I never knew a company could provide a franchise (officially called a “licensor”) and not charge franchise fees or royalties, but that's exactly how Daylight Donuts operates. On a recent fishing trip to Oklahoma I visited the Daylight Donuts corporate office. I also ate like a ton of their great “not just for breakfast” donut treats.
I mention all this because I know that some of our members have had to switch careers lately, myself included. This is partly due to the stinking economy, anyway, I digress. This company offers “up Licenses” for such a low point of entry it even has me intrigued.
They provide you a “brand”, a protected territory, ingredients, training, consultation and advise, and never ask for a percentage of your sales or license fees. It really is a sweat deal.
Although running a donut store does involve early mornings John Bond, Daylight Donut Flour Co. CEO (pictured above), did say some owners close at 11am. This allows plenty of time for afternoon fishing. John is an avid Crappie fisherman. In the back of his immaculate warehouse was the only thing not donut related--his fishing boat.
Dock Shooting is in.
I am relatively new to dock shooting. I started doing it for the very first time with Rusty Parker (RagFly Jig Man) at Lake Blackshear in Georgia. I wrote about it last year here; http://www.crappie.com/crappie/conte...lackshear.html
Lake Blackshear is just loaded with docks. These docks provide structure and hold a lot of Crappie deep within them. When dock shooting, if you did not get far enough under the dock, you just would not catch fish.
I was now fishing Grand Lake in Oklahoma, and the same thing held true. If you were only pitching to the side of the dock you rarely got anything. More often than not it would be a Bass (Black Bass or White Bass). But if you got way back under the darkest part of the dock, that's where the Crappie were, and big'uns too.
Let me back up a bit. I went to Oklahoma to fish with a bunch of crappie fishing pros, and pretty much all of them are dock shooting. It seemed that at this time of the year, on this lake, that was the only way to catch Crappie.
This is a story about dock shooting with five different pro crappie fishermen, and some of the similarities and differences between them.
Terry Blankenship (MO) – guide and tournament angler
Terry is very methodical, he looks for deep water docks near even deeper water pockets or channels. When we found something we liked, we did not just go fish it. He actually ran the big motor around the dock and side scanned it. Although we found fish on most docks, if it was not loaded with fish, off to the next dock we went.
Once we found one we liked, we would shut down the big motor and used the electric trolling motor to position ourselves. We were off the dock maybe 10 to 15 feet, shooting the jigs just as far as we could, bouncing them off the water right near the dock and getting the jigs maybe 8-12 feet underneath them. Bobby Garland's Slab Dockt’R worked great for this. They were specifically designed as a dock shooter. They have a large profile which allows them to be skipped off the water easily. It's much like skipping a rock on the water.
Color seemed to be the key when Terry and I were fishing. I caught more fish at first, but once he switched to the same color I was using he started catching them too. The lucky color this day seemed to be white and chartreuse.
There's a reason that Terry likes to stay 10 feet off the dock when he dock shoots. Terry says “I don't like to get too close to the dock to where you scare the fish out from under it. Sometimes when you get too close and you have to adjust your boat position, your trolling motor backwash will blow under that dock and spook'em. By staying away from the dock ten feet or more you can avoid that.”
Wally Marshall (Mr. Crappie)
Wally touted his 7 foot pole as being a great dock shooter, and last year when I fished with him I used the Wally Marshall Signature Series 7 foot rod to shoot jigs out to bridge pilings with him, but I did not use it to dock shoot at that time. If you interested in that story, you can read about it here: http://www.crappie.com/crappie/conte...p-day-two.html
It worked great to get the jig out to the concrete piling good enough, but shooting a jig under a dock is a whole other story. It turns out this 7 footer is the greatest thing since sliced bread. When you bend back a 7 footer to shoot your jig, the rod is just so much less stressed than a shorter rod would be and it makes it easier to shoot. If you're a little off on your aim, or release on a short rod that's bent back under lots of stress, the jig is not going to go where you think it will. It'll end up on the roof of the boat house like I've done before. With a 7 footer it's just more forgiving. You can get that jig out there farther, and more accurately with half the effort.
Wally was a “close fisher”. He got close to the docks and shot way, way back into and underneath them. He looked for the darkest spots of the dock. He even fished the two inch spaces between two Jet Ski platforms. That 7 foot rod came in handy for that. He didn't have to shoot that space, he could just lean over and drop it into the 2 inch crevice. And by golly he caught fish that way. It really surprised me, but I was there and I seen it with my own two eyes. Wally really knows how to work an area for fish. I actually think he's part fish!
Lee Pitts (AL) – guide and tournament angler
With Lee.... we found docks and just started shooting them. We were not too picky. He was good, he could get way back in their like Wally did. I was starting to get the hang of it and I was getting some back there too, but he just seemed to be the one to catch them all. I switched up lures and colors to the same that he was using and he still caught more fish than I. I guess he just had better technique, something I will have to work on.
Lee liked using Bobby Garland Slab Slay'R's. They have a nice wide body and skip very well. We used both 2" and 3" Slab Slay'R's. The hot color this time was Blue Ice.
One thing we did a little different with Lee was, if we caught a big fish from one spot, while one person was reeling in the fish, the other would try to hit the spot again, but if nothing turned up, we would leave briefly, just over to the next dock, and then we'd come right back. We let the spot cool down for about 15 minutes, and then hit it again. This seemed to work, we came back to the same spot maybe 4 times and caught a big fish off it each time. I think not pounding it all at one time really let the fish relax, and not scoot off to somewhere else.
Brad Chappell and Bo Hudson (MS) – Pro Crappie Anglers and long time crappie.com members, Bo (Fishing Buddy) and Brad (Bchappell)
Brad and Bo are primarily Long Liners. That stands to reason as they are from Mississippi and the many Corps. lakes there do not have docks. They did know how to dock shoot. Since here on Grand Lake it seems most of the fish were being caught dock shooting, we went right at the docks ourselves.
On this gloomy, misty morning it was kinda hit and miss for us. We caught a couple small ones. But then we came across a dock and started to get into the slabs. This is where I was taught a nasty lesson in patience, and why they sometimes call these fish “Paper Mouths”. I laid into probably the biggest fish of the trip so far and what do I do, I try to yank it into the boat. You know what happened next. Of course the fish got off right as I was lifting it. Nope, the line did not break and nope the hook did not bend. The hook pulled out of it's mouth, it's paper mouth! Next time I'll certainly show more patience and wait for the net on a fish like that.
Another lesson I learned here fishing with Brad and Bo is the value of tying on a jig fast. When dock shooting, it's inevitable that you'll loose a jig. And getting a new one on fast is all important. Especially since you were in position to fish when you lost it, so you need to get right back in business. I got to say, I've never seen someone tie a new jig on as fast as Bo. I actually doubted that he lost the jig in the first place. I guess practice makes perfect.
Dan Dannenmeuller (AL) – pro crappie angler
Dan's more of a Spider Rigger kind a fisherman but when the fish are on the docks he can adapt to shooting docks very well. It took us a while to get on the fish, in fact we caught all sorts of Brim and Bass before we caught our first Crappie, but eventually we found a dock that held a bunch of real nice ones.
Dan's key to success is boat position and speed. Keep moving until you find the fish, and once you find them, position the boat so you can get to them, all while not spooking them out of their comfort zone.
These somewhat varying styles show that they all work. Anyone with enough persistence and patience can do it. You just have to practice shooting, and shooting, and shooting.
Mr. Crappie holding "The Billbob". I took this picture just for you BB.
You can find more information about the wonderful opportunities at Daylight Donuts here: http://daylightdonuts.com/own_a_daylight.html
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