It's catches of chunky largemouths like this one that keep bringing bass anglers to the dock time after time. With a little knowledge and experience, you'll soon learn which ones produce and which ones don't. Photo by Jeff Samsel.

Having been told that the plan was to fish docks, I recall being curious as to why we were zipping right past dozens of them. When the boat stopped, in fact, we were well up a creek, and the bank beside us was lined with docks in both directions. Using the trolling motor to ease us up to a very ordinary-looking dock, my buddy handed me a spinning rod rigged with a finesse worm.

"Feel for brush," he instructed. "When you bump anything, slow it way down and be ready,"

Within a few minutes, we both had landed bass, and by the time we finished working that dock, we'd caught four or five. With fish in the area, I expected him to ease us over to the next dock in line. Instead, he said, "Let's make a move."

Curiosity won out at that point, and I had to ask what was so special about that particular dock. "Partly it's the brush," he answered as he opened a compartment and began digging around. "If the docks on either side of us had brush, they'd be good, too.

"That's only half of it, though," he continued as he found what he'd been looking for -- a weathered lake map. After gazing at that map for a moment, he showed me the exact spot where we were sitting, and immediately I understood. The inundated creek channel made a big swing toward the bank, and the channel edge was almost under the dock we'd just been fishing.

Not surprisingly, we spent the day running and gunning, hitting very select docks that had all the right elements -- and we caught fish almost everywhere. That day I enjoyed the huge benefit of riding the lake with an angler who knew the waters we were fishing exceptionally well, and who knew exactly what the fish had been doing. Far more important than the day's pattern or catch, though, was the lesson boldly underscored and emblazoned in my head that day -- that not all docks are created equal.

As summer sets in, boat docks provide important cover on any lake that is even somewhat developed. Along with providing all-day shade, which can be critical through the warm months, most docks offer cover in the form of pilings and many also have boats tied to them, brush planted around them or extra features, such as ladders for swimmers that provide additional cover.

Virtually all docks hold some fish at times, and fishermen who simply work from one dock to the next typically will catch a few. However, those anglers who carefully consider what makes one dock different than another and really seek to build patterns accordingly will catch far more bass in the long run.