ok, this past tournament I went to at our local Lake of the Woods this past Sunday turned out pretty good. The only thing that occurred to me was two things, 1.) we had anchored off a point that was 11-15 foot of water, and 2.) we cruised into subdivision coves were there was plenty of docks with cover and no more than 5 foot of water.

Scenario one: Deep flats/points

Now me, when it come to the deep flats and points in the 11-15 foot of water at 3:00 in the evening (tourny times) I flipped my spinner bait which is chertruse and red streaks immitating an injured baitfish, and a deep diving blue crankbait. I didn't even get a bite, what I am asking is what could I have used to produce a bite? we spent at least 30 minutes out on that flat before trying out the shallow docks in the coves. I let the spinner sink for about 1 minute and let it come close to hitting bottom and I tried the stop and go retrieve, as well as the standard retrieve, at a slow pace, same with the crankbait. So for the deep flats at 11-15 foot of water at 3:00 in the afternoon what would have been the WISEST choice to catch a nice bass?

Scenario two: the shallow docks

When it came to going into those shallow docked areas where local residents of LOW had their own properties with their own boat ports, I felt it to be best to flip a small sized spinner-bait up next to those docks and reel them back, keeping them pretty close to the surface (wake retrieve). Well my first three or four casts left me blank until the fifth one I landed a dinky 10" bass 10 feet from the boat, he ran up and nailed it out of the 4' clear water. Since then I fished with the spinner-bait but it never got me anything. So I switched over to my small spinner-salmon bait, which has a small front spinner and a salmon colored little fish behind it, no luck. Then I switched over to a beetle-spin and finally landed a 5" rock bass up close to a dock. Other than that no luck in the docks...

What would be the BEST choice to catch bass (perferred) in the shallow docks? and ARE there nice bass (1-4 pounders) possibly hiding underneath docks in the middle of the day? and what baits are GOOD to catch them?

My tournament results where pretty good, I stood 4th out of 15 anglers; many anglers didn't come in successful. I am asking these questions for future reference, it is always good to learn something new about the areas you covered, as you might encounter the same scenario over on a different lake in another tournament!

Thanks for any help and answers!

God bless 8-)

Scenario 1: On a point,it's good to establish that there are fish on the the point before trying to catch them.If you let your spinnerbait sink for a whole minute and barely reached bottom,you were way deeper than 11-15 feet.If you are patient enough,a point is the perfect place to drag a carloina rig also providing that the fish are relating close to the bottom.If the fish are suspending,a jerkbait that would reach and stay in their strike zone would have been a good choice on tight-lipped bass.

Scenario 2: Docks = 1.senko 2.jig 3.fluke 4.texas rig worm......and to answer your question,yes,bass hang on docks all day and all night as long as bait is present and water temps accomodate a comfort zone for them.Shallow water docks like you are talking about will be warmer than a deep water docks but the dark shade is the key and both have it when the sun is high.

Sounds like you are hung up on spinnerbaits.Although spinnerbaits catch lots of fish,there are better lures out there depending on the situation.......especially fishing docks.

Scenario 1: On a point,it's good to establish that there are fish on the the point before trying to catch them.If you let your spinnerbait sink for a whole minute and barely reached bottom,you were way deeper than 11-15 feet.If you are patient enough,a point is the perfect place to drag a carloina rig also providing that the fish are relating close to the bottom.If the fish are suspending,a jerkbait that would reach and stay in their strike zone would have been a good choice on tight-lipped bass.

Scenario 2: Docks = 1.senko 2.jig 3.fluke 4.texas rig worm......and to answer your question,yes,bass hang on docks all day and all night as long as bait is present and water temps accomodate a comfort zone for them.Shallow water docks like you are talking about will be warmer than a deep water docks but the dark shade is the key and both have it when the sun is high.

Sounds like you are hung up on spinnerbaits.Although spinnerbaits catch lots of fish,there are better lures out there depending on the situation.......especially fishing docks.

I agree with everything above. A c-rig is my favorite in scene 1, with a deep crank a distant 2nd. In place of the the worm you could use a variety of other plastics (lizards, creatures, tube,etc.), but that's the way I would do it. Good luck.

One other thing, a top water lure is always worth a try. A Spook will sometimes bring fish out of deep water, esp. if it is fairly clear.

Thanks guys!

Yeah I was exaggerating on the whole minute thing, we had a depth finder on the troller motor and it read 11 feet some places and 15 other. I'd cast it out and let it sink for really 5-10 seconds and start reeling again.

I never tried a worm or plastic bait during the entire tournament, my father (who bass fishes) suggested that I use my spinner bait, a rattle-trap and a crankbait, and that's what I used. Which is why I asked these questions so I know what would have been the best thing to use for those situations.

I've got tons of soft baits (worms, grubs, etc.) from comming in 4th to the tournament, so I got one worm already rigged up (Texas rig) and ready to go for next tournament which I believe is June 24th at Lake Gaston, I will need to check with my teacher (the holder of these tournaments) and see what the closest one is.

Thanks for all the suggestions and help fellas!  

I like to flip a weighted t-rigged baby brushhog on docks.

flip it next to every pole on the dock.