1) Practice before you go. The concept looks easy, but shooting a lure into the constricted space between the dock and the water’s surface accurately is challenging.
2) Don’t go early. Ten a.m. to 2 p.m. is best — the middle of the day. Early in the morning, too much light penetrates under the dock from the side.
3) Prep jigs the night before the trip by using glue (Anders uses Gorilla Glue) to secure plastic tails to jigheads. Skipping the jigs on the water will cause unglued tails to slide down the jigheads’ hooks.
4) If you catch one fish in a spot, keep hammering it with repeated casts. Very often many fish will come from one spot. “It makes you wonder how many can be there,” said Anders.
5) The most important secret to shooting docks accurately is to reel the line in so that the lure is even with the lowest eye on the rod, no more, no less. This rule works on any brand of rod, whether spin-cast or open face.
