Fishing Docks - Need Advice

[johnnylots]

I've had pretty good success fishing around a particular dock at a local lake. Because the dock floats on the water, I cannot get lures under it and pretty much have to get as close to its perimeter and the vertical poles. Evidently, there are certain times - like most of the day - that the fish won't leave the protection of the dock. I know they are there but I can't get them to strike. Any advice? Thanks

[Nitrofreak]

Me personally, I like a drop shot in these cases, or a jig, or even a small spoon has worked, but the drop shot has yeilded the best results for those stubborn ones.

[Nick]

very slow sinking plastic like a weightless senko in the shade

[SouthrnMisnomer]

exhaustive persistance... usually a football jig/trailer or set up a senko

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Though I havent used it for docks the FAT IKA comes to mind as this thing falls away and would actually go under the dock more on its own. From seeing it fall in the clear water that I do fish it has a good fall angle to it I would guess like 30 degrees???

[Fishes in trees]

On this same school of thought, there are a couple of other ways to get your bait to drop away from you. You can rid a senko backwards, i.e. tx rig the skinny end and it will drop away from you to some extent. Some sort of nail weight in the tail of a senko type bait will accomplish a similar drop. You've got to mess with the weight to get it right. Too much weight and it will just drop down. Get it right and it will slide down and away from you. Be sure to fish it on enough slack line to give it room to slide and drop.

[grampa1114]

By bending the eye of a crankbait, you can get it to run to the right or left to go under the dock.

[ww2farmer]

A weightless Jackall Cover Craw, or Reaction Inovations Sweet Beaver rigged backwards will fall away from you as well. Other options to consider as well as the GYCB Fat Ika.

[AK-Jax86]

Weightless senko is what I would go with, or any type of weightless worm

[smr913]

I will cast a spinnerbait or swim jig parallel to the docks making repeat casts to the same spot. It seems that if the bass are under the dock they will get fed up with the lure swimming by and bolt out and take it.

[BassThumb]

I like to fish heavily scented Senkos and round-rubber "mop" jigs around docks. You can give the jig a lot of action and make it breathe with some shakes of the rod tip without actually pulling it away from the dock. It'll give the bass some time to think about it, and often times they'll come out to investigate.

[tentimesover]

I fish a lot of floating docks and agree that it's the place to find the bass when the sun is high and bright. My favorite approach is a spinning rig with a wacky worm. You can skip them under the dock in the open spots between the floatation and let them sink naturally with just a very light twitch when they're sinking. I like a "weedless" hook because so many people sink brush around their docks. I'm still looking for a better hook.

[Wayne P.]

I fish a lot of floating docks and agree that it's the place to find the bass when the sun is high and bright. My favorite approach is a spinning rig with a wacky worm. You can skip them under the dock in the open spots between the floatation and let them sink naturally with just a very light twitch when they're sinking. I like a "weedless" hook because so many people sink brush around their docks. I'm still looking for a better hook.

The rig in my avatar is your answer. Trick worm--3/0 Gammy Octopus hook #02413

Finesse worm--2/0 Gammy Octopus hook #02412