Dock, floating or fixed, and other manmade cover includes bridges, cribs, channel markers and wrecks provide bass cover.
Why is Understanding Docks as Cover Important?
Understanding docks and other manmade cover is important to:
Find Bass: Manmade cover often provides a large rigid cover for bass to use. Some man made cover is obvious to locate like docks, bridges where wrecks and other objects in the deeper water require electronics.
Docks and Other Manmade Options
Docks: Manmade cover allowing bass locations for shade.
Fixed: While all docks provide shade, fixed docks have posts which bass will align with. Large dock posts provide bass additional cover.
Floating: Bass can reside right under the dock or anywhere in the water column.
Shade: Docks provide a constant source of shade, typically large shaded areas.
Depth: Some suggest that bass prefer docks in deeper water as it provides more room to ambush forage and to escape when necessary.
Dock Posts - Garmin Livescope
Other Manmade Cover:
Bridges: Bridges provide shade, pilings for additional cover and current breaks.
Pilings: The structures holding the bridge provide additional cover and current breaks.
Current Breaks: Some suggest bass will align with bridge pilings with current as they would with any cover.
Rip/Rap: Bridges tend to have rip/rap along the shoreline and in some cases some former construction materials are located outside of the channel under or near the bridge.
Roadbeds: Reservoirs bridges may have roadbed structures nearby and with potential of flooded bridges nearby.
Funnel/Saddle: Some bridges feature funnel structure as causeways and other manmade roads are created to reduce the length of the bridge.
Bridge
Cribs: Cribs are the foundation of some docks and more commonly former docks often found on lakes that used to have steamboat transportations systems. They can also be found in former industrial locations that used to host large ships.
Wood: Typically, square wood structures filled with rocks.
Multiple: Typically, when one crib is found, there will be one or two more.
Old Roads: Sometimes located where roads come to the water and there isn’t currently a dock.
Old Crib- Garmin Livescope
Channel Markers: Channel markers have an anchoring system that provides bass cover.
Isolated Cover: Some channel markers are secured by a single anchor that provides cover much the same as an isolated rock.
Multiple Cover: Some channel markers will have additional cover potentially rip/rap that helps secure the channel marker.
Channel Marker
Wrecks: Found in some freshwater lakes, for example the great lakes, wrecks are sunken boats, barges, ships, sailboats and other debris typically due to a storm or sunk purposely.
Wreck - Garmin Livescope
Additional Considerations
Secondary Cover: Choose grass lines near docks (usually no grass under the dock), rocks – docks can be placed over rocks, cribs that hold dock.
Presentation Locations: Choose to start at the: closest- nearest to the boat, furthest – closest to shore, shadow side first, shaded locations first, near the posts or near the corners as some consider the corners the best location thus the biggest bass.
Boat Control: Choose to take the time to position the boat in the ideal location to make the perfect skipping cast.
Casts per Dock: Choosing to fish a dock fast, making few casts or fishing slow, and taking a few more (or the same) are typically made with the same standard considerations. Some suggest more casts in low lure visibility.
Secondary Cover: Choosing locations with secondary cover for example a different type of wood, grass, rocks, etc.
Wind/Wave: It can be difficult to fish docks in wind/wave due to accuracy required and the challenge of skipping with waves, that said, wind/wave reduces the visibility allowing the boat to be closer to the dock and wind/wave can increase bass activity possibly because it stirs the bottom up.
Current: Make presentations away from the dock and up current so the lure will float under the dock. This also results in the lure coming directly at the bass as the bass aligns facing the current.
Hitting Dock on Retrieve: Hitting the dock on the retrieve in some cases would be similar to hitting brush or rock triggering a reaction bite but hitting the dock on the cast can spook the fish and damage the lure.
Hitting Dock on Cast: Hitting the dock during the cast could spook the bass and create a backlash.
Shorter Rod: Don’t need a long rod as a flipping rod when fishing grass so a shorter rod for accuracy.
Check Line: When hitting poles or any part of the dock check the line for frays.
Ladders: Ladders stick out a bit further and provide slightly more cover making them a higher probability spot.
Listen for Strike: As the lure is not visible and when using a slack line lure like a frog listen for the strike then reel down and set the hook.
