Vertical Jiggin' a dock - I learned it here!

Hey Guys

I have read, read, read, and read some more on this sight and finally it paid off a little last night. Here in Iowa, the temps are hardly touching the 50's, and when I was out fishing last night from 4:00 PM - 7:30 PM it probably was hardly in the 40's! Not sure what the water temp is but after trying a few spots I found the fish!

I'm a bit of a rookie but I started off throwing a road running off of the jettie on the west side of the lake which is very weedy. Wish I had a bobber/minnow set up! Got one big hit and nothing else. Drove to the west side of the lake and tried a jettie where we've had success before. This time I was shootin' bobber w/ Chartruese jig head w/ a black/white tube - then switched to a red/white tube. Still wasn't getting a thing.

Walked over to the dock right next to the boat ramp with the same set up (which I'll not use a bobber the next time) and started jiggin' straight down next to the dock. If only I had a quick reaction time in that 40 degree weather I could caught some fish! I had hit after hit, most likely little guys. I pulled one black crappie up and man, let me tell you, it was a monster! All 5 inches of him! Had no luck after that, still had the hits but I'm used to bass fishing there they hit, hit, hit, hit and you get more than one chance to set the hook!

Right before I left I had a really really strong hit as well. Hooked the guy and was pullin' him up outa the water and SNAP, there goes the line, bobber goes floatin' away, and the fish, oh the fish got away too! It was going to be a decent crappie I believe!

Question for everyone! The second jettie I was fishing, the one on the west side, I had fish surfacing all of the time for what I'm assuming was to eat. It was getting towards dark (sunset around 7:30), so I'm assuming they were feeding but I couldn't get them to hit a thing! Does that sound right? I think a minnow/bobber or worm/bobber set up would nail it out there!

I would have put on a Johnson Beatle spin. Cast past them raised the rod high and started reeling in before the lure hit the water. Run it thru them on top or just below the surface. Second thing would be to put a bobber on and set it about 1-1/2 to 2 ft with a 1/32 ounce jig black and chartreuse. Again cast it pass the school and slowly bring it into the school and stop then just jig it every so often and let it set as if it were wounded. EB

Don't limit your presentations with a bobber. I tend to use a longer pole when fishin a fixed float, 7 to 10'. Makes casting easier, and I'm in a boat. Start shallow as you don't want to drag hooked fish thru the other fish if you're below them. Cast past them, turn the reel once or twice and let it stop, then shake the rod tip enuf to make the float wiggle. this will in turn wiggle the jig slightly. Sometimes you can pull it roughly a foot or two, making the jig jump and glide back down. Lots of hits on the fall. If no luck, set the float a foot or two deeper and repeat til their depth is found. Use minnows if you want, but I'd rather fool em than feed em. Tight lines.....

The bad part was I really couldn't find a "school" of the fish. I saw probably 15 (could be a school I suppose) feeding at different times, coming to the top of the water, but never had any hits when I was casting w/ the tube/bobber. I did do different depths as well. Started at 3 ft and worked my way down. I got impatient and set it deeeep to try to find the bottom to figure out the depth of water I was in and to see if there was a drop off anywhere.

When I did finally get hits, it was straight down next to the dock or about 2 feet next to it.

... next time try this around the dock/pier poles (if it's a stationary dock) :
Crappie.com - Crappie Fishing Information and Adventure - Vertical Casting

As for the surfacing fish ... next time - try a very small bobber, and a black fly (or even a very small black feather jig, like a Popeye jig). They could have been Bluegill, but may well have been Crappie ... probably feeding on emerging larvae, gnats, or even small minnows/fry/Silversides.

If you happen to have small minners .... take off the bobber & sinker, and hook the minner in the tail (with a small hook, like a #8) and pitch him out there and let him run freeline. Watch the line ;)

Also - try this (a marina owner used to catch Crappie doing this, and the marina dock was a floater, not a stationary dock) :

Use a spinning reel -
Drop a small marabou jig (1/32oz or smaller) down about 3-4ft below the surface of the water ... put your trigger finger under the line coming off the reel spool ... stay back from the edge of the dock, with only the last few inches of your rod sticking out past the dock's edge ... walk very, very slowly/softly along the perimeter of the dock (slow enough that your line remains almost straight down) ... and as you go, very gently use your trigger finger to barely pump the line. When you feel ANY little "tic" in the rod ... set the hook ;)

... cp :cool:

Try a smaller hook. I live in Central Illinois and our weather has been the same as yours. I think we set a new low temp record last night. In the summer I use a #4 hook tipped with a minnow under a slip boober. Today I wasnt catching anything, not even a nibble. Switched to a #6 and started to catch fish.


I suspect the fish feeding on teh surface was a school of baitfish, shad around here is the common name. Crappie feed on those baitfish. Crappie look up, so they feed up, there food is above them. Knowing this, drop your biat to the bottom and work it back up to the surface in 1'-2' incriments. When you get hits you found the depth. If your fishing structre (brush piles, cribs, trees, etc) reverse that, start fishing shallow ans work your way down. Teh smaller fish will hit first, drop down another 1' or so to get at the bigger fish.

You have the right technique, you just need to tweek it some.