Dock
Fishing In Minnesota
by
Kurt Johnson
Probably the
best mental place that a fisherman can get to is an intuitive one
where you can make the decisions based on a lot of experience either
in consecutive days on the water or accumulated time on specific
bodies of water. When you get to that place you make your decisions
instinctively based on what feels right at the time. What follows
are some shallow water tactics that may help you when you make those
good decisions.
I guess I’ve been
fishing boat docks in the upper Midwest for over twenty years now. I am pretty
sure I’ve fished almost every dock on every one of the major tournament lakes
that we all fish in Minnesota. I have caught fish on lots of them but certainly
not all. In the next few paragraphs I’ll cover a few of the things I’ve learned
from making all those casts at manmade structure.
The best docks are where
you find them. By this I mean that you can’t count on the docks next to deeper
water (deep meaning wherever the weed line ends) being the best and you can’t
rule out the shallowest docks up on flats with little supporting cover either.
It is probably true that docks next to deep water with weedy cover nearby can
replenish themselves the best and are not as affected by commotion on shore or
around the dock. If the shallow dock has plenty of cover and/or is not often
used, it can hold quality fish even if its 100 yards from the deep water. You
can pattern docks on a given day and once you’re “dialed in” you can predict
which ones will hold fish when the bite is on. Things to look for to find the
better docks are un-mowed lawns, no toys, no soap, no water skis, flowers pots
(they’re usually around where the kids aren’t), low cover on complicated docks
in clear water, pontoons in clear water and especially in dirty water – boat
lifts. After saying all of that you can still catch a big one on a skimpy dock –
but more than likely it’s not been used in awhile. In general the sun does help
dock fishing. I think it puts more fish on the docks and tightens them to the
shady, good cover areas so it’s easier to get a cast near them. I also think
that some docks hold “homebodies” or fish that live their all the time,
regardless of the sun, until something or someone bothers them (like weighing
them in). Other docks definitely have fish moving on and off them at various
times – it would be interesting to put a camera under a good dock for period of
time and monitor the activity – maybe I should do that!
Casting – skippin’ or
pitchin’ which way to go? Basically I use spinning tackle on the clear water
docks and pitch the dirty docks. When skippin’ you can stay farther away from
the docks and in clear water I think that can be important. You cannot be quite
as accurate with the lure on a spinning rod but in clear water I feel that the
fish can see the bait from farther away anyhow and tend to come to it better
than they do in dirty water and if you stay away its harder for them to see you.
Typically in the dirty water – visibility of about a foot – the fish are tighter
to objects like poles, lifts and other hardware. The off color water allows you
to put your boat in closer without spooking them, therefore you can make more
precise casts next to the objects they are on. You need to do that, you need to
pitch that bait in tight to get them to bite. The fish are less skittish in the
dirty water, because they can’t see you or anything else very well, but their
strike zone also seems smaller.
As far as rods and reels
go I have used custom made spinning rods from Thorne Bros. for a long time. I
like no reel seat and tape the reel on a strong rod with a cork handle that
measures 6’8”. The rod should have good backbone and with the line I am using
now, a fast and fairly flexible tip. I have always liked a little longer rod
because you get a stronger hook set and have more power to control the fish. I
would use an even longer rod but it’s too difficult to skip in the tighter areas
with and the 6’8” works well for me. As far as the reel goes you should have the
largest of the bass sized spinning reels and find one where the bail arm won’t
snap closed with you flip your wrists hard making a long skip cast. My friend
Pat Jeffries still uses a couple of the original Cardinal 4’s – probably the
most well designed, toughest spinning reels ever put on the market. He’s been
using at least one of them for over twenty years, can you imagine how many
tournament bass that reel has caught? I am saving mine for antiques. For pitchin’
a 6’10’’ to 7’ rod works well – not much longer because of the tight areas you
might have to get under, over and around. Any of the modern bait casters will
do, make sure its pretty tough and tighten the drag down.
I use braided line and
the diameter keeps getting larger. I use it for both spinning and casting and I
am up to 50# now. When I started fishing docks I must have had the “Walleye
Mentality” – I started with 8# mono, there was no braid for bass fishing in
those days. I cringe when I think of the fish I broke off or couldn’t get the
hook into, I lost way too much tournament cash that I wouldn’t now and I also
lost the fish itself, which I really hate. In shallow cover especially, I don’t
think the fish care about line diameter or visibility – if they did what would
they think about those 4/0 hooks! The same may not be true in deep, clear water
but I am suspicious about that too. The main thing your line needs to do is to
deliver your lure so it looks and acts properly.
My go-to bait for
skippin’ is a 1/8 ounce jig with a plastic craw trailer. It’s hard to find the
1/8 ounce jigs with a strong enough hook (3/0 or 4/0) but that’s what I like, I
have them custom made for me. Anything heavier doesn’t seem to skip very well
and the 1/8 ounce sinks fairly slowly. If you are fishing with a partner they
can use a tube or a soft jerk bait, both those lures are more subtle and catch
some fish behind the jig, but the jig skips straighter, is more accurate,
doesn’t jump into as many bad places and hangs up less. Color is not a huge
deal, I will use black/blue, the pumpkins and white – and let the fish decide
what they like. For pitchin’ I start with the jig again, I use either 3/8 or 1/4
depending on the depth fished and wind conditions, etc. Usually the 3/8 works
fine, same color selection as before. For alternative baits the flippin’ tubes
have worked well and you can pitch some of the newer heavier soft jerk baits
also. Big strong hooks are needed here also, especially if braided line is
used.
As far as getting the
fish out from under the docks, sometimes they just don’t want to come out -
don’t panic - if they get hung up just keep steady pressure on them. They can be
wrapped around a pole twice and if you keep steady pressure on them sometimes
they’ll unwrap or you will have time to get in there and net them. I have
witnessed them being netted out of some unbelievable predicaments.
Not every lakeshore
owner wants you fishing in and around their dock or beach area and we need to
respect that, even if it is public water. Like I said before, if there is a lot
of activity around the dock your chances of catching a fish are diminished
anyhow. If someone is standing on the dock or in the yard and they don’t look
too cheerful, pass on the dock and keep the peace. I will even look ahead and
into the windows of the houses and cabins and if someone is staring out with a
glare it’s better to pass on that dock and move on. Since we fish tournaments as
a group, we can hurt the whole sport if we all don’t project the best image we
can – avoid trouble and confrontations. Too often lately I have seen lures
broken off and a lot of line dangling from docks that could have been easily
retrieved – if you can possibly remove a hang up do so! Most people are friendly
and want to know how the fishing is – talk to them, be polite, retrieve the
kid’s ball that blew in the water, show them that bass fisherman have class.
There was a time that
you could count on a dock pattern for all your fish in a given day, for the most
part that time has passed, they see too much pressure now so you’ll need some
other patterns to get you by. Start deep or go to the flats, anyway you can get
a good start on your limit in the live well then use the docks to round things
out, make the sack a little heavier and maybe even get the kicker – its happened
to me!
Kurt Johnson
classicbass.com Pro Staff
