so i went out to a new lake yesterday with my buddy. its a little 150 acre lake with lots of docks. the water was pretty stained from a lot of rain recenly, and pretty much weeds(coontail) everwhere. i used a 5" wacky rigged trick stick, skipping under docks all day, targetting mostly old wooden docks with a combonation of wood and grass in the backs of coves in the lower lake. Seems like a good pattern, but i just couldnt elicit a strike. i think what it was is that a wacky rig being a sight oriented bait, the water was just to dark for it to be effective. im just to stubborn to try anything different. ;D Oh well, cant catch em all the time, but my question is what are some good techniques for fishing docks and stained water?

-j

    Yup, there is a soution to your problem:

     A 3/4 oz. Revenge Flipping Jig with a Rage Tail Craw dipped in JJ's and smothered in Megastrike.

     This will get any fishes attention within a mile!!!!!!

My go-to's in stained water is 3/4 oz jig with a loud rattle and a rage craw. Or a Rattletrap and tweak the bait so it runs sideways and bounces off the pillars.

I'm going to take a different approach here, and instead of recommending a specific bait, I recommend you examine just what you were doing on the water.

You say you were fishing old docks, because that seemed like a good pattern. How so? The only pattern you established was not catching.

Think about the times fishing old docks was good for you. Is there a pattern, or a common link to those successes? I bet sunny conditions prevailed, as I've always found that bright sun tends to concentrate fish in the shadows created by the docks. They use the darkness as an ambush point.

Also, look for deeper water close by, and some main lake structure, like a windy point nearby.

Why fish something ALL DAY, and come up with nothing? Perhaps location was the issue. I would have moved out, tried the inside weed line, outside weed line, fished main lake points, shallow weedy flats, creek mouths, etc.

99% of the game is finding the fish. You've got to do that first. Then you can go about figuring bait size/profile and color preference (if any).

In the process of trying to locate fish, use a bait that covers ground. Tossing wacky worms is not a search bait, and while you may get bit, its more like dumb luck. Spinnerbaits, traps, cranks, flukes, topwater spooks, buzzbaits, etc. All cover lots of ground.

Once you locate a few fish, then you can ply the area with slower, more horizontal baits, like t-rig creatures and worms, jigs, and even Senkos.

Stained water = crankbait, then spinnerbait

Stained water = crankbait, then spinnerbait

x2  

experience + trial and error = success

Alot of rain and possibility of water rise and maybe water continuing to move in from a creek etc.

Agree with FBL on fast movers like spinnerbaits and cranks first and might try early and late noise makers on top in shallows, then rattling jigs and craws flippin shallow brush timber etc. The more stained or muddy the water, often the fish will go shallow and give you an opportunity with many types of baits and presentations to choose from. Fast movers first to locate the type of structure that is holding, then slow down and pick on'em with a Jig....

BTW, if there is fresh water coming in from a creek you should concentrate some of your efforts at the mouth of it for sure  

Big O

www.ragetail.com  

I'm going to take a different approach here, and instead of recommending a specific bait, I recommend you examine just what you were doing on the water.

You say you were fishing old docks, because that seemed like a good pattern. How so? The only pattern you established was not catching.

Think about the times fishing old docks was good for you. Is there a pattern, or a common link to those successes? I bet sunny conditions prevailed, as I've always found that bright sun tends to concentrate fish in the shadows created by the docks. They use the darkness as an ambush point.

Also, look for deeper water close by, and some main lake structure, like a windy point nearby.

Why fish something ALL DAY, and come up with nothing? Perhaps location was the issue. I would have moved out, tried the inside weed line, outside weed line, fished main lake points, shallow weedy flats, creek mouths, etc.

99% of the game is finding the fish. You've got to do that first. Then you can go about figuring bait size/profile and color preference (if any).

In the process of trying to locate fish, use a bait that covers ground. Tossing wacky worms is not a search bait, and while you may get bit, its more like dumb luck. Spinnerbaits, traps, cranks, flukes, topwater spooks, buzzbaits, etc. All cover lots of ground.

Once you locate a few fish, then you can ply the area with slower, more horizontal baits, like t-rig creatures and worms, jigs, and even Senkos.

x2

I couldn't have said it better.  

Mottfia

thanks all. the reason i did what i did was because i have a local lake at home that i fish the same exact way and load up on fish. Ill have to try some faster baits. i actually used a spinnerbait too, and spro frog on weed edges and such, but nothing. :-? oh well. new water syndrome. ;D