I know a lot of people talk about fishing a mud minnow on a jig head around docks and different areas. What is the best way to fish this rig, reel in slow, bounce it accross the bottom, let it sit, etc.
Another question, what makes one dock better than another? What should I be looking for?
18’ Hewes Bayfisher/115 4 Stroke Yamaha/6’Powerpole, etc
I throw it out let it hit the bottom, wait a few, lift it and move it about a foot, let it drop, wait a few, etc. Sometimes when lifting it gets whacked, sometimes as it settle to the bottom it gets whacked. Once in a while it gets eaten while on the move, usually on the lift or the drop for me though.
Try using a weedless 1/8 - 1/4 oz. jighead with a wire or fiber guard to avoid hang-ups. To add to it’s appeal, cover the shank and collar with a GULP1 curl tail grub but tear off the curl-tail. Thread the mud minnow on the hook through the lips and you have a deadly rig for all times of the year on the flats or around docks. Finding productive docks is mostly trial and error and changes with the seasons. If you have a trolling motor, hitting up to 100 docks in a day is no problem and you are bound to run into a few.
Thanks guys. I like the idea of covering the shank of the hook with a grub. Adds some color too.
I don’t have a lot of docks around where I fish but am looking forward to trying the ones that are there.
18’ Hewes Bayfisher/115 4 Stroke Yamaha/6’Powerpole, etc
I say fish it slow with the current if possible. If you toss a nice cast under a dock or something leave it sit a bit. That minnow will be thrashing around even if you don’t reel. You can actually drag it from a good spot when it would have been fine sitting.
Struggling minnow, easy redfish meal - so he thinks!
Vinman
19.5 Triumph, 115 HP Honda
“Every saint has a past, every sinner a future”
www.summervillesaltwateranglers.com
sswamembership@gmail.com
One more tip:
Snip a very small piece of the mudminnow’s tail off with a knife or scissors. It freaks out the minnow making him more active and also provides a scent trail. This works on mullet and menhaden as well.
I like the tip about the Gulp…now I know what to do with them when the little guys nibble the tails off. Great tips above.
In addition to the above methods, you can slow troll them for flounder and trout when you get tired of casting.
PioneerLouie
Pioneer Venture 175, Johnson 90
Summerville, SC
I let it sit at docks. Caught mine the other day within a few minutes of letting it soak.
Insert Funny Line Here
quote:
Originally posted by kut08I let it sit at docks. Caught mine the other day within a few minutes of letting it soak.
Insert Funny Line Here
Leave it sit while you grab a beer, snack whatever. Garaunteed something will eat it while it its in the rod holder. Usually BIG!
Vinman
19.5 Triumph, 115 HP Honda
“Every saint has a past, every sinner a future”
www.summervillesaltwateranglers.com
sswamembership@gmail.com
I have trolled for flounder with mud minnows since I was old enough to hold a rod. I have just never had any luck with the reds. I am ready to try this.
18’ Hewes Bayfisher/115 4 Stroke Yamaha/6’Powerpole, etc
This is exactly what we fished this morning, throwing under docks. Pretty much within a few seconds of hitting bottom the fish would strike. If it sat a few minutes we would move it around a bit, but mostly reel in and recast. Worked out well, but ended up with a lot of break offs on the pilings.
A good way to fish for reds with mudminnows it to use a very small adjustable float or fixed depth popping cork with a 3’ leader…you don’t need much weight. Pitch the rig near the grass and let the tide move it along the edge of the grass. Pop the float once in a while if you don’t get a bite. Clip a small piece of the tail off of the minnow to get a little more action.
PioneerLouie
Pioneer Venture 175, Johnson 90
Summerville, SC
My first bite usually comes when I set my rod down to get something to drink. I am almost always guaranteed a bite when I put 2 rods out while fishing from my kayak.
Don’t just look at docks, secondary and tertiary creeks are also great spots. Watch for eddies when creeks are emptying on a falling tide or up in the feeder on incoming. Trout especially like to hang in the edge of the current. Most of the docks that produce for me are ones that have a creek or current aside or near them. The tide sometimes dictates which docks will do the best when you have a row of them.
We always target flounder, so we are usually on the bottom. My buddy fishes slower than me and has better luck with the flounder and reds. I usually do better with the trout. I am on the front (with a trolling motor) and have to compensate for the motion of the boat so I am faster and don’t get down as far. He trolls a lot at the end of a cast, as the line straightens out.
We have about fished two creeks to death in the past ten years. But every year there are subtle changes in the creeks and consequently the productive spots.
17 Trophy-Merc 90
quote:
Don't just look at docks, secondary and tertiary creeks are also great spots.
Amen. It’s might be just me, but I never fish docks unless I’m standing on one. When I go fishing I like to be out in the marshes. It’s the whole experience that is important, not just the fish. I don’t really want to see another boat, much less someone’s dock, house, backyard, swimming pool, kids, listen to them cutting the grass, or whatever. I fish to get away from all that, and we are blessed with a million acres of salt marsh to do it. I can catch just as many fish in places where there isn’t a dock within 5 miles, and that’s where you’ll find me fishing 
Something else that I ponder about in populated areas with a lot of docks is pollution. Many of the older homes have septic tanks. Old septic tanks. Around Savannah I’ve seen many older homes draining their sinks and washing machines directly into the creeks. As you get more upscale in neighborhood it gets even worse. Fertilizers, soaps, weed killers, pesticides, pool chemicals, people changing the oil in their cars, anti-freeze, sanded copper bottom paints, golf courses, you name it, it all washes down to the creeks, and it ain’t doing the fish any good. I fish way away from docks myself, I don’t care how many fish are under them:sunglasses:
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
Thanks for all of the input. I have done pretty well fishing the last part of a falling tide to the first part of rising in back creeks. I just have to figure out how to fish a rising tide and the tide when it is full. That way I am not limited to which day I can go.
18’ Hewes Bayfisher/115 4 Stroke Yamaha/6’Powerpole, etc
Goob,
Check your e-mail.
JB
Which jig heads are you guys using? 1/4, 3/8, flat head, round head, colors?
Just plain lead, round head, with Gamakatsu hooks. I think mine are 1/4 or 3/16 oz.
There is only one way to fish a MM. The way the fish want it. I have drifted them, floated them under a cork, soaked them and every other way you can think of. Find what they want then go to that technique. As for why is one dock better that another, who knows. I think its the under water structure and current. Same thing as banks. Its not what you can see its what you cant. I fish this one spot that has 4 docks and only one holds fish. Go figure they are only 50ft or so apart.
A wise man once said “Do as I say not as I do” Good advice when I tell you that.
I think I know that spot!