So at a spot I go to from shore, there must be hundreds of small panfish (rock bass, perch, sunnies, white bass) in the morning and you can often see some largemouth partrolling between the shore are thick weeds. most of the bass are small enought that they dont bother the smaller fish. Ive tried everything to get them to bite. I basically just drop the bait into the water without casting it far because theu seem to swim close to the wall. The water is clear enough to watch them go up to my line and just look at it and then swim away.

 

Ive caught a few on a 2in minnow on a tiny jig head, but only dink bass will bite it.

Ive also caught a small chubs and used it as bait and they hammered it, but that was the only thing they would hit.

 

What would be ideal for bass that are surrounded by other small fish and that are literally inches away from the dock?

a 4-5" drop shot worm hooked once in the center with a #4 octopus hook. No weight. Drop it and just let it sit on the bottom. Twitch it every once n a while. 

Unweighted wacky rigged Senko.

 

Drop shot as Kevin suggested.

Twitch a weightless fluke, IMO it imitates bait fish better than any other bait.

Twitch a weightless fluke, IMO it imitates bait fish better than any other bait.

I goto a small urban drainage sometimes and it works well. Zoom makes a fluke jr. and Gulp has several small sizes of minnow also.

all the above.  Wacky rigged senko, fluke, weightless trick worm, drop shot etc. something finesse

Do a combination of the suggestions above... dropshot a gulp minnow.

If you can see the bass they can see you. Wear darker colored clothes.

Twitch an original floating or countdown rapala the same color and size as the baitfish. Or try a panther Martin spin fly. The number #3 or #4 in silver with the yellow tail will work.

Shakey head.

Dynamite - It will also clear out all those annoying small fish.

a 4-5" drop shot worm hooked once in the center with a #4 octopus hook. No weight. Drop it and just let it sit on the bottom. Twitch it every once n a while. 

 exactly, i fish in similar conditions, small deep pond, thick weeds in the middle, and you can see fish swimming around the edge, i use a dropshot whenever i can because the bass seem to just hammer the worm! i actually used one tonight and caught 2 in 2 casts! very productive bait in these conditions!

 

Good Luck 

-Tully