Floating Docks vs Timber Docks

[KSanford33]

Do you fish these differently or use the same approach?

[Woody B]

I skip stuff under suspended docks.  For floating docks I cast, then move the boat so my lure will run under it.   However, around here the docks have been fished to death by this time of year so I give those fish a break.   Plenty of other cover and structure, at least on the lakes I fish.   

[papajoe222]

It depends on the presentation I'm using. I tune crankbaits to run left or right and use them similarly for both types of docks.  For most other presentations, I'll do my best to get them under suspended docks, or along any shade a floating dock offers.

[WRB]

We have floating docks usually anchored with poles to allow up and down movement. To cast under a floating dock requires casting into the float openings, smaller space to target. If the dock has a boat in the slip even less area to skip into with tie down ropes etc. The poles are your best target structure.

Tom

[Catt]

Floating docks here have no openings to skip a lure into. You can cast parallel to the dock but not much else.

[gim]

13 hours ago, Woody B said:

For floating docks I cast, then move the boat so my lure will run under it. 

That doesn't seem possible.  If its floating on the surface, there's no space between the dock itself and the water.

 

19 minutes ago, Catt said:

Floating docks here have no openings to skip a lure into. You can cast parallel to the dock but not much else.

This was my line of thinking too.  We don't have very many floating docks anyways so its kind of a moot point.  People are starting to take their docks and lifts out up here for the season now.

[galyonj]

8 minutes ago, gimruis said:

That doesn't seem possible.  If its floating on the surface, there's no space between the dock itself and the water.

 

I may be wrong, but I believe @Woody B's saying that he casts down one side of the dock, then lets the lure sink while he motors back around it to the other side, giving him a straight shot under it to retrieve the llure.

[WRB]

The issue is the poles on each dock corner prevents pulling your line under the floating dock. We have about 1’ opening between floats to targets small space but doable. Some floaters use anchors with cables, then the cables become targets as they can grow algae attracting bait fish and bass.

The slip openings offer space along the sides to target, small narrow target but doable to skip under tie down ropes.

Permanent docks on cribs or posts are easy to skip under if the water leaves a space under walk ways and slips.

Timber look at the bottom structure and target the timber on the best looking structure near deeper water breaks.

Tom

[Bankc]

I don't fish floating docks around here.  They're just about impossible to fish under, and they're usually loaded with people fishing off them.  So they're just not productive and generally a waste of time.  We don't have timber docs around here, so I don't fish them either.  

 

I see people on the internet and in fishing tournaments fishing docks all of the time and they look like great places to target bass.  But they're fishing different kinds of docks and doing so on lakes with hundreds of docks all lined up in a row.  Our lakes only have a few at most, and since bank access is pretty much impossible due to our unmanaged forests surrounding these lakes, they're the most overfished areas of any lake.  Plus, they're usually posted with signs telling you not to fish them, or even not to get within 300 feet of them (in the case of our floating fishing piers).  

[Choporoz]

Impossible for me to generalize.  There are so many variations of both fixed and floating docks.  The most common floating dock that I encounter has few, small gaps and rides on fairly thin poles.  These aren't worth a whole lot of time and effort.  But, there are also floating docks built on 'regular' wooden timber poles.  Those can be worth the work since the cover of the poles is more significant.   Some floating docks have bigger gaps between floats that make skipping worthwhile.   There are plenty of fixed  wooden docks with facing boards down to and below the waterline that make them near impossible to get under, also.

[Catt]

This is what our floating docks look like. 

 

The floats are plastic & interlock, no gaps to skip into.

 

The only docks we can fish are the ones built on pilings.  

[MN Fisher]

30 minutes ago, Catt said:

This is what our floating docks look like. 

 

The floats are plastic & interlock, no gaps to skip into.

The few floating docks I've seen on Tonka are quite different.

 

55 gallon drums or plastic barrels filled with foam...quite often there's lots of space to skip under.

[BassNJake]

Just depends on the lake, Near me since they drop the water 20 feet every year

Our floating docks are mostly the ones with cables.

These offer spots in between floats to skip under

In some cases like in the picture, they have a set of steps that also extend into the water

they crank the dock up or let it float out further depending on the water level

That single float under the walkway is the most productive spot for me anytime there is water under it

 

[Woody B]

10 hours ago, galyonj said:

 

I may be wrong, but I believe @Woody B's saying that he casts down one side of the dock, then lets the lure sink while he motors back around it to the other side, giving him a straight shot under it to retrieve the llure.

 

Yep,  many, of the floating docks around here either have no poles (anchored to the walkway) or only 2 poles on one end.   With some boat movement it's easy enough to get a lure under them.   I've also tuned crankbaits and spinnerbaits to run to the right or left.   

 

 

[casts_by_fly]

6 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

The few floating docks I've seen on Tonka are quite different.

 

55 gallon drums or plastic barrels filled with foam...quite often there's lots of space to skip under.

we have a lot of these on the lakes that aren’t holiday home lakes. Often they don’t need have the side boards on them and the deck to water distance is a foot or more. You don’t even have to skip them, you can pitch right up under them.

 

 

 

On 9/28/2022 at 7:31 PM, KSanford33 said:

Do you fish these differently or use the same approach?

we don’t have a lot of poles type floating docks. So it’s either the floating docks right above or permanent piling. We have a lot of holiday home lakes with 75 year old houses/lots/slips. Some are boat garages as big as a small apartment. Some are concrete piling. The best are old wood with pillars like telephone poles. Those ones I’ll fish a moving bait on the outside edges first before slowing down and pitching to every piling. I’ll do similar with the floaters, but probably faster since there is less underneath for them to relate to. 

[LrgmouthShad]

I’ve been told that floating docks are just plain inferior to fixed docks. Meaning that fixed docks are almost always better to fish. Don’t know how much truth there is to that statement… anyone care to share their thoughts on this assertion? 

[gim]

1 minute ago, LrgmouthShad said:

anyone care to share their thoughts on this assertion?

Initially when I thought of the term “floating docks”, I didn’t think it was referring to a dock with ANY posts. If it has posts, I don’t consider it to be a floating dock - it would a fixed dock. The one that @BassNJake posted isn’t what we see up here. The floating docks I see literally have no space between the water and the dock, so skipping lures underneath is not possible.

[papajoe222]

57 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I’ve been told that floating docks are just plain inferior to fixed docks. Meaning that fixed docks are almost always better to fish. Don’t know how much truth there is to that statement… anyone care to share their thoughts on this assertion? 

Fixed docks have stationary pilings, many are made of wood. Regardless of the material used, they collect moss and algae and in turn create a food chain in addition to the cover of the dock. Floating docks don't have that attractant and only offer shade.

[Catt]

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

If it has posts, I don’t consider it to be a floating dock - it would a fixed dock.

 

Down here "floating" dock do just that, they float up & down with the lake level. The post keep them from floating off. 

[JustJames]

Our dock is just like @BassNJakeimages, a few inches gap in between. I skip into those gap before. The way we fish is a little bit different we don’t usually skip under dock due to boat lift, and cable both side  that hold  dock in place. We find docks that close together and fish in between.

[Choporoz]

No 'permanent' docks allowed on my lake.  Every single dock is a pontoon boat stripped down to the deck and attached to shore with ropes and ramp.  So, while there are no poles or posts, there is a pontoon skipping gap on most.  A good number put a ladder at the gap, so getting under those isn't an option.   But most of the docks hold fish year round even without the underwater structure. 

[fin]

9 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I’ve been told that floating docks are just plain inferior to fixed docks. Meaning that fixed docks are almost always better to fish. Don’t know how much truth there is to that statement… anyone care to share their thoughts on this assertion? 

 

I’ve fished this one dock for years that was all wood in the beginning, I think it was like 8 slips, and then after a few years they replaced it with a larger aluminum floating dock with like 12 slips that is anchored by four posts. They cut off the old posts a few feet below the surface. I don't fish there a lot because it’s always been high pressured. Not a lot of boat activity, just a lot of fishermen standing on the dock fishing.

 

I caught a lot of fish on the old wooden dock, and I still catch fish on the aluminum one, but I caught more and larger fish on the smaller wooden dock. I do like @Woody B and pull lures under the floats and walkway, but most of my catches are at the posts, like @WRB said. Lately I've been catching the same fish at the same post. I've caught him like four times in the past month. Obviously other fishermen aren't fishing those posts, or he would have been eaten by now.

 

The aluminum dock is much noisier. I don’t know if that noise is muffled underwater by the floats, but it seems like it could scare fish.

[Woody B]

I think the bass get used to a noisy dock.   Kinda like people who live next to an airport of train track.   

[gim]

On 9/29/2022 at 8:31 PM, Catt said:

The post keep them from floating off. 

Why not cables?  If there post is planted into the ground, I still consider it a permanent dock.  Probably pretty irrelevant at this point though.

 

This is the type of floating dock I see here.  There is literally no space underneath it.

 

[Spankey]

On 9/29/2022 at 8:34 AM, Catt said:

Floating docks here have no openings to skip a lure into. You can cast parallel to the dock but not much else.

Pretty much the same situation I have on the river. I just try to run them horizontal and catch the corners with multiple casts. But I never pass up on the water between the docks because I’ve caught many more smallies between them than on them. 
 

My nicest fish on the river so far this season came off a dock. A 16+” Greenie pitching grubs. I’m not bragging about his size, bigger river bass has been a struggle this year big time. 
 

A lot of the docks up my way are those old school styrofoam type or skirted types.  Good fishing.