Crappie Dock Fishing
Fishermen always have an open ear, listening for a tip. Hopefully, some good information will lead to a successful outing. Although I don’t rely on such information in order to catch fish, I still listen. Only on rare occasions (if I am not having any action) will I try to take a stranger’s advice.
The other day we were videotaping an upcoming bass show and the action was slow. But word around the lake was that a boy had been catching his limit of crappie every time he fished. So we switched gears and I tracked the kid down.
His name is Jay Jackson (13 years old) and he agreed to tell me the exact boat dock the crappie were under. “I’ll be out of school and to the dock by 4:30 Mr. Warren. I’ll show you how to catch ‘em,” he said. I thought to myself, “I can catch these crappie on my own.” Then I quickly found the dock and fished it thoroughly. No fish. Not even a bite. I thought this kid got the best of me. Just another fishing story. I was reassured by the folks around the dock that Jay would show up and he would catch his limit of crappie. So I decided to wait and see.
At 4:30 Jay and his friend showed up with a small rod/reel combo, a handful of lures and a stringer. I explained that the crappie had moved and I had tried it for hours with no luck.
Jay smiled as he took a small RoadRunner jig and dropped it between the slats on the dock floor. Only a small gap, barely big enough for the lure was between the floorboards. Before the lure fell 3 feet, Jay hooked a crappie and then fell to the floor on his stomach. Reaching under the dock with one hand and sliding the hooked crappie with the other, he came up with a nice keeper. “There are hundreds of ‘em under here. But you have to fish through the dock. They are not on the edge,” Jay said.
He was right. I dropped my RoadRunner through the floor and caught one after another. We all did. It looked funny to see us laying flat and pulling out our catch but it worked. The best part was capturing it on video.
Jay made me realize that an angler is never too old to learn a new technique for fishing.