Bass Insider
9
If it’s not pegged, the sinker will slide up the line during the cast, and it won’t skip properly.
Many times bass will suspend just under the surface. Other times, they will hold at middle depths along pilings or near bottom. The strike can come anywhere! If I don’t get bit while the bait is falling, I leave reel free spooling and let it drop straight to the bottom. Then I’ll click over the reel, let the worm rest a couple of seconds, and drag it a foot or two very slowly. And then I’ll twitch it. If a fish has followed the bait down to the bottom, and the drag doesn’t get it, the twitch probably will!
When a cast fails to produce a strike, I wind my bait in and toss it to another piling. I rarely cast back to the same spot twice. I believe that if a bass is present, it’s likely to hit the first time the bait moves through its strike zone, so repeat casts are usually a waste of effort. On any given day I attempt to pattern the bass according to specific depth and location along the docks. One day they might be holding on the end of the docks, and the next day they’ll hold under the walkway up near the bank. Usually, after you catch a few fish, you can see a very definite pattern. Then you can move from one dock to the next and concentrate on fishing only the most productive part of the dock. This way you can be more efficient with your time.
If the water is cold and the fish is inactive, I’ll flip a ¼ ounce jig with a brushog as a trailer so it’ll fall slowly. But if the water is warmer and the fish are active I’ll stick to a plastic worm or fluke. Also when I’m pitching plastics I’ll really massage the pilings and other pieces of cover. I think the fish like the vertical presentation, so I’ll drop my bait right down beside the structure. If I believe the fish is holding shallower I’ll try an spinner bait or a crank bait, if they take it that’s what I’ll stick with, because I can cover so many more spots with one of these baits than I can with a slow moving one. However it’s the slowest moving baits I turn to in winter. If I know there is structure of the dock, building rubble, vegetation etc. I will fish this structure first using my standard techniques. Then I’ll move in and fish the dock just as thoroughly as I would if the alternate structure hadn’t been there. Sometimes you can take a bass of this alternate structure, and then take a couple more of the dock proper.
Well I suppose this is it for me about boat docks, always keep in mind that docks will hold fish all year long and is always worth a try! Guy’s fishing the Vaal River a lot there is a lot of subtle techniques in this article that helped me tremendously on the river be sure to try them and I am convinced you will have more success taking fish of boat docks. Also remember a boat dock bordering on other structure is prime area!