Nothing says Thanksgiving like a bucket of crappies.

Well, I exaggerate. Family gatherings, turkey dinners, Macy’s parade and NFL football are long-lived Thanksgiving traditions for most everybody in the Youngstown-Warren area.

The anglers among us give thanks every autumn for the abundance of fish readily accessible to those who venture out to try their luck.

Lifelong Niles residents Tyler Woak and Tony Baragona are two of the most enthusiastic fall fishermen. Though they represent generations separated by more than 50 years, Woak and Baragona share a great love for the Thanksgiving season crappie bite.

I caught up with them a few days ago while they were collaborating on a two-person limit of Pymatuning crappies. The weather was cold and blustery, but the bite was hot.

“Hold on … I got a big one on,” said Woak as he pulled a crappie to the surface. “Ah, it got off. I forgot the net today and I missed a few already.”

He and Baragona were working on a set of Pymatuning boat docks floating over 10 to 15 feet of water. Brush piles under the docks were holding schools of crappies fattening up before the full onset of winter weather.

“They are eating pretty good right now,” Woak said. “But they are taking the bait lightly. It’s super hard to feel the bites. They are feeding, but they don’t bite hard like in springtime.”

Just as he concluded that sentence, he detected another bite.

“Got it and it’s another good one,” he said.

Lacking his net, he swung the fish onto the dock, admired its size and added it to his growing string.

“You have to downsize everything this time of the year. I even go to a lighter-action rod, the lighter the better,” Woak said.

He drops jigs tipped with Bobby Garland-style plastic tails, sometimes switching to hair jigs.

“Pink and white are my go-to colors,” Woak said. “I like 1/64- or 1/32-ounce jigs and don’t use any live bait until it gets really cold. I don’t usually add any meat until the temperature drops into the 30s.”

A 20- to 30-mile per hour north wind blew across the Pymatuning bay where Baragona and Woak were fishing, necessitating close attention to every drop. They fish their jigs vertically under the docks and detect bites when the crappies knock slack in their jigging.

By noon during my conversation with Woak he had landed 14 keepers, though he’d only been on the water for just over one hour. His hot spots are no secret.

“There’s enough for everybody,” he said. “… I fish the sets of public docks here at Pymatuning and at Mosquito. I look for docks that have between 10 and 15 feet of water with brush on the bottom. I don’t cast at all. I just drop down on them and they come up out of the brush.”

He uses Livescope sonar to help him locate the most productive brush piles, but says it’s not a requisite for success.

“They are all over under the docks,” he said. “I bounce around a lot, fish a dock and move if I don’t find any takers. I’ll rotate through a number of docks every time I go out.

Keepers are not hard to find.

“They are so fat right now, so thick, and the water is 48 degrees, which is relatively warm, so the big ones are biting,” Woak said.

He’s thankful for the abundant fall crappies and recommends others try their luck.

“Just don’t forget your net,” he said.

Columnist Jack Wollitz writes regularly about the joys of fishing. Contact him at jackbbaass@gmail.com.