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"Dock Talk" - What are your opinions regarding this, does it help or hurt your fishing? #13540280 04/30/20 02:19 PM
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S Fatherree Offline OP
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Dock Talk

For myself the meaning of the phrase "dock talk" is fishing information in which you either directly discuss with other anglers at the dock, the boat ramp, or anytime where you might overhear other anglers conversations in regard to their day on the water. This type of information is sometimes hard to avoid hearing whether it is while you're standing in line at one of the marinas waiting to pay, having a meal at a local restaurant, or when preparing your tournament tackle for the next days fishing in a hotel parking lot alongside other anglers whom are doing the same. It seems nearly inevitable that you will overhear fisherman talking about what is or what is not working for them during your trip to a popular fishery. In the beginning of my quest to become a professional bass fisherman I often times felt that this dock talk was very valuable information that could greatly increase my odds of being successful on the water but over last 25 years I have come to the realization that dock talk, at least for myself, is nearly useless.

I've never been able to replicate another anglers fishing success based on dock talk, NEVER. Someone could tell me exactly where they caught their fish at today, what lures they were using, what the weather conditions were like and I could try to replicate those actions the very next day and most likely would not be successful in doing so. This is the primary reason behind why I'm now so comfortable with sharing detailed fishing information with other bass anglers. The only part of dock talk that seems to help me is specific information regarding water clarity, if there is any aquatic vegetation present, and the current water temperatures. I've always found that I am able to have much more productive days on the water when I completely do my own thing and focus on fishing my strengths. Having said that I do know of some anglers whom can take this dock talk and use it to their advantage with good results. Relying on any dock talk has always seemed to greatly hinder my fishing success. I've always been curious if anyone else has as much trouble as I do trying to use "dock talk" in order to catch more fish or is it just me? Thanks for your replies, I look forward to hearing the opinions of other anglers regarding this topic.


Respectfully,

SM Fatherree
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Re: "Dock Talk" - What are your opinions regarding this, does it help or hurt your fishing? [Re: S Fatherree] #13540316 04/30/20 02:42 PM
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Your thoughts line up exactly with mine.

Water conditions-talk seems to be reasonably accurate and helpful, but "fishing" info has always been useless for me.

I can say dock talk is really useful on tournaments on major rivers that have locks and generation schedules. On big Arkansas river tournaments, everyone in the lock first thing in the morning will often collectively agree on a time to lock back through and the lockmasters are usually appreciative and will make accommodations as long as commercial traffic doesn't come in. You can also usually overhear reasonably accurate chat about generation schedules in the morning.


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Re: "Dock Talk" - What are your opinions regarding this, does it help or hurt your fishing? [Re: S Fatherree] #13540323 04/30/20 02:46 PM
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Honestly, I'll allow anyone to tell me what they want and don't take it to heart. I'll try things out for sure, but only AFTER I've run my process.

I've had a few trips where dock talk has salvaged a day for me. But not enough that I listen with intent to only fish that way.

As for the comments on water conditions, wind, etc...that's the most helpful part.

Re: "Dock Talk" - What are your opinions regarding this, does it help or hurt your fishing? [Re: S Fatherree] #13540328 04/30/20 02:48 PM
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it can be entertaining

Re: "Dock Talk" - What are your opinions regarding this, does it help or hurt your fishing? [Re: S Fatherree] #13540379 04/30/20 03:21 PM
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I keep to myself and talk low when in public places before a tournament. That being said, everyone has their own approach and different strengths so what works for them probably won't work for me anyway and vice versa. I do enjoy talking to guys afterwards to see what worked for them that day. It's always amazing how many times I've done basically the same thing as someone else and either they whacked them and we sucked or vice versa


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Re: "Dock Talk" - What are your opinions regarding this, does it help or hurt your fishing? [Re: S Fatherree] #13540386 04/30/20 03:25 PM
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Completely ignore it.

I love it in the sense that it gets in most everyone else's heads though.

Re: "Dock Talk" - What are your opinions regarding this, does it help or hurt your fishing? [Re: S Fatherree] #13540403 04/30/20 03:38 PM
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Like you said its hard to "not" hear it. Or have someone just randomly volunteer it lol. As to the helpful info things like- this creek arm/lake section was muddy/clear or man the current was really strong here is useful. I have tried to replicate patterns on just fun fishing days that other really good friends have suggested that worked the day BEFORE and its usually Not very helpful no matter how Good/Reliable the info was. I used to so be locked in on what "color" the bass were biting but come to find out they were usually biting whatever color happened to come across them and yet I'd be making last minute trips to tackle shops buying that specific color for the lake!!


...
Re: "Dock Talk" - What are your opinions regarding this, does it help or hurt your fishing? [Re: S Fatherree] #13540415 04/30/20 03:53 PM
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never hurts to listen,you never know when something might help you during a tourney...several years ago was fishing redman/bfl regional on Seminole which is my home lake....I hadfound couple of areas with what I thought was enough fish to do well in the tourney...a buddy had told me that he had found a few fish up in spring creek and told me where they were in case. I needed them...I got really lucky because I caught couple of good fish in my area then both my areas just dried up....with couple hours left,I ran up to the area my buddy told me about and in just a few minutes caught three good keepers...went back next day and culled all day long and ended finishing second and qualifying for all American....(bought my buddy a nice G.Loomis flipping stick for helping me after I asked tourney director if it was ok to do so)....
always tried to find my own fish and catch them my way but also tried be observant and consider everything I saw and heard about a lake.....

Re: "Dock Talk" - What are your opinions regarding this, does it help or hurt your fishing? [Re: S Fatherree] #13540418 04/30/20 03:59 PM
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What interests me in dock talk, is water clarity, temp, depth, exterior conditions and what part of lake....south, Mid, north or River....using rayburn as an example, because what is working south will not work north and I use it to try and eliminate water basically. This type of information is really difficult to misconstrue as opposed to someone saying they caught them on T-Rig 10" worm, but it was really crankbait.

Like you said, they give you the bait, the location, how to line up and how to work the bait and they maybe using 12lb and you are using 20 their definition of working it slow maybe to let it sit 15 secs vs what's your definition. If they say slow than I will ask how slow. I don't care about spots, while they could be advantageous, they do change, but prefer areas like South, Mid, North or River...again I prefer to use the info to eliminate water, which will help me focus more on other areas.

Just like during the spawn, you know a north end typically will spawn first, so you will spend more time north end than south end.

At our club meetings we have our 1st, 2nd, 3rd place teams discuss how they caught them at the previous tourney and they will talk a bit, but it amazes me when they the info they give is generic, as some members will not ask detailed question or they don't know how....so I will ask details like, color, depth, retrieve speed, line, weight used, with wind, into the wind, what type of worm, what part of lake, shallow to deep, deep to shallow...etc etc....Because I want to know what I did differently that did not work or was I doing the same thing and missed something.

Just my .02


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Re: "Dock Talk" - What are your opinions regarding this, does it help or hurt your fishing? [Re: S Fatherree] #13540430 04/30/20 04:08 PM
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McGee Creek in Oklahoma is my home lake, and I agree with most of the posts. I don't start out with info I pick up at the dock simply because presentation of a bait can make all the difference in whether you catch fish or not, so without knowing exactly how a bait is being presented to the fish, someone can catch fish while someone else won't, even though it is the same bait being used by both anglers. I have been catching fish, and my fishing buddy in the boat with me, can't get a bite, even though we are using the same bait, because I'm using a presentation a little different than he is using. I'm sure all of you guys have had this happen.

Re: "Dock Talk" - What are your opinions regarding this, does it help or hurt your fishing? [Re: S Fatherree] #13540450 04/30/20 04:18 PM
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I usually dig myself into a deep enough hole with my preconceived ideas without help from dock talk. hammer

Re: "Dock Talk" - What are your opinions regarding this, does it help or hurt your fishing? [Re: S Fatherree] #13540545 04/30/20 05:27 PM
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I will listen to what somebody says, and take some tidbits away like depths or something but 99% of the time I just go do my thing. Sometimes I try what they say. Much more enjoyable figuring it out my way

Re: "Dock Talk" - What are your opinions regarding this, does it help or hurt your fishing? [Re: shotgunwilly] #13540576 04/30/20 05:55 PM
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Originally Posted by senko9S
it can be entertaining

Originally Posted by shotgunwilly
Completely ignore it.

I love it in the sense that it gets in most everyone else's heads though.


Which is probably why “it never works”! Haha.

It’s my favorite time of the day, personally. I wouldn’t give a real clue to another angler....not on tourney day. I will, however, cleverly disguise wrong information to make it sound like a fantastic idea. Like I said. It’s my favorite time of the day.

I even go as far as rigging up sucker baits for display on the deck of the boat. Just for the “lookiloos”.

Afterwards, and this is great, I tell anyone and everyone what I caught them on....how, when, where, etc....and they totally don’t believe any of it. Hahaha.


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Re: "Dock Talk" - What are your opinions regarding this, does it help or hurt your fishing? [Re: S Fatherree] #13540952 04/30/20 11:49 PM
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This is why I’ve never understood the no info rules in tournaments.


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Re: "Dock Talk" - What are your opinions regarding this, does it help or hurt your fishing? [Re: S Fatherree] #13541158 05/01/20 02:42 AM
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