Shooting docks for crappie has definitely caught on quicker outside Louisiana than it has within the borders of the Bayou State. It’s strange, really, because there are lots of Louisiana lakes that set up just like the famous crappie lakes in Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama.
Take Lake D’Arbonne for instance. This 19,000-acre lake in Farmerville is lined with docks, and many of them are positioned in deep water very close to main channels, the exact kind of docks that Travis Bunting says are so productive.
The deeper docks at the dam end of Lake Claiborne near Homer also come to mind. But the lakes that should really get crappie anglers fired up for shooting docks are the Mississippi River oxbow lakes.
Not all of Louisiana’s oxbow lakes are lined with docks, but those that are often have lines of docks somewhere in their middle sections where docks are positioned over sharp drop-offs of the old river channel.
Lake Bruin near Newellton is just such an oxbow, as is False River near New Roads. While all these lakes set up nicely for shooting docks, any lake with docks in deeper water will be a great place to practice this new technique this summer.
Editor’s Note: This story appears as part of a feature in Louisiana Sportsman’s July issue, now hitting newsstands and appearing mail boxes across the state. To read more about crappie fishing and other how-tos, be sure and pick up your copy now. Subscribe now to ensure you don’t miss future issues.
