Help... Crappie Not Biting Under Dock Lights

[nonrev76]

Hi All

I used the search function but can't find the answer to this. Here's the story

I added a couple halogen lights to my dock to attract zoo-plankton and bait fish. It does that job wonderfully. I have a ton of zoo-plankton and little blue minnows that are too small to put on a hook under them. In turn this has attracted HUGE Crappie, Bass and White Perch. I can literally watch them make circle after circle, turn on their side and open their mouths to eat. However I can't catch a single one of them. They REFUSE to bite a single thing I put in the water.

I've tried:

jigs/lures
night crawlers/worms
crappie bites
spinners
rattle baits

I even tried gigging and man those suckers are FAST!

The only thing I haven't tried is a net

My friend suggested that maybe the fish are overfed. But if this is the case why do they continue to circle. Any ideas? I'm willing to try anything short of jumping in.

Thanks you for your attention
Nonrev76

["G"]

Since they are feeding on little baitfish...I would hook a nice minnow just under the dorsal fin and lower it down to them.

[kevinmays]

i am like g3 i would try minnows. seems like a good place to start since they are already feeding on them.

[blairarnold]

Minnows for sure.

[soswine]

How does the size of bait you are using compare to what they are eating? Match the hatch.

[GCD]

I'm pretty sure gigging game fish in N.C. is illegal, so I'd leave that one alone if I was you.

Small minnows or tiny jigs, but don't fish right in the light... fish the dark edges of the light. The fish may be able to see your line in the bright light, I'd recommend 4 lb. test... you may even want to try some fluorocarbon 4#.

Try a 1/32 oz. jig head and a 1-1 1/2" curly tail grub.

[Locator79]

Match the hatch!

[Fatman]

Do you have any cover planted off the end of your dock??? Like others have said don't fish right in the light but off to the edge. While you can see small minnows in the water in the darker water might be larger ones, get some bigger ones and try them.

Fatman

[PBUG2009]

try evening time into dark...if that dont work then try daylight till about 8 am or so

[novato]

maybe try a lil' fishie swim bait in pearl with black back color. I have had GREAT success with these little swim baits fishing under lighted docks at night, when other baits like tubes, roadrunners and grubs were being painfully ignored. tied on a lil fishie and started swimming it through the light and BAM, started catching crappie, bass, white bass, hybrids, whatever is in there. I think it is because as others mentioned, the lil fishie was "matching the hatch"