Tips On Dock Fishing

[Anderson]

Hello,

This wednesday I am going to a lake that has many large docks. I have read online to cast in the shade with tube baits and spinners. What types should I get, especially what colors?The water is stained. Is this the best way? Any tips are much appreciated!

Thanks,

Jordan Anderson

[Nosoup4u]

Maybe you always do anyway, but bring a net. The vertical lift of getting a fish of four pounds or more onto a dock puts a lot of strain on your line.

I was assuming you meant you will be fishing from the dock.

Edited May 21, 2012 by Nosoup4u

[Lund Explorer]

Regardless of the type of dock, bass hang around them for cover and food. Figure out what type of forage is hanging around those docks, and try to come close to matching it.

[roadwarrior]

Fat Ika

[BrianinMD]

Make sure to cover the hole dock, front to back and skip baits underneath. Once you get a pattern on bites you can start just hitting those spots. Also, keep mental notes of what type of docks are holding fish whether they are have deep vs. shallow water. Maybe its close to deeper water. Not all docks hold fish, after a few fish you should be able to start narrowing the selection down.

[Bass Dude]

Make sure to cover the hole dock, front to back and skip baits underneath.

Make sure the 'hole' is big enough for the fish to get through!!

I know...you meant whole, but come on that's funny !

[Hyrule Bass]

try shakey heads and t-rigged craws and/or creature baits...

[jkarol24]

Stained water dock fishing = a blue/black jig skipped under the docks into the darkest areas.

[NCbassmaster4Life]

tex-rig and carolina rig,parallel to the pier.

[Nitrofreak]

Hello,

This wednesday I am going to a lake that has many large docks. I have read online to cast in the shade with tube baits and spinners. What types should I get, especially what colors?The water is stained. Is this the best way? Any tips are much appreciated!

Thanks,

Jordan Anderson

Fish the oldest docks there, the ones that have been around for a while usually have growth on the posts, this allows bait fish to venture in and have a snack while the bass hide and ambush them.

As far as color goes, you can use any color you want...as long as it's white, lol.

I prefer white, dipped with chartruse tails for my spinners, especially in stained waters, or if it is really stained, then I go with darker colors, for the most part, I use 3 bladded willow leaf spinners, the action they give during the fall is fantastic and works well around my area.

Make sure the 'hole' is big enough for the fish to get through!!

I know...you meant whole, but come on that's funny !

I thought so too !!

BrianinMd, very nice post, nice tips you gave !!

[BrianinMD]

Ha ha....thanks Bass Dude didn't realize i mistyped that one. Yeah, that one is rather funny.

One thing I forgot to add, if fishing from the back of the boat don't be afraid to odd angles or spots around the dock. Repeating what the boater is doing will not be nearly as effective, get used to casting from odd angles.

[JigMe]

Fat Ika

Weightless?

[roadwarrior]

Yes.

Weightless with the skirt up.

[FD.]

Let me know which lake and I can get you more specifics.

If you want to catch the large fish around a dock you need to do something that no one else does. Everyone throws soft plastics and you will catch some but the best way I have found = Crankbaits. Buy some cheap Strike King, Bandit or Bomber shallow running cranks that you are not afraid to loose or break. Firetiger or Chartruse is going to work the best in stained water. Pitch, skip, pendulum swing it. What ever it takes to get it under. I use 15# big game on a medium rod for this. And it works.

For example: Sunday, TStone and I fished a tournament. Our second spot was a particularly nasty bunch of shallow wood. It eats crank baits. We pulled up, cranked up 2 keeper fish, got hung up, went in to get a crank and then left to let things settle down. We come back about an hour later and there is a boat on it. They are throwing jigs, t-rigged worms and such. We start to fish about 100 yards away and are watching them waiting for them to leave. 30 min later they decided there were no fish and left, so we moved down and about the 3rd cast with a crank, boom, 3 pounder on a kvd 1.5 chartruse.

If you are fishing a central Florida public lake, then the fish are heavily pressured. You have to show them something they don't see 37 times each Saturday and Sunday. This works just as well in a lily pad field, IF YOU DARE.

[Sam]

Suggestions:

1. Plastics. Throw shaky head Trick Worms and unweighted Senkos under the docks, boathouses and piers (to be called docks in this post). Use a spinning rig and skip the plastics under the dock.

2. Fish the dock from various angles.

3. Hit the support pilings, letting the bait go by them and fall down along them.

4. Throw a crankbait, frog, Cavitron buzzbait, Rage Tails of your choice along each of the three sides of the dock. You may want to throw a Trick Worm and a popper, too.

5. Fish the dock slow. Don't hop from dock to dock to dock.

6. Once you get a hit, check out the dock. Where on the dock did you get the bite? Was there shallow or deep water nearby? What was the bait and its color? Any grass along the shoreline or was there a bulkhed? Look for every thing you can see to set the pattern.

7. Look for fishing rods on a dock. If you see them then the people who fish off the dock may have a submerged brushpile or rocks to attract the bass.

8. Throw a jig and pig under and around the dock. Be careful if you use a baitcaster as you will get a backlash.

9. Don't forget the drop shot. Throw the drop shot into the front opening if you find a boat house along the dock.

Once you determine a pattern the bass will be on other docks, boathouses and piers as the one you caught.

Good luck.

[Bassn Blvd]

85% of my fishing here in S. Florida is around docks so I feel pretty confident with my skills.

A lot of good information has been given so far, but I'd like to summarize by pointing out a few key pieces of advice.

1. BrianinMD pointed out to make sure you fish the WHOLE dock, especially the back. I can't count high enough on how many anglers I see fishing a dock but NEVER fish the back. BIG mistake. Don't just skip your bait from the front to the back, but also position your boat next to the shore and flip/toss/pitch/skip or do whatever it takes to cast underneath the dock parralell to shore.

2. Make more than a couple casts around the dock. Sometimes it will take half a dozen tosses to the same pylon or boat lift to entice the fish into biting.

3. Use the trolling motor as little as possible.

4. Don't discount the outer peremiter of the dock. Fish every cast, even the ones that accidently hit the edge of the dock instead of going all the way underneath. I have caught A LOT of bass on goofed up casts.

5. FishinDaddy pointed out to use cranks. Absolutely true. Many people wil throw plastics/jigs an nothing else. Change it up. I will throw 3-4 different baits at the same dock before moving to the next

Here's what I do if there are several docks in a row. I usually start out throwing a Senko (just because). If I get no hits or fish after fishing the entire dock then I will throw a crankbait and then a spinnerbait. I will let the spinnerbait sink to the bottom and simply bounce it off the bottom or slow roll it, dragging the bottom. If still no hits, then I move to the next dock and repeat the process.

My other way of doing this is I'll fish the same bait at three to five docks in a row. If no hits or fish, then I'll go back to the first dock and throw a cranckbait, moving from dock to dock. When I get to the last dock, I start over again at the firs dock with the spinnerbait.

6. If there are two of us in the boat fishing the docks, then I make sure the guy in the back is throwing a different bait then me until we find what the fish want.

These are just a few key things that I do fishing docks but don't limit yourself to just them.

Sam and I hit the aENTER button at the same time so I didn't see his post until after I typed mine, but he made some very good points too.