Dock Fishing Florida Tips and Techniques
Docks are great spots to target certain species of fish. You can catch snook, redfish, flounder, sheepshead, snapper, grouper and many other species in and around the submerged pilings of a dock.
The key to dock fishing is to get your baits or lures right up to the dock pilings or if possible under the docks. This is a hard cast but that is where the fish you are targeting will most likely be waiting to ambush a passing prey item.
You will want a 4500 series reel filled with 20 pound braided line and a 30 pound leader. Couple that reel with a medium/heavy action 7 foot rod for best dock fishing results.
As the grass flats and oyster bars get more and more depleted, the fish are often pressured to find other ambush spots to find food. I have noticed that the docks in my area have more fish than they used to have.
I think that it is because the habitat loss and pollution has forced the fish to move from their natural hunting grounds. This makes it easier to target them around the docks.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the docks, mangroves, beaches and grass flats all over Florida for more than 40 years. In the article below, I will teach you everything that I know about dock fishing.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below and catch more redfish around docks with top water lures.
Docks are great spots to target certain species of fish. You can catch snook, redfish, flounder, sheepshead, snapper, grouper and many other species in and around the submerged pilings of a dock.
The key to dock fishing is to get your baits or lures right up to the dock pilings or if possible under the docks. This is a hard cast but that is where the fish you are targeting will most likely be waiting to ambush a passing prey item.
You will want a 4500 series reel filled with 20 pound braided line and a 30 pound leader. Couple that reel with a medium/heavy action 7 foot rod for best dock fishing results.
As the grass flats and oyster bars get more and more depleted, the fish are often pressured to find other ambush spots to find food. I have noticed that the docks in my area have more fish than they used to have.
I think that it is because the habitat loss and pollution has forced the fish to move from their natural hunting grounds. This makes it easier to target them around the docks.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the docks, mangroves, beaches and grass flats all over Florida for more than 40 years. In the article below, I will teach you everything that I know about dock fishing.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below and catch more redfish around docks with top water lures.
Dock Fishing for Redfish
Redfish are one of those fish that look to hunt in and around the dock and bridge pilings. The older the pilings, the better. You want to look for those old docks and bridges with lots of growth on them. There will be barnacles, oysters, sea plants, crabs, shrimp, little fish and all kinds of other tasty treats that redfish love to eat.
Another great feature of a productive set up docks is deep cuts near the structure. A big boat with big engines is a great dredge for the bottom topography. If you can find an old dock with a big boat tied to it, then you have a good looking spot to catch some fish.
All that you need is a foot difference in the trough created by the boat engines digging up the bottom. You want it to be enough for a big snook, redfish, flounder..... to be able to hide in there waiting for the current to bring some food to them.
Redfish like to cruise around in the search for food. You might have to hit a few dozen docks before you find them but it is worth the effort. Redfish are great fighters and they are good to eat too.
BEST ALL AROUND ROD AND REEL COMBO FOR DOCK FISHING
In my opinion, the perfect all around rod and reel combo for dock fishing is a 4500 series reel and a 7 foot medium or medium/heavy strength, fast action rod. Fill the spool with 20 pound braided line and use a 30 pound leader.
I have used many different rods and reels over the last 40 years of fishing like Diawa, Shimano and Penn.
My favorite line of reels that are out now is the Penn Spinfisher series reels. They are smooth, tough; have great drag systems; and best of all a sealed body so sand and water don't get inside the reels.
They are perfect for surf fishing, wade fishing and kayak fishing. (Any fishing technique that makes it likely for water or sand to get in them)
You can expect to pay $150 plus for these reels. BUT they are worth it.
My second favorite non-sealed reels are the Diawa BG reels.
They are the reels that I use on my flats boat because I know that they are unlikely to get dunked in the water or to get beach sand in them.
You can expect to pay $100 plus for these reels. They are a great bargain in my opinion.
The best baits for redfish are live shrimp, crabs, small bait fish and finger mullet. If the dock pilings are deep them you will want to use enough weight to get your bait to the bottom.
If the docks are 5 feet or less deep then you can put your bait under a cork or free line them around the dock pilings. You want to keep the bait close to the bottom. Redfish spend their lives looking down and rooting around the mud, sand, oysters and grass for food. It's hard to get one to swim towards the surface unless the water is shallow.
The best lures for redfish are stinky ones. Redfish have excellent smell/taste organs so a stinky bait will get more attention than one that doesn't stink. I like the Berkeley GULP 3 inch shrimp or a swimming mullet for catching redfish.
Go to our GULP lures page to learn more.
Those baits really stink but redfish love them. I use a red 1/8 ounce jig head and bounce them on the bottom slowly for best results. My favorite colors are white, molting and new penny.
Another great bait is a DOA CAL 3 inch swimming shad with a 1/8 ounce jig head. I like white ones when the water is clear and dark ones like root beer when the water is dirty. You also want to bounce these lures on the bottom.
Another great lure for dock fishing for redfish is the weed less gold spoon. This lure will catch all kinds of fish including redfish. They are hard to get snagged on all of the stuff that is usually under the docks too.
Want to catch redfish, tarpon, snook, speckled trout and more? BOOK A CHARTER HERE!
Watch the video below and catch for redfish around docks.
All that you need is a foot difference in the trough created by the boat engines digging up the bottom. You want it to be enough for a big snook, redfish, flounder..... to be able to hide in there waiting for the current to bring some food to them.
Redfish like to cruise around in the search for food. You might have to hit a few dozen docks before you find them but it is worth the effort. Redfish are great fighters and they are good to eat too.
BEST ALL AROUND ROD AND REEL COMBO FOR DOCK FISHING
In my opinion, the perfect all around rod and reel combo for dock fishing is a 4500 series reel and a 7 foot medium or medium/heavy strength, fast action rod. Fill the spool with 20 pound braided line and use a 30 pound leader.
I have used many different rods and reels over the last 40 years of fishing like Diawa, Shimano and Penn.
My favorite line of reels that are out now is the Penn Spinfisher series reels. They are smooth, tough; have great drag systems; and best of all a sealed body so sand and water don't get inside the reels.
They are perfect for surf fishing, wade fishing and kayak fishing. (Any fishing technique that makes it likely for water or sand to get in them)
You can expect to pay $150 plus for these reels. BUT they are worth it.
My second favorite non-sealed reels are the Diawa BG reels.
They are the reels that I use on my flats boat because I know that they are unlikely to get dunked in the water or to get beach sand in them.
You can expect to pay $100 plus for these reels. They are a great bargain in my opinion.
The best baits for redfish are live shrimp, crabs, small bait fish and finger mullet. If the dock pilings are deep them you will want to use enough weight to get your bait to the bottom.
If the docks are 5 feet or less deep then you can put your bait under a cork or free line them around the dock pilings. You want to keep the bait close to the bottom. Redfish spend their lives looking down and rooting around the mud, sand, oysters and grass for food. It's hard to get one to swim towards the surface unless the water is shallow.
The best lures for redfish are stinky ones. Redfish have excellent smell/taste organs so a stinky bait will get more attention than one that doesn't stink. I like the Berkeley GULP 3 inch shrimp or a swimming mullet for catching redfish.
Go to our GULP lures page to learn more.
Those baits really stink but redfish love them. I use a red 1/8 ounce jig head and bounce them on the bottom slowly for best results. My favorite colors are white, molting and new penny.
Another great bait is a DOA CAL 3 inch swimming shad with a 1/8 ounce jig head. I like white ones when the water is clear and dark ones like root beer when the water is dirty. You also want to bounce these lures on the bottom.
Another great lure for dock fishing for redfish is the weed less gold spoon. This lure will catch all kinds of fish including redfish. They are hard to get snagged on all of the stuff that is usually under the docks too.
Want to catch redfish, tarpon, snook, speckled trout and more? BOOK A CHARTER HERE!
Watch the video below and catch for redfish around docks.
Dock Fishing for Snook
Snook love to hang out around structure live dock pilings. Snook a.k.a. linesider, a.k.a. robalo are a great fighting fish that are hard to keep from breaking your line on the dock pilings. They are masters of heading straight for structure once they figure out that they are hooked.
This is probably why they are so popular among Florida inshore fishermen. They are a challenge to catch and they are also very good to eat.
PRO TIP: Make sure that you know the rules for catching snook before keeping one. You need a special snook stamp and a saltwater fishing license to keep a snook. They also have seasons that open and close a lot and the seasons are different depending on what part of Florida you are in.
Be careful and make sure that you do not poach a snook. You can lose your boat and end up in jail with a huge fine too.
The best live baits for snook are pin fish, finger mullet and white baits. Just like the redfish like to hang out near the bottom so do the snook. The biggest snook will be right on the bottom and the smaller ones will be higher up in the water column. This means that you want your bait to be within a foot or so from the bottom so you will be in the strike zone of the big snook.
The best lures for dock fishing for snook depend on the water depth. If the water is over 5 feet deep then you will want a lure that you can get to the bottom like a flair hawk jig or a DOA Terror Eyz or Big Eyz. Those are great lures to get deep water snook to bite.
If the water is 5 feet or less then you can use a DOA CAL 3 inch shad or a Berkeley GULP shrimp or swimming mullet with an 1/8 ounce red jig head. Spoons and spinner baits also catch snook around the docks well.
Go to our DOA lures page to learn more.
If the water is 3 feet or less then a walk-the-dog top water lure like a Zara Spook or a Top Dog Mirrolure are hard to beat. This lure type works best early in the day and late in the day with lower light conditions. If it is a real cloudy day they will work all day. My favorite colors are white or a natural color combination.
The video is all about fishing for snook around docks.
Dock Fishing for Grouper
Grouper like to hang out around deeper docks. It is amazing that a 50 pound plus grouper can be found in less than 10 feet of water but it happens all of the time around docks and bridges in Florida. Grouper like to have a hole to hide in so you usually need to find pilings that also have rocks under them too.
That is why they are so hard to get out of the structure. They will bite your hook and immediately run back into their holes. You definitely have to be paying attention when you fish for grouper or you will lose a lot of rigs.
A great bait for grouper is a live pin fish, mullet or any fish for that matter. They have these huge bucket mouths and will gladly eat anything that will fit into them. The key is to get the bait to the bottom near their hole or ledge that they are hanging out around.
I wrote another article that covers in great detail how to catch a grouper when you are inshore fishing. You can read that article by clicking right here.
The best lures for grouper are deep divers. The DOA Big Eyz and a flair hawk jig with a piece of squid or fish is a great lure to catch grouper with. You just have to get your bait down to the fish.
You will need to beef up your tackle for grouper around docks. You might be catching 10 pound gag groupers one minute then the next a 60 pound goliath grouper is on the end of your line. You cannot land a big goliath grouper or you will get in trouble. They are protected and can't be lifted out of the water by law.
Watch the video below and avoid dead zones.
Dock Fishing for Spotted Sea Trout
Spotted sea trout are another great fish to catch around the docks. In Florida, we are losing our grass flats very quickly and trout need grass flats to survive. The lack of grass in my area has pushed more big sea trout to find their food around docks and bridges.
Trout are a fish that like to run around in schools. So if you catch one wherever you are then you should stay because there are probably a lot more trout there. The monster gator trout are an exception to this rule and are usually in by themselves or with one friend.
WANT TO CATCH SPECKLED TROUT? BOOK YOUR FISHING CHARTER TODAY!
The best bait for trout is live shrimp or small white bait of some kind like a herring, sardine, pilchard, menhaden…….. Use a small hook like a 1/0 or a 2/0 for best results. You will want to use a float for catching trout. Some fish get spooked by floats but trout are not one of those fish.
I wrote another article on this website that covers in much more detail how to catch a spotted seatrout. You can read that article by clicking right here.
The best lures for sea trout is a white DOA CAL with a red 1/8 ounce jig head. Another great lure is a white Berkeley GULP shrimp or swimming mullet with the 1/8 ounce red jig head.
Watch the video below and catch more speckled trout with live baits.
Dock Fishing for Flounder
Around docks is a great place to find some flounder too. Flounder pounders love to fish the docks around Florida. Flounders are a lazy predator. They like to bury themselves in mud, sand, gravel..... so that they don't get eaten and so they can ambush the stuff that they like to eat.
You have to keep in mind the lethargic nature of a flounder and slow down your presentation when fishing for them. The best baits are a live shrimp, white bait or a finger mullet.
You have to keep the bait within 12 to 18 inches of the bottom or you will be out of the strike zone of a flounder. They are not the aggressive type of fish that will swim up 4 or 5 feet in the water column to get some food.
I wrote another article on this website that covers the best ways to catch a flounder. You can read that article by clicking right here.
The best lure is a GULP shrimp or swimming mullet (period). You will want to use this lure with a jig head with enough weight to get your lure to the bottom. The slower the retrieve the better. However quickly that you would normally reel a lure back in divide it by 4 or 5.
If it takes you 30 seconds to reel your lure back normally, then take 2 or 3 minutes to retrieve it when you are fishing for flounder.
Watch the video below and catch more flounder.
Conclusion:
Dock fishing is a great way to catch a lot of big fish. Docks have their very own ecosystems that attract bait and predators by the thousands. If you can become a good dock fisherman, then you will catch a ton of fish. That goes for freshwater or saltwater fishermen.
I like the challenge of getting a big fish out of the pilings without getting cut off on the oyster and other snags. It definitely is hard to do but that is what makes it so much fun. You can catch grouper, snook, redfish, flounder, sea trout, black drum, sheepshead, mangrove snappers and all kinds of other species too.
If you are ever in the Treasure Coast of Florida book a kayak fishing trip with me. I have a kayak fishing charter that specifically targets the species that hang out around the docks in my area. It is really fun to try and wrestle a 20 pound snook out of a bunch of dock pilings. Believe me.
I hope that this article helps you get better at dock fishing or at the very least helps you have more fun trying to catch them. Let's get some lines wet.
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