Dock fishing

[BWR1953]

Went to a nearby lake over the Labor Day weekend to check it out for boat access and to fish. First time there. Hoping to take my Kingfisher there someday.

Found the "resort" which has a nice restaurant with good food and nice folks. Spent several hours fishing from the covered dock and my wife and the boy caught some really nice sized bluegill! My wife also caught a nice catfish too.

I hooked into a couple of bass but my skills have declined a lot due to lack of use and I couldn't get them landed. Had fun trying though! :lol:

The boy and one of his big 'uns. I didn't get a pic of the largest one, but the one in this pic was about the 4th largest.





The lake turned as smooth as glass.



And of course, there was the obligatory uninvited and unwelcome guest!

 

[poconojoe]

Nice! Sounds like a good day out! Who is that unwelcomed guest? Can't quite make it out in the picture. Snake? Turtle?

 

[BWR1953]

Nice! Sounds like a good day out! Who is that unwelcomed guest? Can't quite make it out in the picture. Snake? Turtle?

Alligator! Small one, about a 5 footer. :lol:

We were at another lake a year or so ago and saw a 12 footer. Now that was intimidating!

Here's a zoomed and cropped image of the "little" one.

 

[poconojoe]

Yikes! Gator! We don't have those in Pennsylvania. We like swimming in the lake. I don't think I would like swimming with gators!

 

[Old Ironmaker]

A guy I was dock fishing with in the Keys hooked into a small Gator, maybe 4', spooled him in about 20 seconds flat. My awareness level went up after seeing that.

 

[G_Dabrowski]

Dock fishing could be an undertaking once it involves bass fishing. ... Fishing docks could be a successful maneuvered wrestling up these hide-and-go-seek large mouth bass that gives thrills for the eager angler

 

[Old Ironmaker]

I have caught some of my biggest and toughest fish from the dock or pier. Snook, Trout and the biggest Bay Ray I have ever seen from piers in south Florida and some pretty hefty King Salmon from the pier on western Lake Ontario in Hamilton Ont. Once I hooked into and finally landed a 44" Northern Pike in Quitico Park in North West Ontario close to the Manitoba border on a Moose hunt. Dock fishing is by far more challenging to land a fish than in a boat. Without the proper net no way you are getting some fish up from the water. If someone didn't have one of those collapsible hoop nets I never would have landed that 25 LB Ray. You can't maneuver a dock like you can a boat to help land the big one. I wouldn't beat myself up over not landing your fish BWR1953.

 

[FlaCowboy]

Looks like Lake Panasoffkee to me. Nice bream the young man is holding.

 

[BWR1953]

I have caught some of my biggest and toughest fish from the dock or pier. Snook, Trout and the biggest Bay Ray I have ever seen from piers in south Florida and some pretty hefty King Salmon from the pier on western Lake Ontario in Hamilton Ont. Once I hooked into and finally landed a 44" Northern Pike in Quitico Park in North West Ontario close to the Manitoba border on a Moose hunt. Dock fishing is by far more challenging to land a fish than in a boat. Without the proper net no way you are getting some fish up from the water. If someone didn't have one of those collapsible hoop nets I never would have landed that 25 LB Ray. You can't maneuver a dock like you can a boat to help land the big one. I wouldn't beat myself up over not landing your fish BWR1953.

I wouldn't have been able to land those fish in a boat, on the beach or anywhere else. My skills are so rusty that I never had a chance. They were off the hook and gone in seconds. :lol:

Looks like Lake Panasoffkee to me. Nice bream the young man is holding.

Yup! That's the place all right. It was our first time there. Am looking forward to going back with the boat once it's ready. :fish2:

 

[FlaCowboy]

Do not let the size of the lake fool you...it is shallow...

This is a 4,460-acre Fish Management Area located by the town of Lake Panasoffkee. Panasoffkee is unusual; a true spring-fed lake, water depths seldom exceed four feet.

I believe it is more like 6 feet on the average. There is a lot of grass in the lake so be sure to watch your engines pee stream carefully. I live on the Withlacoochee river a few miles from Lake Pan. I fish the river more than the lake.

 

[BWR1953]

Do not let the size of the lake fool you...it is shallow...

This is a 4,460-acre Fish Management Area located by the town of Lake Panasoffkee. Panasoffkee is unusual; a true spring-fed lake, water depths seldom exceed four feet.

I believe it is more like 6 feet on the average. There is a lot of grass in the lake so be sure to watch your engines pee stream carefully. I live on the Withlacoochee river a few miles from Lake Pan. I fish the river more than the lake.

Thanks for the info. My little Starcraft Kingfisher drafts very shallow. I've had it in 6 inches of water with the motor fully up. I used the trolling motor to move while that shallow.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

I wouldn't have been able to land those fish in a boat, on the beach or anywhere else. My skills are so rusty that I never had a chance. They were off the hook and gone in seconds. :lol: :

You sound like my brother, he was the one that started me fishing when I was 26. Fished once or twice before that. Now he won't fish with me or says he won't, I own the nice big fishing boat, I have a limit before he lands his first fish. I wonder if it's because he uses the same old rod and reel he had back then and refuses to change to new tactics and tackle. I changed his 12 year old mono one night when he was sleeping. It didn't help. He has a cottage here in Ontario and refuses to anything but troll. I talked him into jigging for Walleye one evening and set him up with one of my rods. He caught 2 on the first drift. He couldn't believe how sensitive the graphite rod and braided line was, he said he could feel every time the jig hit bottom. After a few drifts and 3 fish later guess what he wants to do? Yep, troll. I said "no way, my boat my method", he said "my lake my cottage, where you going to sleep tonight your boat?" He loves coming to our cottage because that's what we do to fish deep for Walleye here on Lake Erie, troll. He rubs it in because we can't get a 1 oz. jig down 60 to 100 feet.

I fish but that isn't a fish tail.