Bass Fishing

Turning heads for fishing around docks

Vic Attardo

POSTED: June 14, 2010

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One of the more consistent and most important places to fish for summer largemouths is under docks.

The reason is pretty obvious: docks provide shade. You sometimes hear anglers say the reason bass have an affinity for docks is that the water is cooler under these platforms. But how can the water temperature under a dock be any different than its immediate surroundings? Even in a small lake the water probably flows beneath a dock within a few moments. There’s no time for the temperature to drop beyond a minuscule amount.

But shade enables bass to get out of the direct rays of the sun. Fish are cold-blooded and their metabolism is affected by the sun bearing down on them. In summer, the radiant energy of the sun – its direct beams – will raise their body temperature to an uncomfortable level. In addition, the shade beneath a dock provides concealment. Bass can lurk in the shadows and this helps their attack. They’re less visible in the shade, but their prey is more easily seen. Undoubtedly, it’s the shade that attracts bass.

I’ve often asked pro anglers what are the best kind of docks, which means those that provide the best shade. Superficially, there are stationary, moveable, flat, elevated, metal and wooden docks, and you can mix and combine many of these. Some anglers have told me they prefer docks that are raised above the water level; others like them flat on the surface. Some say they prefer permanent docks; others like rows and rows of removable docks, as in a marina.

But the truth there is other criterion that makes for a good bass-holding dock. That feature is that a dock needs to be near deep water and close to additional cover. If a dock is surrounded by shallow water –not even knee deep – it’s unlikely to be a good dock. But if the dock reaches out to deep water or is near a substantial drop-off, it can be quite good.

Cover in the form of rock, debris, or vegetation, should be in nearby deep water or against an adjacent shoreline. A classic example of shoreline cover is the 10-foot rickety rowboat dock that juts from shore into only three or four feet of water yet is surrounded by cattails and lily pads. Such a dock can hold a lunker just as well as a 20-foot dock with its outer line over 15-feet of water, with weeds.

With lots of fishing time, I’ve come to several conclusions regarding docks. The first is that every dock is worth exploring for bass, at least once; second is that the wider and darker the shade the more likely it will hold bass; the third is bass might be in the front, the middle, or the extreme back end of any dock; the fourth is that the better the current around a dock, the more likely it will hold fish; and fifth, the farther you can throw a bait into the shade, the greater your chances of a strike.

Now in June with lakes warming up and bass firmly ensconced under many docks, the issue becomes how to get them out. So much in the technical and tactical aspects of bass fishing has improved over the last 25 years, and the ability to fish docks is one facet that has seen great enhancements. The most widespread improvement of late has been the ability to skip baits under docks.

As I grew into bass fishing, I flipped and pitched jigs under docks. Getting the bait inside the pilings was a big deal. and with that tactic, I caught a lot of fish. With the popularity of finesse soft plastics, everything from tubes to short, thin worms , anglers could get farther into the shade. Using finesse jigheads and weightless wacky rigs, anglers could skip their baits under a dock – like skipping a stone – and get farther in the shaded area than ever before.

I find the skipping technique to be especially effective. My favorite bait for this is a four-inch tube. With a tube’s slick body, it’s easily sent sliding over the surface. My other favorite is the wacky rig done up with a soft stickbait, a Yum Dinger. The inherent weight of the Dinger propels it across the water. I can get three to six surface hops from a Dinger before it sinks. After that, both the tube and the soft stick offer an appealing action.

But now a new series of lures is hitting the shelves that will make dock fishing even more efficient. The Uncle Josh Bump-N-Run series might be the most important innovation to dock fishing in years. With their patented, adjustable head, Bump-N- Run baits will actually slant under a dock as you retrieve.

In the past, anglers might tune a bait so that it slanted left or right on the cast. In doing this, the retrieved lure would curve away from its original trajectory. If you got it right, the lure would begin next to the dock and then swim under it. I did this tuning with crankbaits and spinnerbaits, and while I got a few to function as I wanted, others weren’t so good. Even if I was successful, a tuned bait would turn right or left and that was it. The bait wasn’t any good for working both sides of a dock.

But with the adjustable head on the Bump-N-Run series, you can twist the head as far to the right or left as you want it and then twist it back. According to Uncle Josh’s Matt Bichanich, the heads turn on a patented washer that will enable to angler to set, keep, or change the angle of deflection.

So far Uncle Josh is making a spinnerbait, buzzbait, and hard body swim jig in the Bump-N-Run series. All of the baits have an extended lip like a shallow running crankbait, which is designed to bump and deflect off cover. But the major innovation is the adjustable head.

In tests, I cast the swimming jig along a 20-foot dock, and with the head set straight, the jig came back on a straight retrieve. But when I twisted the head a few degrees to the right, the bait veered hard enough so that it went under the dock, and through the deepest shade. I then maneuvered to the other side of the dock, turned the head the opposite way and the bait veered in the opposite direction back under the dock. Just think what this bait might do under diving platform, moored boats, and other open-water structure.

Eventually there are going to be a lot of applications for these adjustable heads. But in dock season, I’m enthralled with the possibilities of the Bump-N-Run series in the shade.