Dock shooting?

[seejimfish]

I would like to know what your looking for when your trying to find a pole thats good for shooting docks. I am trying to put together a good combo of rod an reel. and of course if you want to tell what kind of dock your looking for to that would be great and maybe some GPS info so I can see you example.Rofl

[BuckCreekMike]

I personally like about a 5' rod that is pretty limber so that you can bend it real good. Longer rods hinder manueverability in tight spaces. I buy cheap reels, don't think they matter as much as the rod.

[slabscab]

BnM sharp shooter series5.5 ft are nice, I also like the im-6 rod from bass pro shop in 4.5 ft. You dont want to light of action cause you cant load it up which means theres just not as much spring. The rod needs a little backbone to it. You just need to try alot of diffrent docks to see what one are holdind fish. I also like shooting around pontoons or aluminum boat lifts I dont know what it is but in the fall they seem to be around aluminum for some reason. There are docks i shoot in early spring that have tons of fish by them but fall they will have none

[longliner]

We like to use the 6' 6" ML Cherrywood rods by Berkley, but I have also used 5'6" rods as well, its all you get use to. Like Kyle said you need one that will load up and not a whimpy tip. Reels don't matter in my mind. We look for the dark spots under docks. Some docks won't allow you to get under them very far, look for theones that you can shoot WAY UP underneath them. Your best bet is to let the fish tell you what docks they want that day. Your bigger fish will be WAY back under the darkest most hard to get spots MOST of the time. Look for sea doo lifts that you can drop a jig next to and the docks with swim platforms that you can shoot WAY back under. Sometimes the docks on points are great and somtimes its the ones in the back, try some all of them until you get a pattern. Its awesome way to fish and can be more fun than anything you can do. Bring plenty of jigs!!!!

[MellerAM]

Stiff backbone is key to dock shooting.

I use a GLoomis GL2 or GL3 5' 6" or 6'
Light Power
Fast Action

And a Shimano Sahara is my reel of choice

[1morecast]

I agree w/ everything said. Sometimes ploppin' your jig off to one side, then diving your rod tip way down under the surface, then pullin' around the corner of the dock, so you can swim the jig completely under the dock will pick up a good one. Also, if you are getting dinks in the slips, occasionally there will be big slabs suspended off to one side of the dock in open water, 10-20' or so out, 5-10' deep usually, holding at the same depth as most of the ones in the slips. Pulled a 16 3/4" two years ago doing that.

[jigflip]

HANDS DOWN B&M SHARPSHOOTER W/ QUALITY LARGE SPOOLED QUALITY DRAG REEL PLENTY OF BIGGNS UNDER THEM DOCKS WOULD SUCK TO LOOSE ONE FOR CHEAP GEAR,QUALITY HI-VIS VICIOUS LINE WILL BE KEY IN YOUR ABILITY SEE THE :TIC: YOU GONNA WANNA BE WATCHIN FORThumbs Up

[bugman]

Personally i'm sold on the ml 6'6" cherrywood but i do have an ozark 6' dock shooter that is an awesome rod as well,as far as reels go just use what you're comforatable with but i will say one with a bigger spool something like 110 yards of 6lb will get you under the docks a bit further.Ole longliner gave you some good tips on spots i know it works pretty well for us.