[BigEd]

I spent a few hours on both Saturday and Sunday fishing with my kids off the docks on Zoar. Things had been really slow in the marina the past month or so and even the panfish were lacking around the areas we usually fish from. With cooling temps I decided to give the docks another try since the weather was so beautiful. We did quite well and I can report the crappie have begun to move into the bays and shallows again. Both days we stopped down from about 2:00-4:00pm, so not ideal times, but still productive fishing. We were jigging 1.5" tube jigs and Charlie Brewer crappie sliders on 1/16 oz jig heads. Chartreuse, black, pumpkin and silver flake all produced fish. Most fish came out of 10'-15' feet using a vertical jig straight down off the dock. Many were small but it was still fun. One of my daughters caught a nice smallmouth that was probably 1.5 - 2 lb range. I had quite the surprise when I caught a 20" carp on one of these jigs! Fighting that fish with a 5'6" ultralight pole with 4 lb flouro was fun. I thought for sure every time the fish started to strip the drag the line would snap and when it started heading under the dock I thought that was it, but I was able to land him after a few minutes of finessing. I'm looking forward to the fall fishing season.

[Michael]

Nice job!

[PECo]

Nice! Thanks for the report. With the reports of monster black crappie this year, I'm hoping to improve on my Personal Best 14-1/2 inch crappie soon.
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