Boat Docks

Fished Conroe recently and targeted boat docks exclusively for the first time. Had mixed results with spinner bait but that was about it. Anyone care to share best practices when fishing boat docks?

My main lures are a light jig or wacky worm. Then skipping them as far into the shade as I can get.

'Boat docks' are meaningless. Like saying you fished grass. That could be in 1 or 20 foot. Where did you fish them? If you had mixed results that means you had some good ones. Fish those situations where that occured

The deepest one, the oldest one, the first one when entering a cove/creek arm, the one with the most support posts and brush, the biggest one, the one on the point/drop off/inlet/other structure or cover change

My suggestion is to Side Scan all of them along the deepest drop and only fish the ones that are brushed by the owner. You have to eliminate as many as possible and this is the best way I know to do it. There are so many that will not produce. Brushed out docks will really help with your catch ratio, as it gives that added cover.

A stand alone single dock on a long stretch of deeper water is a good place to search. Fish for long distances have no place else to go for shade and will use them. Satellite view is a great help in conjunction with the Nav. Webapp. when searching depth and spacing of docks.

Conroe is my home lake, there are hundreds of docks on that lake that will not produce fish, so don't beat yourself up about it, the ones that do get hammered pretty regular. The best advice i can give you is this, learn how to skip (if you don't already know how) and find the docks that are the hardest to get under with deep water close by, or in deep water, skip a shaky head as far back as you can. I seem to catch the most fish on docks that are atleast 6' deep out on the end, i will not fish a dock that is in 4' of water unless it's during the spawn.

One other thing i'll add, you may already know this but, Conroe gets a ton of pressure, and fishes very small!

There are a ton of ways to fish a dock and the fish will relate to them differently at times. You have to figure out what they want that particular day. I like throwing a square bill around the docks that aren't heavily brushed. A jig, t-rig or wacky/neko rig around docks that are brushed. Let the bites you get dictate what you do.

I agree with Donald, rule out as many as possible, and stay off any that are under 4ft at the ends unless in the spawn. Best one I found was a HUGE on on an isolated group of 3-4 going into a cove. But...fishing partner went week after and could not get a sniff. Conroe not my fave, but its got some fish in it.

Nothing wrong with a shallow water dock if it's close to deep water.

Thanks guys, there are a ton of docks on Conroe, narrowing them down by any means is helpful. Identifying which are brushed is a good idea, I don’t have side scan but there may a correlation between brush and “fishing” lights.

I fished docks with one of the best of them today. Totally blanked.

What lake?

Tried something new. Went to PK.

Was with someone who finished very high in the big tournys.

Was trying to learn new techniques/patterns. Fish just were not biting today.

These dock owners will also have some small ropes dropped over the side of the dock with brush tied to them.
The dock may have lots of Rod holders mounted to the rails.
You will usually see several rods and reels setting around as they come down often to drop a Minnow over the brush.
The brush is not always under the dock. The main pile may be right under your boat as you are working the dock. Keep an eye on the sonar at all times. The pile may be a cast distance away from the dock.

That’s what I was about to say, LOVE fishing the docks

Good advice, my son proved that yesterday on Conroe. He was skipping way back under a couple of docks, caught some very nice fish. We hadn't had a bite all day then he had 4 all over 4 pounds in a matter of a few minutes. My skipping skills suck, so did my fishing yesterday.