Page 7 - Crappie NOW - March 2017

DOCK SHOOTING – THE MYTH AND THE MAGIC

might be productive at any given time “. . . be knowledgeable of the
of the year. “I’ve caught spawning
females under docks that were in 2 feet crappie’s habits and adjust for
of water,” offered Scott. “In the winter, the season . . .”
I’ve caught crappies under docks that
stood in 30 feet of water.”
“It’s hard to look at a dock and tell fishing it. Side imaging is a tool that I
much,” offered Scott. “They can all look employ on almost every trip. I believe
pretty good. You can have two docks, that part of an angler’s time on the
side by side and identical to each other. water should be spent looking for new
One will hold fish and the other one locations to fish.”
won’t. That’s why I rely so heavily on Scott advises anglers to learn
my Lakemaster Charts and Humminbird the proper operation of their sonar. “It
electronics. I can scan the docks first takes some time and dedication to learn
and then use my 360 sonar to really pin to use electronics properly,” confides
point exactly where the fish are on the Scott. “But, it is worth it and it’s not
dock. Pretty awesome stuff!” that hard. It is especially useful to use
Electronics can be particularly the electronics on new lakes where you
useful on new lakes. Scott explained are not familiar with the layout.”
that with Humminbird Side Imaging you “Once the electronics are set up
can cruise by a series of docks and to proper sensitivity, chart speed and
mark the ones you want to return to and scanning range you can actually see
fish. fish under the dock,” instructed Scott.
“Just move the cursor over to dock “For dock shooting I usually set my
you are viewing on your screen and drop side scan to 3 times the depth. If the
a waypoint,” advised Scott. “You can water is 10 feet deep, I will set my unit
then go back to it anytime and check to shoot out 30 feet. I constantly use
it out thoroughly for the possibility of electronics to find the docks I want to
shoot.”

7 Crappie NOW March 2017