Boat docks… How do you fish them, what lures would you use, when do you fish them, and which ones will produce fish?

Fishing docks can be very a productive pattern all seasons as long. Sure, some weather, time of day and seasons of the year are better than others. And one day the fish will be there, while the next day they seem to have vanished or have lock-jaw…. That’s a reality in fishing any lake, right? Every lake I fish has docks. No matter when and where I’m fishing, I generally give them a try.

Where: From what I have experienced, docks near or on points close to deeper water are going to be your best bet. The presence of nearby grass, brush, or some type of cover will increase your odds of a bite. Healthy, growing vegetation and other cover attract baitfish, which in turn attract game fish such as bass and crappie.

Which: Some docks are extremely shallow, with just enough water to get a boat into the slip. These docks have never produced well for me but may for others.

Dock lights draw swarms of insects at night, which in turn attract baitfish and gamefish. If the food is there, those fish won’t stray far off during daylight hours.

Bass prefer to hang near cover or structure so that even new docks are apt to hold a few, but concentrate your efforts on ones that have been in the water for a while. Docks with a healthy growth of algae on the floats and timbers attract insects, crustaceans, and tiny algae-eating baitfish, which attract bigger fish all up the food chain.

You have floating docks and others set on wood pilings driven into the bottom. One style or the other doesn’t seem to make any difference to the bass. As long as the dock is situated as described above, you should have some success.

When: One of the best seasons for dock fishing is post-spawn. Fish are leaving the spawning areas and moving to the first available cover or structure. When you find docks on points along routes where bass are coming off spawning flats… DING-DING!

By post-spawn, the weather is usually heating up, so shady areas are keys to find post-spawn bass, and docks offer more shade than almost any other cover.Fishing Boat DocksHow: There are many lures you might choose to fish docks. The most productive ones for me are crankbaits, soft plastic finesse baits on drop shot rigs and Recoil Rigs, shaky head worms, jigs, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits.

Try a secret Weapon 5/16-ounce Buzzrbait in your choice of color. Position your boat at the end of the dock, cast parallel to the dock, and then run the bait all the way down the side, steering it into each piling or dock float along the way. I've caught some good fish doing this.

Run a spinnerbait just below the dock floats. Pitch a jig to the back corners of a dock and work it slowly all the way out from the dock. Do the same with shaky head worms and crankbaits. Skip a soft plastic minnow bait, weightless tube jig, or Senko-style lure back under the dock and work it back out with a twitch and fall retrieve.

Skip a Recoil-Rigged Tiny Fluke, worm, or minnow imitator back between the pilings or between floats and twitch and vibrate it in place for fifteen or thirty seconds before walking it up to the next piling. If the water has three feet of visibility, pause and work the bait every six feet along your retrieve until you reach the dock’s drip line. Then reel in and skip your Rig back under the dock about ten feet over from your last cast.

Conclusion: Docks provide cover and attract food for gamefish. I never pass up a chance to fish them because they will produce fish most of the year. Every time I’m out, I will at least spare time for a cast or two to see if the fish are active there. On days when you’re striking out with all other techniques, they’re worth a try. Even times when another pattern is catching, docks may give you a chance to cull. You will almost always benefit by stopping and fishing these man-made fish attractors.

I hope some of the things I mentioned will make you a more successful angler. Thanks for reading. God Bless!

Troy Andrews

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