Dock baits

[Wurming67]

I never fish boat docks just because the area I fish doesn't have them but this weekend gonna be fishing alot of them.I was hoping to get some suggestions of baits to use the water is shallow 4-6 ft stained with vegetation and rocks.Thanks!!

[tcbass]

Wacky rigged senkos and nose-hooked Zoom Super Flukes under the docks is what I use. 

[soflabasser]

Have done well fishing docks with senkos, super flukes, and poppers thrown under and around a dock.

[tcbass]

Not under docks, but if you cast near docks and retrieve with things like topwater (Whopper Plopper, frog, buzzbait, spinnerbaits) you can do well also.

[Way north bass guy]

A Texas rigged tube works pretty good too, especially if the docks have been pressured by guys with jigs and larger baits. 

[Wurming67]

Thanks guys!!! Got alot of confidence in senko, Spinner bait and pop r think I'll go with that combo

[greentrout]

 

Floating Worm...Z Man...

[Quarry Man]

flukes, senkos, tubes, bent ring crank baits (look it up), swim jigs, shakey heads, and spinnerbaits all work great

[sully420]

Jig, bladed jig, keitechs with belly weighted hooks.

[Scott F]

If I can't skip the bait under the dock, I won't use it around docks. Stuff like cranks, spinnerbaits, bladed jigs or anything else that doesn't skip isn't going to be useful for me. Senkos and Ned Rigs skip easily and are required for pulling bass out from the shade under the docks. If you only fish the outer edges of docks, you are missing out on a lot of fish especially on sunny days.

[kickerfish1]

If you are wanting some suggestions I would look at:

 

1. Swimjig or spinnerbait casted right parallel with the dock. Great for picking off active fish.

2. Some sort of flipping bait - Either a jig or texas rig

3. Tube- Great choice to put on a spinning rod and skip it right up there. Also it seems like you can make a pretty easy presentation with it.

[sully420]

Bladed jigs skip very well as do keitechs.

[ww2farmer]

Docks are a big part of what I do, I treat them as any other type of shallow cover. I probably spend 1/3 of my season fishing docks/shallow cover, 1/3 fishing mid depth weeds, and 1/3 fishing offshore. 

 

In clear water, I like wacky rigs, and smaller versions of my favorite flipping plastics (3" chigger craws, baby rage craws and menace, 3" pit boss, etc...) I will also skip hollow body frogs and swim jigs under them and briskly fish the back out hitting posts/cross members/etc.. trying to get a reaction bite.

 

In stained or dirty water, a flipping jig is hard pressed to leave my hand, unless I know they are there but don't want to bite a jig that day. Then I turn to the good old-fashioned t-rigged power worm. Frogs and swim jigs still get a good bit of work in stained water, but I switch it up to a popping frog, and a bladed swim jig.

[the reel ess]

I second Trick Worm. I might try a bluegill color around docks, but bubble gum and limetreuse are my favs for stained water, which is what we have here. I usually T rig them, weightless. This is really easy to skip way under docks with a spinning combo. Getting big ones out can be a different story though. I use a stout MH combo and 20 lb braid. Where weeds or lilies intersect with pier pilings of any other wood, I'll always toss a frog there. You'll be surprised how many big bass are very shallow, even in the heat.

[Bassun]

If I could only throw one thing at a dock, it would be skipping Flukes underneath.  Adding a second I drop jigs vertical at the posts, or swim them from the bank.  I really try to spend the most time at the first and last dock, or any dock that is different.  For the middle cookie cutters, I will sometime just crank them pretty quickly unless I really feel they are holding on all docks then I'll take my time.

 

We key in on the above water changes (especially at docks), don't neglect a ditch,hole etc. underwater.  One of my most productive docks looked just like a dozen or so others, but there was some deeper water with an old tree in front of it.  I have probably caught more off jigs at that dock than any other.

[bhoff]

Possibly even try a swim jig retrieved just above the grass line.

[ClackerBuzz]

On 6/3/2018 at 11:38 AM, Scott F said:

If I can't skip the bait under the dock, I won't use it around docks. Stuff like cranks, spinnerbaits, bladed jigs or anything else that doesn't skip isn't going to be useful for me. Senkos and Ned Rigs skip easily and are required for pulling bass out from the shade under the docks. If you only fish the outer edges of docks, you are missing out on a lot of fish especially on sunny days.

100% this.

 

skipping a senko deep under docks is mandatory.  wacky skips better but if you don't have weedless hooks just T rig them.  Mustad Weedless Wacky Hook are the best I've found for wacky b/c the wire hook holds up.  The Gammys are garbage b/c their fiber guard is weak as water and the epoxy gives way after only a few fish.

[paulmandude]

6 hours ago, ClackerBuzz said:

100% this.

 

skipping a senko deep under docks is mandatory.  wacky skips better but if you don't have weedless hooks just T rig them.  Mustad Weedless Wacky Hook are the best I've found for wacky b/c the wire hook holds up.  The Gammys are garbage b/c their fiber guard is weak as water and the epoxy gives way after only a few fish.

What’s your hookset like with those mustad hooks?  Sharp and quick or reel into them?

[FryDog62]

On 6/1/2018 at 5:11 PM, Wurming67 said:

I never fish boat docks just because the area I fish doesn't have them but this weekend gonna be fishing alot of them.I was hoping to get some suggestions of baits to use the water is shallow 4-6 ft stained with vegetation and rocks.Thanks!!

A wacky worm is great but can be mediocre with vegetation present.  I think equally (if not more effective) and virtually weedless is a 5 inch Caffeine Shad on an Owner Light Twistlock 3/32 oz in 4/0.  An absolute deadly bait on the fall.  Falls horizontally about a foot, then turns on its own, flutters the bubble tail and swims horizontally again another direction like a wounded baitfish. Kind of like a Fat Ika but better.  Twitch it back a couple times, and let it fall again.  And best of all, it skips like a dream maybe even a bit better than a wacky rig. 

[Bucky205]

Skipping is my goto for docks.  Tubes on spinning reels are the easiest to skip.  Getting 20' under a dock on 3 or 4 skips is pretty easy even on floating docks.

 

[papajoe222]

I only skip a jig or tube under docks when the sun is high and the only shade is directly under the dock, or when I’m targeting the inside corners o L or T shaped docks.  I’ll have two cranking combos on my deck. Each will have a crank that runs right or left. Casting to the shade and retrieving a fast moving crank under that side gets some strong reaction bites and allows me to cover a line of docks quickly. It is also a presentation they don’t see very often. 

[scaleface]

All you guys who  are good at skipping  ,  [I  am not on casting gear]  have you ever skipped a Johnson Silver Minnow ?

[tcbass]

3 hours ago, scaleface said:

All you guys who  are good at skipping  ,  [I  am not on casting gear]  have you ever skipped a Johnson Silver Minnow ?

 

Never tried that. That lure looks like it's going to come down to if it lands on it's round side it'll skip but concave side it won't.

 

Not sure I'd be skipping that under a dock, normally you want something with a soft landing.

[soflabasser]

On 6/4/2018 at 11:54 AM, ww2farmer said:

Docks are a big part of what I do, I treat them as any other type of shallow cover. I probably spend 1/3 of my season fishing docks/shallow cover, 1/3 fishing mid depth weeds, and 1/3 fishing offshore. 

 

In clear water, I like wacky rigs, and smaller versions of my favorite flipping plastics (3" chigger craws, baby rage craws and menace, 3" pit boss, etc...) I will also skip hollow body frogs and swim jigs under them and briskly fish the back out hitting posts/cross members/etc.. trying to get a reaction bite.

 

In stained or dirty water, a flipping jig is hard pressed to leave my hand, unless I know they are there but don't want to bite a jig that day. Then I turn to the good old-fashioned t-rigged power worm. Frogs and swim jigs still get a good bit of work in stained water, but I switch it up to a popping frog, and a bladed swim jig.

Good choices.

On 6/4/2018 at 12:06 PM, the reel ess said:

I second Trick Worm. I might try a bluegill color around docks, but bubble gum and limetreuse are my favs for stained water, which is what we have here. I usually T rig them, weightless. This is really easy to skip way under docks with a spinning combo. Getting big ones out can be a different story though. I use a stout MH combo and 20 lb braid. Where weeds or lilies intersect with pier pilings of any other wood, I'll always toss a frog there. You'll be surprised how many big bass are very shallow, even in the heat.

Big bass have to find somewhere to hide from the sun and many times under the dock is one of the best places, especially in shallow bodies of water. Baitfish tend to be under docks as well and there will be both resident and visiting bass that are under/around docks that are hunting the baitfish.