Boat docks are one of the most apparent cover forms on any lake, and they almost always hold bass. They are often the number one bass option on lakes without much cover. If you are on a new lake trying to put together a pattern, boat docks are a great starting point in your search.
As you might guess, not all docks are created equal. In general, the bigger the dock, the better it is. Big docks provide a lot of cover for prey and abundant shade for bass to launch ambushes. Docks with sunken brush piles are typically better because they provide more cover for the smaller fish that bass eat. In a category by themselves are large marinas with dozens or even hundreds of boat slips. These giant floating sanctuaries attract large numbers of fish and can be very productive year-round.
In addition to the type of dock, its location is also essential. Like grass, rock, or wood cover, productive docks are situated in appropriate areas for the given season. For instance, docks on secondary points or spawning flats are best in the spring, while docks on deeper main lake points or near channel swings are best in summer and winter. My favorite boat docks, though, are ones off by themselves in a large area without any other cover. These isolated docks are the only cover option for the bass to use and will hold fish regularly.
The key to fishing docks is casting accuracy. The further under docks you can place a lure, and the closer you can keep it to the edges, the more fish you'll catch. Squeeze a bait into an area where few other anglers can place it, and you'll likely be rewarded with good bass. Good dock fishermen can pitch, skip, or roll cast various baits into precise locations, and they can make these casts both forehanded and backhanded. On lakes without much pressure, get your bait near a dock, and you'll catch some fish. On weekends or during tournaments, all the easy ones get picked off, and you'll need to work the tight spots to catch them, especially the bigger bass. Finally, don't forget the back or shore side of docks. Most anglers only fish the lakeside of docks. It takes a little work to get behind the docks and fish under the catwalks and cables in the rear, but the extra effort is often rewarded with big bass.
Once your casting is perfected, most fish can be caught on a few basic lures. When bass feed on shad around docks, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and shallow running crankbaits will catch them. For floating docks, let your bait run just below the level of the Styrofoam and bring them parallel to the dock structures, as close as possible. While hard baits catch fish around docks well, they are hard to skip into tight spaces or under low-hanging structures. Therefore, I like swimbaits and swimming jigs around stationary docks because they skip well and still attract bass that are chasing shad. A 3 1/2 or 4-inch Live Magic Shad rigged on a weighted Ultimate Swimbait Hook casts and skips well because of its flat side, while the swimming action gives dock fish a new look. An option is to skip a three-eights-ounce Mega Weight jig with a Fork Baby Creature trailer. For more action, use the entire bait. For a more subtle action, clip off the grub tail of the Baby Creature.
Often, bass relates to posts and brush piles around docks, so pitching soft plastics and jigs work better in this case. A Texas-rigged Fork Flipper is hard to beat when trying to get my bait to drop straight down around cover, incredibly when windy. Plus, the Flipper is flat enough to skip very well. If the bass are chasing bait and I'm trying to get a little more gliding and swimming retrieves from my Texas rig, I'll put a Fork Baby Creature on my hook. In contrast, if I need to skip my lure way back into docks aggressively, I switch to a three-eights-ounce Mega Weight jig with a Pig Claw trailer. The trailer's flat surface and the jig's weight allow me to skip it a mile. Furthermore, the jig will stay intact after vigorous skipping, while the hook on a Texas rig can become exposed and lead to snags. In those cases where more finesse is required, skipping tubes or Twitch Worms on one-eighth to three-sixteenth ounce Screw-Ball jig heads work better. Rig the jighead on a spinning reel with ten to twenty-pound Spectrex braid with a six-foot leader of ten-pound P-Line Fluorocarbon, and you'll have a perfect combination of finesse and power.
Give these dock fishing tips a try, and you might catch a few more bass on your next trip.
Here's hoping you catch the lunker of your dreams.
