to do it. So I’m going to explain what you need to do to catch these tasty little creatures that God put on earth for you to eat.

Usually in early October I’ll start at the fishing piers. Not just any dock, deep docks with good cover around them, like a boathouse, two story, anything that will provide good shade. We will be photographing these docks with a spinning reel and a very flexible rod. Any real will work, but the rod has to be like a hickory stick. The bait we will be using is a jig, the colors are white, chartreuse, and combinations of different colors to be determined by you and the lake you are on. The weight of the jig is the most important thing, nothing bigger than an eighth of an ounce and as small as you can fish. I like a sixteenth of an ounce in general for everything I do. The slower it sinks, the better off you’ll be. This type of fishing requires a bit of practice on or off the lake. It doesn’t matter, but it will be easier on land the first time you try it. Oh, by the way, I forgot the line size. The smaller the line, the farther you can shoot. The six to eight pound test works great for me and helps save jigs in heavy deck. Now tie the jig to your rig and let’s start by taking enough line from the reel where you can grab the jig with two fingers by the hook, flip the bail on the reel, bend the rod in two holding the jig and try to fire it. to the general direction. Over a period of time, you will be able to place this bait anywhere you want. I’ve been doing this so long that I can shoot the jig from one end of a dock to the other.

Now let’s start fishing since I’m done bragging! Go to your favorite lake, pull up to a nice deep dock, and start shooting. Once the jig hits the water try to tighten the line because it can take only a second to get a bite and sometimes you have to let it go all the way to the bottom. Most of your hits will come in the fall, so be prepared at all times. If you don’t hit on the first drop, then put it back in the boat by lifting the rod tip up and letting it drop again. Work the bait all the way back to the boat because a lot of people put wood at the end of their docks. If your lake is like the one I fish for, the power company lowers the water level five feet in the winter to control flooding. This is really an advantage for me because I can go under the pier and jig vertically in certain places, but while I’m under these piers I’m still shooting places I can’t get to. Just remember to never give up. I have fished docks with double boat docks – the first one with no bite, the one with the pontoon under it that holds fifty fish!

This type of fishing can be very productive and is a lot of fun. Some of my friends and I even went out to see who could catch the most fish and got a little crazy like shooting through tires stuck to the docks to protect the boat and having to get the fish through the hole in the tire. Shooting under the pontoons is also a lot of fun. It’s a challenge because there are so many things to get hooked on. What I’m trying to say is that this is a wonderful way to fish and a good way to load up the livewell for the long winter months ahead. Give it a try and if you have any questions about this type of fishing please contact me or Ed at BamaBassFishing.com. Stay warm and stay safe!