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Catch up to 4 times as many fish from docks! |
It's a well known fact that Largemouth Bass just love docks. Why? Because they also hold lots of baitfish, have plenty of shade and cover from which to ambush their prey and the water is a little cooler which holds oxygen better. It's a lesser known fact that other fish species use docks too; Smallmouth Bass, Muskies, Pike and most panfish species.
However, some fishermen struggle to catch fish under docks and presume that there are no fish there. Wrong! The fish are often there but just won't bite what those fishermen are throwing at them. The reason they're not biting is very simple.
If you were to sit watching a likely-looking row of docks, on any weekend in summer, you would see an endless stream of boats approaching those docks. Every group would take what is considered to be the 'right' approach.
Most will pitch or flip a tube jig, a jig and pig, a jig and craw, a worm or a lizard at every dock post and work them slowly and methodically. In an effort to cover the dock more quickly, some will throw a spinnerbait or crankbait along its length and hope to draw a fish out. Every so often one might hook into a fish but most don't.
Why is this? Have the fish gone? Have they all been caught and taken away? No! It's because everybody fishes docks the same way. A good spot is a good spot for fish to hold in, any day. But imagine poor Mr. Bass sitting under that dock seeing the same presentation of the same lures, day in, day out. BORING!!!! How many times will he be caught before he gets the idea that maybe he shouldn't bite those same old lures? Fish will even clue in to the fact that the nearby noise of a trolling motor spells DANGER. Starting to get the picture?
The key to catching fish from under docks, and many other sorts of cover, for that matter, is to zig when everyone else is zagging. Understanding your prey and fishing differently to everyone else will often put numbers of fish in the boat when no-one else can buy a fish.
The very best docks are old and rickety (preferably abandoned. If no-one is using the dock, the fish don't get disturbed because there are no boats being docked), are made of wood, have lots of posts and beams, they have weed cover running right up to them and they are close to deeper water. Old, wooden docks will have a covering of algae on them which baitfish will graze on. If you can find a dock with all of these ingredients, you have most likely, found yourself a goldmine. More modern docks with galvanized posts or floating docks just don't attract fish like the old wooden ones. Although, Smallmouth Bass are more likely to hold on these, provided the bottom is sandy. Here's a way you can Up your Catch 2, 3, 4 times or even more times as many fish. I like to use one of two basic approaches when fishing docks, depending on how aggressive the fish are:
a) Active Fish- If the fish are reasonably active, I will take a Black Mamba™ Slick Willy™, if the water is clear or a Ribbed Willy™ if the water is dirty. Either way, it will be in a natural colour as the fish are never far away and are likely to get a decent look at it.
I will work the outside of the dock first. Why? Because good docks will often hold several fish. If I hook a fish from underneath right away, I could easily spook the rest of the fish. If I work from the outside to underneath, I can catch more of them. Simple stuff, huh?
Most fishermen fishing the conventional lures I mentioned earlier get far too close to the docks so that they can hit the spots they want to fish, more accurately and quietly. However, whenever they re-position the boat with their trolling motor, they often, inadvertently, send a blast of water right under the dock and spook the fish! No wonder they don't catch so many!
I fish docks with a 6' 6" medium-heavy action spinning rod, with the reel's drag set tight, spooled with 10 to 20lb test PowerPro or Fireline. This line is very thin and limp, casts well, has no stretch, is so sensitive you can feel everything and it takes a ton of abuse.
I find that many monofilament lines just aren't up to the job; they're too stiff, too bulky, they stretch, they have a terrible memory (they go 'curly'), you can't feel anything and if they get the slightest of nicks, their strength drops dramatically. To top it off, I will usually use a premium quality 3/0 or 4/0 Offset shank worm hook.
Do not skimp on equipment as dock fishing is very tough on all of it. Be sure to check your line very frequently for nicks and re-tie immediately if you find any. Unless you are 'God's Gift to Fishing', do not try this with a baitcasting outfit! If you do, you'll find that when the bait hits the water, you will get a massive run-on that might cause you to utter some nasty words and render your reel utterly useless for the rest of the day.
I approach very quietly from a distance away, with the trolling motor on low and I keep it going almost constantly. A steady, low purr seems to spook fish less than if you have the motor on a higher setting and keep hitting it, in short bursts. I have honestly seen fishermen who should know better, roaring into a dock, on plane, and then shuttin' her down within 20 feet of the dock they are going to fish, sending a massive tidal wave right under the dock. They then scratch their heads and wonder why they didn't catch any fish from such a great looking spot. HELLOOOOOO!!!! Wake up and smell the Java!
I keep well away from the dock and cast all around the outside, usually underarm, so that the bait lands gently. I let the bait settle for a second or two. Sometimes fish will sit just out from the dock and if you 'stampede' for the posts, you will spook every fish within miles!
Then, I move in a little closer and cast the bait right down the length of the dock and let it settle for a moment. These baits have a side to side swimming action which is commonly called 'Walking the Dog'. By carefully manipulating the rod tip, you can easily get the baits to swim sideways right under the dock and back out again, then under the next portion, and so on. It pays to bang the bait off the dock posts as often as you can. For some reason, this rapid change of direction, seems to trigger fish to bite.
I then skip the bait, just like you would a stone, right underneath the dock. Using this method, you can get into spots right at the back where it is impossible to get any other lure that I know of. These spots often hold some real donkeys. Why? Because the other fishermen can't get a lure in front of them and therefore, they are rarely caught.
These baits can easily be skipped 30 to 40 feet! Yes, you read it right! They have enough weight that they will just skim the surface and get right to the back. Learning to skip the baits is surprisingly easy. Most anglers should be able to get pretty proficient within an hour or so. Getting any degree of consistent accuracy, takes a little longer. Getting all the lunkers you hook out from underneath those docks is another thing altogether! That's where the stout rod, tight drag and superline come in.
Should a hooked fish wrap itself around a post, don't try to force it out. The best thing to do is open your bail arm and let the line go slack. That's right, let the pressure off the fish. If the fish thinks he's free and clear, he will usually swim out from the obstruction with a few seconds or so. When he does, close the bail arm and haul him out!
Some anglers would scoff at this approach saying that skipping the baits is noisy and will scare the fish. I have found the complete opposite to be true. One of the actions that cause predators to attack is the 'scared baitfish' action. If you have spent any time on the water, you will have seen baitfish jumping out trying to escape bigger fish which are chasing them. I firmly believe that skipping the baits mimics this action and gets the fish looking up by attracting their attention. When you see that monster Bass exploding on the bait, I think you'll agree with me.
b) Turned-off Fish- When the fish are really turned off, such as after a cold front passes through, they will tuck in tight to the cover and not feel like eating at all. That's when I call for an Atomic Wedgie™! No, I don't ask Bill to pull my underpants so far over my head that my eyes pop. I mean a Black Mamba™ Atomic Wedgie™.
I use the exact same rod as before and just change the bait. Although, if I have established that the fish prefer eating the Atomic Wedgie™ as opposed to the Slick Willy™ or the Ribbed Willy™, I will often change the hook to a 1/0 worm hook as there is less meat to this lure.
The Atomic Wedgie™ has one very neat, fish-catching attribute. If you pop the bait on a slack line, it will go right back to where it started. If you pop it again and again, it will stay within inches of the starting point and flutter back down very seductively. So what? You might say.
Again, imagine Mr. Bass sitting under that dock, watching the endless procession of lures that land under the dock, plummet to the bottom and get hopped back out towards that funny shaped thing, floating 10 feet away, with a whirring propellor.
Using the Atomic Wedgie™, you only need to cast or skip it in once and you can repeatedly wave it right in the fish's face. It is the fishy equivalent of having a juicy cheeseburger waved right under your nose. Very few people are going to resist the temptation to have just one little bite. Neither are the fish.
We have loads of underwater footage where we have filmed fish which are obviously not interested in feeding. They sorta take a look at the bait and start to swim away. Suddenly, the bait pops up into their line of sight, they move in just a little to take a closer look, then the bait swims right back into the fish's face. The fish will just open his mouth, as a reaction, and eat the bait 9 times out of 10, without thinking. He has certainly never seen an action like that before! It's an action any fish finds hard to turn down, the bait looks like such an easy target.
How well does this approach work? Here's what Terry Curtis told me about his dock fishing exploits. Terry is a professional fishing guide and tournament pro. If he wants to make a living, he must consistently put lots of fish in the boat.
Last summer, he was fishing a tournament and he loves to fish docks. He was following two other tournament boats along the same row of docks. They were throwing all the 'right' stuff; tubes, jig and craws, worms, spinnerbaits and crankbaits. Terry didn't see either boat catch a single fish. Terry caught 12 fish right behind them fishing the Black Mamba™ way. He culled his limit of 5 fish out of those 12.
Another happy customer, Dan Gilfoy, won his first tournament last year, fishing docks the Black Mamba™ way, beating the runner-up by 5 lbs. He approached a dock and threw a crankbait, then a spinnerbait along the length of it. Nothing. He then threw in a worm, then a jig and pig. Still, nothing. Having nothing to lose, he skipped in a Slick Willy™. He said that a 4.5 lb largemouth came out of the dock 10 feet and the bait disappeared in a bathtub-sized explosion. Thinking it might have been a fluke, he did the same thing at the next dock and got the exact same result. He ended up with 5 fish for 21 lbs, which in Canada, where Dan is from, is a massive weight. The growing season in Canada is only six months long, half of what Florida's would be. Therefore, a 4.5 lb fish in Canada, is the equivalent of catching an 8 or 9 pounder in Florida.
Terry and Dan love these baits for the same reasons I do and so many other guys who have tried fishing docks the Black Mamba™ way (please refer to our Testimonials section to see what other anglers think about the Black Mamba™ products):
a) Winning tournaments is all about using your time efficiently to put your bait in front of as many fish as possible. By fishing the Black Mamba™ way, you can fish a dock more thoroughly and in half the time of the conventional methods. That means you can cover twice as many docks, in the same time period. And that puts more fish in the boat. It's simple arithmetic, my friends!
b) The baits will skip into spots where you just can't get other lures and that is often where the biggest fish are. These fish are relatively untouched and are easy to catch.
c) The baits are presented to the fish up above, their preferred position for attack. They can see them clearly and don't hesitate to smash the crap out of them. We've even had fish smack into the underside of the dock because they attacked the bait so aggressively.
One friend in Florida has told me stories of big Tarpon (80 lbs plus) hitting the underside of docks so hard when he was skipping baits under them, that they dislodged the nails! However, I will caution you, he is a fisherman and is therefore, prone to exaggeration! The fisherman's motto is well known, “I fish, therefore I lie”.
d) A minor but still important benefit is that you are much less likely to annoy the dock owner if you are casting or skipping soft-plastic, weedless baits because they won't damage his dock or his boat. How would you like it if someone repeatedly hurled 5/8 oz of lead against your $30,000 bass boat?
Try fishing docks the Black Mamba™ way and you'll be hooked too.