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Sorting out boat docks

They’re not glamorous but if the truth be told, there’s hardly a bass fisherman in the country who hasn’t aimed at least a few casts at a boat dock. Top tournament pros have won major events fishing the boards and pilings, and guides often visit them as a last – but almost guaranteed – chance to get their clients one more end-of-the-day bass.

“Docks offer vertical cover with their pilings, as well as shade on bright days,” said long-time Lake Fork guide and Bassmaster competitor Lance Vick, whose clients have caught bass topping 12 pounds on some of Fork’s docks. “The real key of why docks are good, however, may be the fact that the pilings and shade extend from shore to deeper water, giving bass far more movement options than a single piece of cover.”

Add the facts that algae frequently grows on wood pilings and attracts baitfish, and that serious dock owners may put additional brush around those pilings to keep both baitfish and bass around. It’s easy to understand why these structures are usually on every angler’s A-List.

“You can fish a boat dock a lot of ways with a variety of lures,” Vick explained. “But sometimes, just choosing which dock to fish is the biggest problem of all. Your choice might be dictated by the season of the year, the type of dock, the proximity of a creek or river channel, and even the weather and prevailing wind or current.

“My own preferences are docks located close to a major depth change, which you can usually determine by your electronics and GPS -- docks located near the mouth of a cove or tributary because they’ll attract migrating bass, and isolated docks sitting away from others, especially one in the back of a cove in the spring.

“Sometimes, all you’re looking for in a boat dock is something different that makes it stand out from the others. It might be longer and extend farther into the water; it might be larger and offer more pilings and cover; or it might actually have better shoreline cover around it. When you’re fishing docks, always study the shoreline to see what else might be there to help attract and hold bass.”

Vick’s actual fishing technique is based on the belief that bass know from boat noise that he’s nearby before he makes his first cast, so his initial casts are usually longer ones. They’re aimed at the outer-most corners closest to deeper water, and they cover those corners from several angles.

“I do this first to avoid spooking those bass, but at the same time I can learn if there’s anything around those pilings, such as brush or cables. Most of the time, I start with a crankbait, spinnerbait, or a Chatterbait-type lure, and they’ll tell me the water depth, too.

“I follow those casts with parallel casts across the front of the dock and then along the sides, working from shallow to deep and as close to the pilings as I can get. I’m just looking for some type of activity, either a hit, a missed strike or even a follow that might tell me how bass are positioned. I do a lot of changing speeds and stop-and-go, because I’m just looking for a reaction bite.”

From there, Vick moves in closer to begin flipping and pitching to individual pilings and ladders, and skipping his lure underneath the boards if he can. He likes either a 3/8 or ½-ounce jig or Texas-rigged tubes or creature baits, and he alternates frequently to give bass a different view. In clear water he may also try a shaky head or a wacky rigged stick worm, but his real favorites are a crankbait and a jig.

“Flipping a dock can be a slow process, especially if you can’t establish a clear pattern of how bass are positioned on them. Sometimes, however, they’ll be in the same general places on different docks, and that’s when it’s really fun.”

During the colder months, bass can still be found on boat docks, and not necessarily always on the deeper outside edges. Artificial brush helps hold bass, as does a deeper channel. Vick studies GPS lake chips carefully to find places like this because bass will use the pilings as ambush points when feeding. In the winter months he also likes docks located on both primary and secondary points in large tributaries.

“In the spring and fall, as bass migrate back and forth between deep water and shallow, docks located on points become favorite staging and holding areas, and because points offer deeper water nearby, bass may remain there all year, especially if the dock is a large one that provides good vertical cover.

“And it will be even better if that dock stands by itself.”

In the spring and fall months, Vick finds many of his bass on the shallow ends of the docks where the fish can complete spawning or feed easily on baitfish. They didn’t see the 12-pounder his client caught on a gray February day, but it hit a black/blue soft jerkbait in less than two feet of water.

“Boat docks are natural choices for spawning bass because of the pilings as well as the shade, but you also have to start thinking seriously about them during the pre-spawn. Throughout the pre-spawn, the spawn and the post-spawn, I fish docks thoroughly from the outside pilings and corners all the way to the shoreline because you can find fish anywhere along them, but if they’re on beds, you need to fish the shallow end especially carefully.”

Vick emphasizes again and again the importance of looking for something different when fishing boat docks, regardless of the season. This can be critical when a row of docks lines an entire shoreline. Sometimes it takes fishing several docks before any type of positioning pattern can be established, but when it is, that pattern can be fairly distinct.

“I’ve had days when bass were only around ladders leading into the water on the deeper sides, and other times when they were only on the very outermost corners. I prefer docks with wood pilings better than those with steel poles, and I like older docks because they’re more likely to have brush underneath them.

“You just have to fish them, but once you do, you’ll usually be glad you did.”