Fished my lake hard for five hours, caught two small bass.  Pulled the boat back to the community dock and there were two, not one but two, five to six pound bass swimming around the dock.  So, I said to myself, "Self, if there are big fish swimming around this dock, maybe I should fish some of the other docks on the lake."  Did, and it worked.  A four and a seven in about an hour.  Pretty good.

 

BTW, it's not considered good form to fish around the community dock. 

 

Bob

Docks are good....sometimes very good

I got ripped for fishing close to a release ramp once.  But after the weigh in I had 18 pounds and second had 9...  If it isnt against the rules, its fair game.  I won the tournament and never thought twice about it!

The weather that day? Sunny and hot? Maybe they were seeking shelter (shade) from the sun under those docks. While out in my inflatable, I noticed two mature bass drifting under my boat while following the boats shadow. I thought of trying to catch one but that would have been too easy with no challenge.

I always fish the ramp and dock before I launch to see what I can get before disturbing the area. If you are not in the way of someone loading or launching there nothing wrong with it. If you are fishing a dock or on your dock fishing I will move to the next out of respect and common courtesy but if you come down to give me grief I'll probably slow down fish it very thoroughly. When my family owned a house on the lake with a dock we never had a problem with people fishing it. As a kid I always liked to talk to the people who fished my dock and see if I could learn a new trick. Sometimes they would even throw me a new soft plastic that they were getting lucky with that day so I could try it too. I now do the same when kids come down to talk to me.