Oconee 5/18

[Papa Dawg]

We shot docks today. Had 60 by 12:45. Very good day, cloudy and not too hot. Most of the crappie we caught we under docks with 4-6 ft of water. Deeper docks did not produce. Temp 78 degrees.

[gabowman]

Sounds like a great morning. Congrats. Tell me, when the docks are that hot then how is longlining during the same time frame?!? I'm interested to know 'cause I've never went to the trouble of trying to learn dockshooting.:o

[CrappieSnack]

How was the size of the fish?

[ykkapslabhunter]

Gotta sort through the dinks crappiesnack. I fished saturday from 2:30-7:30 and caught somewhere between 80-100 by myself and kept 30. Had 16-18 that would go a lb or a little better and 3 that went lb & 1/2. Wouldn't advise going on the weekends though. Thats probably the roughest I've ever seen oconee on a non windy/stormy day. I had several waves come over the nose of my procraft. Cant imagine what they would have done if I had been in my old tracker. I was really lucky that the lake was down a good bit or would not have been able to fish hardly any of my good docks b/c of all the waves.

[CrappieSnack]

ykk, how do you like shooting out of that procraft compared to the old tracker?

[ykkapslabhunter]

I love it crappiesnack. The shooting part was a little different at first b/c your up a lot higher up but its just a matter of gettin the angle right. Just have to let out a little more line before ya shoot.

Boat is much more stable which helps with boat control and being able to watch ya line better. Takes way more wind and bigger waves to push the procraft around so I spend less time adjusting position with the trolling motor. Also, I always had to lean out over the side of the tracker to shoot so my back was shot at the end of the day. Now I can sit and lean back in my front seat and shoot without having to lean over.

The only thing I miss bout the tracker was i could leave the minn kota down in the water and motor quickly between docks with the big motor. I can still do it with the procraft but it takes a little more time.

[Papa Dawg]

Gabowman - I quit longlinning when it gets hot. Trolling lasted longer this year.
CrappieSnack - Tuesday was my first dockshooting day for this year. We quit early because we had good size fish, 3/4 to 1 1/4 lb. If the fish had been smaller I would have thrown more back and kept fishing. I was not ready to go at 12:45. We actually shot docks in some new areas for about another hr and threw another 10-12 good ones back. Hope to go again friday.

[CrappieSnack]

What area of the lake yall fishing ykk and papa dawg, and ykk im fishing out of a stick steer now and like you mentioned its a lot easier to motor to the next dock w/o moving out of your seat and your sitting closer to the water, but you can take a beaten out there if its not calm and your limited to the distance you can travel b/c of fuel tank/speed. I'm looking to upgrade to something bigger but just can't seem to find the right set up to fish all methods. If you get a chance, I would like to see a pic of your boat and you to papa dawg what kind of boat you fishing out of and lets see a pic if you got one handy. Thanks, crappiesnack. Here is my little boat!:D

[CrappieSnack]

Well my file was to big gona try and reduce it and post.

[ykkapslabhunter]

Here's some of mine CS. Rod holders in the front come off when dock shootin. Saturday I fished from lick to sugar creek. Probably the worst part of the whole lake far as joy riding traffic is concerned but work is keeping me limited to saturday fishing only for now.

Link