Dock Fishing Made Easy

If you put the majority of bass anglers on a random lake in the middle of nowhere, we’d probably gravitate towards boat docks. These man-made structures are known bass fishing hot spots. The next time you find yourself surrounded by boat docks, keep an eye out for these targets. You’ll quickly find yourself calling your shots and catching loads of big bass using methods that simplify dock fishing.

The key to dock fishing in any season is to concentrate on where the bass would be if there were no docks. Yes, big docks that provide abundant shade are more appealing to bass than smaller docks. However, what’s under a dock is more important than the dock itself. When fishing docks, make the process easy by focusing on the underwater structures.

Bass could be in the pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn mode simultaneously in different parts of the lake. For example, in one section of the lake you might need to fish for prespawn bass. These bass relate to docks over chunk rock bottoms that drop at a 45-degree angle, making dock fishing easy as you adapt to the lake’s conditions.

My workhorse bait in the spring is a 3/8 ounce jig

Elsewhere, the bass may be near docks in the backs of spawning pockets that have pea gravel banks. This strategic approach can truly make fishing from docks easy.

My workhorse bait in the spring is a 3/8 ounce jig, brown or green pumpkin in clear water and black and blue in dirty water. I will stay with the jig until the bass start bedding. Then it’s time for a completely different array of baits.

Many docks that yield bass in the winter also produce in the summertime. In both seasons, bass like deep water under or near the dock, such as a creek channel drop, along with planted brush. It is a method that makes dock fishing truly easy, capitalizing on seasonal bass behavior.

The bass are more active in the summertime and tend to hug the bottom, rather than suspend. Go down after them with the same jig you use in the winter, but step up from 3/8 to 1/2 ounce. Dress the jig with a chunk. My other primary summer dock fishing baits include a 10-inch worm and a 4 1/2 inch tube, both rigged with a 3/8 ounce sinker. Fish these baits with a more aggressive hopping action than in the winter, and to depths of 30 feet on clear waters to streamline dock fishing.

Autumn is one of the best times for fishing docks, though you rarely find bass stacked up then. This season generally runs from late August through mid-November. During this time, water temperatures range from the mid 70’s down to the mid 50’s.

In the fall, I look for docks that have many shad in the area. That’s usually in the backs of creeks and on flat banks on the main lake. There is usually less than 5 feet of water under the docks. Such conditions make this season a prime time for dock fishing without much effort.

Excerpts taken from Lee’s new book “Strategies for Bass“.