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Thread: What is best under dock to attract crappies?

  1. #1
    ranth Guest

    Question What is best under dock to attract crappies?


    I'm wondering what would be best to put under my dock on a natural lake in Iowa to attract crappies. There is very little natural cover in these lakes only docks and boat hoists. I have heard a bale of hay is good to put under a dock to attract bait fish. Has anyone tried this? I don't want to put anything out other than under my dock so I don't endanger swimmers or snag up trollers. I was thinking of tying some pallets together with cement blocks and sinking those under a couple sections of the dock. I have to take out the dock and hoist every winter but these pallets would stay in to keep the fish around. Does anyone have any other ideas of things would work good under a dock for structure? The crappies come and go under my dock occasionally through the summer but I am looking for something to keep them around longer. THANKS ranth

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    Just wandering why you have to pull your dock out ? Just something I ain't heard of ..... as for the hay bales , tried it in a couple of spots for cover/nesting structure for cats . Seemed to work , lots of chubs = lots of channel cats = good fishing 4 me !!
    Jim McIntyre
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  3. #3
    ranth Guest

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    If we don't take the docks and hoists out the ice will. Ice wil get up to 30+ inches thick. Sometimes during the winter the ice will heave and shear off anything around it. If an ice heave doesn't do it, in the spring large pieces of ice the size of a football field blow around the lake and will pop off 4x4's holding your dock like toothpicks.

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    Ranth, crappie are attracted to wood structure so I would think anything that is wood would work. It's a little tricking with the swimmers but putting it under the dock should work. The pallets might work fine. I'd put some things on them that stick up some though. Good luck!

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    There are lots of guys around here that put Christmas trees or hardwood brush under their boat docks.

  6. #6
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    CrappiePappy is offline Super Moderator - 2013 Man Of The Year * Crappie.com Supporter
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    Lightbulb ranth .........

    you might consider "death stars" .......... just how much water do you "ALWAYS" have under your dock ?? Knowing that would help determine how "tall" the cover you place there, can be.
    I'll go with the assumption that your dock is a "floater", and not stationary. With that in mind - you might try putting a "cedar" tree underneath ... but, with one small adaptation. Wire a concrete block to the base (trunk) and another wire to the top 1/3 of the tree ... hang it off the dock (deep enough so that you can barely see the top) ... make sure it's standing "upright" (like it would be if planted on land). Having it standing this way will allow you to drop a jig (or minnow) down alongside it, or below it, and reel it back up - without so many hang-ups (as you would encounter, if the tree were upside down). If it's possible - hang the tree "inside" the dock (where it's already shady), rather than on the outside edge. Even if it's only a platform style dock - if it has a boat slip - that's "inside" enough to matter.
    The Cedar tree isn't there to draw Crappie (since they can't/won't get inside the branches) ... it's there to draw minnows & sunfish fry - Crappie Food !! If the water is deep enough - you could also put a wooden pallet "stake bed" underneath the tree ......... that would give them someplace to go, even if the surface commotion (on the dock) spooked them off the tree.
    And - when it came time for you to pull the dock out (or beach it) - you could just cut the tree loose and let it drop .... after a couple of years, you'd have a pile of concrete blocks & cedar hulks - which would serve as a "brush pile". OR - you could haul the tree/block up, and replace it with another one ... once you were able to put the dock back in the water. You would, of course, want to sink (or hang) a dead cedar (one with no green left on it) that has dried out.
    There are quite a few "possibilities" ...... some of which have already been mentioned. I'm sure there will be some more suggestions forthcoming ...... luck2ya ..........cp

  7. #7
    ranth Guest

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    It's a 12" x 16' plank and 4x4 post wood dock 48" wide and 40' long straight out. Depth varies from 1' to 8', with most of the length being 4' to 8' deep. I want to put structure under the last three 8' sections where it is 5' to 8' deep. I will leave the structure in year round and put the dock back out over it each year. Thanks for all the ideas so far and keep them coming. Thanks again ranth

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    Lightbulb Hey Ranth ....

    another thing you might consider --

    since 8ft is the deepest water "under" the dock ......... if there's any deeper water, or channels within casting distance of the end of the dock -- put you some brush piles out there !!
    And don't "advertise" the fact that your dock, or the deep water close by, is "baited" ... by mounting pole holders on the dock -- dead giveaway !! :rolleyes: :D

    8ft isn't a lot of depth ... unless it's some of the deepest water in the area. So, I'd suspect that any Crappie that came around the dock .. would suspend back under the dock (shade, cooler water, security). Have you ever just walked (lightly) along the edge of the dock ... and dragged a jig (a foot or two deep) alongside the dock ? A marina owner, at one of my local lakes, used to do that on his marina dock (floating dock). He used a spinning outfit & small marabou jig ... walked slowly & quietly along the perimeter of the dock, dragging the jig just below the dock's floatation (styrofoam blocks) .... he used his "trigger finger" to lightly "wiggle" the line coming out of the reel (to put a little "action" to the marabou jig). He caught Crappie almost everytime he fished that way ....LOL!! .........cp

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    Quote Originally Posted by crappiepappy

    A marina owner, at one of my local lakes, used to do that on his marina dock (floating dock). He used a spinning outfit & small marabou jig ... walked slowly & quietly along the perimeter of the dock, dragging the jig just below the dock's floatation (styrofoam blocks) .... he used his "trigger finger" to lightly "wiggle" the line coming out of the reel (to put a little "action" to the marabou jig). He caught Crappie almost everytime he fished that way
    I've caught crappie at the marina that way as well. You have to do it in the morning befor a lot of people go down there. Too much foot traffic spooks the fish pretty quickly.

    And the weighted ceder tree idea sounds like a good one to me.

    -S

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