Across the Southeast, most crappie are in some stage of the spawn. They will soon move back out into deeper water, and they’ll be stacking up in the shade under docks and piers. Every crappie angler knows docks are a great place to load the boat with slabs. Here are some things to think about when searching for that perfect crappie dock.
Floating docks and docks on pilings are both good, but boathouses and covered docks are the best. They provide the most shade. Pontoon boats are always great targets because you can shoot a jig into the darkness between the pontoons, but there are a couple keys no matter what kind of dock you’re shooting.
The first key is the presence of baitfish. Watch your electronics, baitfish around a dock is a good sign, and if there’s added structure such as sunken brush it’s even better.
Baitfish feed on algae. Crappie eat bait- fish. So a good dock, and usually the magic spot under a given dock, will have some algae growth. Pretty much anything in the water will have some algae sticking to it. Get your jig or minnow around boatlifts, boatlift air hoses or anything else under a dock that has some good green scum on it.
The final key is depth. Crappie change depth with the water temperatures and the seasons. Find the range of depths they are holding at on a given day, and fish docks with that much water under them.