With a flick of the wrist and the precision of a surgeon, Lee Pitts launches
a jig under a low dock, a move that often ends with a thump and a slab on
the line. (Photo: Richard Simms, CrappieNOW Editor)
Join Expert Anglers on a Crap(pie) Shoot
by Keith Sutton
It was more years ago than I care to mention, but I was fishing on Alabama’s Weiss Lake, the self-proclaimed Crappie Capital of the World, the first time I saw the tactic used. My host, veteran crappie guide and pro angler Lee Pitts of Cedar Bluff, Alabama, called it dock shooting. I’ve heard other crappie anglers use different terms, including sling-shotting, skipping and arrow casting.
Pitts’ Playbook
“Dock shooting is a great way to catch crappie in spring and fall,” Pitts told my wife Theresa and me as he demonstrated the technique. “The fish like to stay under the docks where it’s shady—permanent docks on pilings and floating docks, too. They’re sitting there ready to ambush baitfish, but it can be hard to get a jig in there to them. That’s where dock shooting comes in.”
Pitts reeled his jig up until it was about six inches above his reel, then grasped the tail of the lure between his thumb and index finger, pulled it back like pulling a slingshot until his rod was bowed, then released it. The jig shot up under the dock, which stood only inches above the water, and as Pitts let the lure fall, a crappie inhaled it. The fight was on.
“Sometimes they don’t hit it that hard and run off with it,” he said as he held the glistening silver fish up for us to see. “They may just knock the lure to the side or thump it a little bit. Using hi-vis line allows you to see little ticks and twitches that indicate a fish is on so you can set the hook at the proper time.”
Pitts told us that his dock-shooting setup doesn’t use heavy tackle. He prefers light weights and smaller baits.
“I don’t want to use a heavy head that won’t skip very well,” he said. “I prefer a 1/32- or 1/24-ounce head like the Bobby Garland Head Dockt’R paired with a soft-plastic body like the Bobby Garland Slab Slay’r. I can skip a lure like this really well, and these lighter lures have a slow fall and stay in the strike zone longer. Plus, they have great action as they’re sinking, making them a great choice for dock shooting.”
During the next hour, we all gave dock shooting a try, and while Theresa quickly learned how to do it with Lee’s help, most of the time I managed to smack my lure against the side of the dock instead of shooting it beneath.
Since that day I’m gotten more proficient at dock shooting and like to use the tactic, especially in fall, to catch big hungry slabs in the shady waters where they often lurk this time of year. I use a 4-1/2- to 5-1/2-foot, medium-action rod outfitted with a spincasting reel or an autocast spinning reel that allows you to pick up the line and flip the bail at the same time. With practice, you can use this setup to sling-shot a jig 15 to 20 feet under a dock or boat house where big crappie are hiding.
Pontoon Shooting with Russ Bailey
My friend Russ Bailey from St. Mary’s Ohio, a pro angler, crappie fishing fanatic and host of the Brushpile Fishing educational TV show, taught me another way of “shooting” that he likes to use as summer’s heat wanes and autumn’s coolness begins. The northern canal lakes he often fishes are shallow and bowl-shaped, with little natural cover and no drop-offs, ledges or channels to which transition crappie normally relate. Although these waters are often brimming with slabs, fishing them presents special challenges.
“Shooting pontoons is my favorite technique on these lakes during the transition period,” said Bailey. “Pontoon boats (also called party barges) provide shade attractive to crappie that have started moving back into the shallows.
“To catch these fish, I use B’n’M Poles’ 6-foot Sharpshooter 6 rod and a spinning reel spooled with 4-pound-test Hi-Vis Slime Line. You might think that 6-pound line would work, and that’s what I once used. But the number of bites will definitely increase by using 4-pound. It’s all I use now.”
Bailey uses several different lures for shooting. If the fish seem aggressive, he starts with the Crappie Magnet Roo, a lure he and Crappie Magnet owner Jeff Smith designed.
“The Slab Curly can also be good on aggressive fish,” he said. “If they are finicky, or if I am catching black crappie, the Trout Magnet and Trout Magnet Cross are productive. As far as jig heads, most of the time I use the 1/32-ounce Double Cross head by Crappie Magnet. For the finicky bite, I drop down to a 1/64-ounce Eye Hole jig.”
When Bailey comes up to a pontoon, he drops his Power-Pole shallow water anchor to position his boat where he can make multiple shots. Then he uses Garmin LiveScope to see how many fish are there, and where they are located. He carefully pinches the lure he’s chosen, pulls the rod back like a bow, aims and releases, letting the lure fly beneath the structure.
“Most pontoons are situated with their front against the sea walls,” he said. “This leaves the back of the pontoon area for you to shoot under. Shoot as far under the pontoon as possible. If you only get a couple of feet back, you may catch a few crappie but not as many as you could.
“After you shoot the jig, allow it to fall and watch your line closely,” he continued. “You’ll usually see line movement before you feel a strike because most fish strike as the lure drops. If the line jumps or moves, set the hook immediately. If you don’t get a strike during the fall, use a slow, steady retrieve. It’s common to catch 10 to 20 fish under one pontoon.”
In September, Bailey finds many crappie right on the bottom in shallow areas beneath the pontoons.
“Some I catch will actually have mud on them,” he said. “I let my jig sink to the bottom, then ‘skip’ it about a foot, let it sit a minute and repeat.”
As the temperature continues to drop, October and November produce dynamite crappie-fishing conditions that can lead to big catches of these delicious fish.
“The fish are feeding heavily then and easy to entice,” said Bailey. “They often suspend under the pontoons and using a slip bobber allows you to slow down your presentation and keep a jig in front of them in the strike zone. I was able to work with Stan’s Slip Bobbers to design a small slip bobber just for this purpose. It comes in two sizes called the Mini and Mini Mini.”
In Conclusion
If you’ve never tried dock or pontoon shooting, you’re missing out on one of the most precise and productive ways to put crappie in the boat during the fall. These techniques take a little practice, sure. But once you get the hang of loading up that rod and slinging a jig into hard-to-reach shady spots, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start sooner.
Crappie don’t care what you call it—shooting, skipping, slingshotting or whatever name you prefer. What matters is getting that jig in front of them and letting it do its thing. As water temps drop and the fish stack up shallow, put these tactics to work. The bite’s about to get hot in those cool, shaded hideouts, and the only thing standing between you and a mess of slabs is a little aim and a good release.
This video from the legendary Wally Marshall (a.k.a. Mr. Crappie) illustrates dock shooting at its finest.
Keith Sutton is editor of our sister magazine at CatfishNOW.com. He’s been an avid crappie angler for more than half a century, pursuing his favorite panfish on waters throughout the United States. His fishing stories have been read by millions in hundreds of books, magazines, newspapers and Internet publications. In 2021, he was inducted into the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame.
