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Crappies tend to gravitate toward deep structure in the winter months, and an excellent stronghold for them is manmade docks, which are prevalent on several bodies of water throughout the South and Midwest. These docks offer ample cover for winter crappie fishing and offer easy opportunities to simply drop small plastic lures down to them without the need for an expensive boat and accessories.

Why are docks good crappie holding structure in the winter? Man made docks often feature posts that root them to the lake or river floor and provide structure for crappie to relate to. Also, most docks have boat owners who like to fish, so it’s no science figuring out that they occasionally toss brush and other structure pieces out by their slips, along the points and other various spots along the docks.

How to find the right docks for winter crappie fishing

• This is the most important part of fishing docks, because if you aren’t around the crappie – how will you catch them?

• Try to identify docks with enough depth under them. Crappie tend to gravitate deeper over structure in the winter. A good rule of thumb is to find docks that maintain a depth of over 10 feet under them. You can find the depth by counting down a jig head to get approximate measurements.

• Look at a map or use Google Earth to find docks in a creek arm or adjacent to deep water. These typically hold the highest amounts of crappie.

• Most important rule: Always have permission to fish the docks you are on, ask the owner or marina in charge before stepping foot on a dock.

Once you have found an appropriate dock you can begin to look at the slips inside and around the dock to survey for any brush or structure laying underneath. A good tip is to find old docks that aren’t frequented and be aware of any indicators of sunken brush such as pieces of wood or pipes lying around the slips.

The right equipment for winter crappies

For this presentation you don’t necessarily need specialized equipment, just a short medium light action rod, light line and a small capacity spinning reel. Winter crappie fishing doesn’t have to be difficult.

Lurenet team pick: 6-foot medium light action rod, 1000 size spinning reel, 6- to 8-pound test line

For lures you can use a large variety of plastics, but I will narrow it down to the best three available.

1. Bobby Garland Baby Shad w/ Bobby Garland 1/16 oz. MoGlo Jig head • Colors: (Clear water – Monkey Milk, Threadfin Shad, Blue Ice) (Stained water – Lights out, Devils Grin, Black Hot Pink)

2. Bobby Garland 2” Slab Slayer w/ Bobby Garland 1/16 oz. MoGlo Jig head • Colors: (Clear water – Double Silver Rainbow, Blue Ice, Eclipse) (Stained water – Bone White Chart., Junebug Pearl Chart., Cajun Cricket)

3. Bobby Garland Slab Hunter w/ Bobby Garland 1/8 oz. MoGlo Jig head • Colors: (Clear water – Live Minnow, Threadfin Shad, Coppernose) (Stained water – Bluegrass, Cajun Cricket, Bone White Chart.)

These three options are primary picks for the dock fishing technique because they have a very subtle action, and when dropping straight down to suspended fish you need as real looking of an imitation as possible.

The first two picks are small options that appeal to crappie of all sizes, but the third pick is built for going after giant slab crappie that pass over smaller baits.

Our favorite dock fishing crappie techniques & locations

Now that you have identified the right dock to fish and gathered up the proper lures, it’s time to actually start winter crappie fishing! The technique used to dock fish is just like any standard brushpile fishing from a boat. You simply want to identify where to drop down and let your bait fall to the bottom. Once it is on the bottom, lift slightly and hold the bait steady to detect any bites. If the lure sits for a period of time with no bites slowly, begin to pull it up. I like to implore a few cranks of the reel handle and hold the bait steady at multiple zones in the water column. Often crappie will sit in a certain zone all over the dock.

Below are a few tips on finding the right places on the dock to drop your baits down. • Inside corners of slips (typical place for brush to be dropped)

• Outside corners of slips • Along walkways (look for signs of brush or cover)

• Under boat lifts

• Dock posts These are simple places to find on all docks, but always be creative and check multiple areas.

Almost anywhere that casts shade can be a primary spot for winter crappie fishing! Also, be sure to try multiple colors. I listed several above, but crappie are notorious sight feeders and love bright color patterns so don’t be afraid to try a wide variety. Often times bright patterns work well even in clear water, especially under the shade of docks.

Ready to go hit some docks? You find all the lures, jigs and accessories you need at Lurenet.com.

Be sure to use code MERRY15 for an extra 15 percent off your order!

Learn how to catch crappie during fall, when cooling water triggers excellent fishing action, and enjoy some of the best crappie fishing of the year.

“They’re under there – all the way back,” Terry Blankenship said with a smile as he watched his electronics. “I should be able to reach them through that hole.”

Blankenship, veteran Lake of the Ozarks crappie guide who reaches fish that are way under docks by “shooting” crappie jigs bow-and-arrow style under the docks and through gaps in the dock structure or between docks and boats, was pointing at a gap between floating sections that might have been the size of a dollar bill.

With the confidence of an NBA player draining a free throw, he knelt, drew, aimed and fired. The bait shot through the hole at the perfect angle to hit the water well under the dock before skipping all the way to the back. Almost immediately, Blankenship’s fluorescent line jumped and he set the hook with a quick downward snap. Soon after he was swinging a 1-1/2-pound crappie into the boat.

Shoot Docks

Blankenship uses many crappie fishing techniques, but shooting is his specialty, and fall is prime time for this innovative tactic. Crappie congregate under docks during fall, and the shooting technique allows you to put a jig in front of fish that cannot be reached any other way.

Big crappie relate heavily to shad during fall, and they feed well as the water gradually cools. The crappie don’t like fighting current in cool water, so Blankenship focuses fall efforts on docks in coves and creeks arms, as opposed to the main lake.

It takes a bit of practice to get the timing and aim right and know the amount of line to have out, but the basic shot isn’t really that hard. With a spinning reel bail flipped but your finger holding the line, pinch the bend of the hook (not the head or you might get jabbed!) and pull back to put a strong load in the rod. Aim and release the hook just before the line so the jig shoots forward.

Feeling a bit like I’d been placed in a jigsaw puzzle scene, I took a moment to take in the Crayola-bright treetops and their reflection the next pool upstream. Of course, I wasn’t just leaf-peeping. I needed to study that same pool and the shallow run it gave way to in order to strategize casts and a stealthy approach.

While brown trout do become a bit less wary at times during fall, they are still brown trout. Cautious and easily spooked. Because browns sometime abandon their deep dark lairs during fall, I decided to cast to the lower end of the pool and swim my lure through the shallow tail-out before I walked through it. That turned out to be the right choice, as the cast resulted in a modest-sized but spectacularly marked brown trout that hit in a nothing-looking, shallow spot.

Autumn delivers magical days on brown trout streams.

By Mikayla St Clair

When it comes to fishing, some of us started when we were little. Others have picked up the sport over time. Reeling in that big one comes from skill and a bit of luck, and specific types of fishing, such as inshore saltwater fishing, call for extra skills. If you want to boost your skillset, following these seven tips can make you a better inshore angler on your next fishing trip.

Know Tidal Movements

When inshore fishing, you need to understand how the tidal movements affect your target species. When the tide is incoming, oyster bars and mangroves become ideal spots for finding baitfish and gamefish. However, when the tide is going out, baitfish tend to drop back into passes and channels. You'll want to be in each area at the same time as the bait because actively feeding gamefish will follow the movements of their forage. Check local tide charts before heading out and track them with your phone while you are on the water.

Use Polarized Sunglasses

Ask veteran anglers, and they'll tell you that polarized sunglasses are an absolute must to stay on top of your game. These sunglasses are produced with a special lens technology that essentially works to cut through the glare created by the sun. This is perfect for being able to spot fish below the surface and to see bait and fish-holding features like oyster bars and grass beds. Just one look through polarized lenses and you'll be sold on getting a pair for your next inshore fishing trip.

October can be an outstanding fishing month, with fish of many kinds keying on baitfish congregations and instinctively feeding heavily in preparation for leaner times. Some species school during October, and topwater fishing commonly delivers major excitement.

That said, October has its challenges, with the largest one probably being the fact that conditions change dramatically during the month and sometimes from day to day. Many predator and prey species are in transition, working toward winter locations, so the location of the gamefish tends to be a moving target. As significantly, the fish’s locations and behavior can shift dramatically from day to day or even within a day when an early cold front crashes through.

Change isn’t bad. You simply must understand that change is likely and must set strategies accordingly.

Because the fish are on the move, often following forage, it’s typically prudent to spend time searching before you start fishing. Look for baitfish schools, both visually on the surface and with electronics. Whether you’re talking about shad or herring in reservoirs or mullet or bunker in bays or the ocean, if you find a bunch of bait, that is a major step toward finding the fish you want to catch. Pay attention to specific areas and characteristics of areas where you find the most baitfish.

Also think about transition zones. Because water color, water temperature and barometric pressure change quickly and frequently during October, fish make heavy use of structures like points and reefs that connect deep and shallow habitat, especially structures they can readily move up and down when conditions change. In the brine, passes that connect inside waters with the ocean are important October transition zones.

Any time you can tie on a lure in the morning and fish it confidently all day, that’s a good thing. Make that a topwater lure that prompts violent attacks, and a good thing becomes a great thing!

Welcome to autumn.

Moderating water temperatures, an instinctive drive to “feed up” before winter and shallow congregations of shad and other forage species make bass active and prompt them to look high in the water column this time of year. Surface lures get their attention and prompt strikes all day long.

Bad to the Bone

“Bone, of course.”

Even if the words, “of course,” aren’t stated, they are implied in the answer any time you ask a Bone enthusiast what color is producing.

Strikingly simple, highly visible and fabulous for suggesting the whitish flash of many forage fish species, the lure color “Bone” transcends being a good color in the minds of many anglers. For certain applications – like waking a Bomber Long A across a slick-calm surface – Bone is seen by many as the only color.

Beyond a Long A, other baits that Bone owns among certain anglers include several classic topwater lures. Heddon Spooks in various models, Rebel Jumpin’ Minnows, Cotton Cordell Pencil Poppers and Bomber Badonk-A-Donks all have core users who choose Bone over anything else because it offers great visibility from a below in a broad range of conditions and looks like dinner (and, most importantly, because it produces fish!)

Bandit Series 100, Series 200 and Series 300 crankbaits, Bandit Rack-Its and Bomber Long Shots are among the most popular sub-surface lures in Bone.

Two brand new Cotton Cordell Red-Fin colors, Pale Perch and Bone Appetit, are painted on a Bone base, providing Classic Bone visibility and appeal as a backdrop to natural color patterns.

Bone, although productive year ‘round, works extra well during autumn, when shad congregate and migrate shallow in reservoirs and saltwater baitfish of various kinds push close to beaches, opening frenzied fishing opportunities for everything from stripers to bluefish to tarpon.

How about you? In what situations, do you insist on Bone, and what species do you expect to catch?