# dock lights at night



## oldrebel18 (Sep 10, 2013)

This may be a dumb question.....but how do you guys approach dock/dock lights at night? Wouldn't the motor scare fish away when you pull up? Do you guys shut down a bit out and troll in?


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## badonskybuccaneers (Aug 19, 2013)

Trolling motor would be best. Nice and easy.


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## Bo Keifus (May 9, 2012)

I fish them from my kayak and try to be as stealthy as possible but I have fished them on boats a lot also. I will tell you that I rarely catch any big trout at night while fishing from a boat with the motor running although when I kayak to the lights I hammer the big girls. You can still catch fish while the motor is running, just not the really big ones


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## badonskybuccaneers (Aug 19, 2013)

Shhhh.... Gotta be vewy vewy quiet......


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## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

Big trout HATE noise. They hate it so much that they don't even like the sound of waves lapping on the side of a fiberglass hull. 

Understand, sound travels faster and differently in water. In air, it moves about 1,000 fps but in water it moves about 3,700 fps. That gives less time for the amplitude of the sound wave to dissipate. Simple terms - it's just louder. If you have no other noise, a human can hear baitfish at 300 meters, under water. Just imagine what a fish that is attuned to hearing the 'click' of a shrimp's tail, can hear when you roll up with your boat motor on a quiet night near the docks. Even a trolling motor can be an issue. 

Once you establish which docks hold fish. Try to stop the boat up wind or up current and just drift into range. Use light line so that you can cast from further out and hit somewhere a few feet from the target and work the bait through it. No bumping, no anchor chain....don't even breathe through your mouth.


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## markbxr400 (Jul 23, 2013)

Bo Keifus said:


> I fish them from my kayak and try to be as stealthy as possible but I have fished them on boats a lot also. I will tell you that I rarely catch any big trout at night while fishing from a boat with the motor running although when I kayak to the lights I hammer the big girls. You can still catch fish while the motor is running, just not the really big ones


Ditto - I rarely take my boat out and more often take the Hobie ProAngler. We did really well under the dock lights last night in Little Lagoon. Caught a nice mess of reds and specs.

I ease up toward the dock, making sure to stay in the shadow. I start casting over the light, as far from the dock as possible while dragging across the edge of the light. I try to strip off the fish out toward the edge so as not to scare off the others. Then I start working my casts closer and closer, but always casting across the light into the shadows, and then work the bait into the light. I find the reds and specs often hit the bait the instant it starts moving into the light.


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## salty_dawg (Mar 21, 2013)

Preferably with wind at my back, I troll in the last 100 yards then use the Power Pole. If too deep for PP, I set the spot lock.


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## Shallow Minded (Aug 14, 2014)

When I fish dock lights which I manly do in East Bay, I turn of my motor about 50 feet from the light and glide in very slowly with the trolling motor. I stay out of the light in the shadows and I try to cast under the dock with a voodoo shrimp with about a foot of leader and bring the shrimp into light I also cast around the edges of the light. 

Good luck, Fish on!


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## Snagged Line (Sep 30, 2007)

so I suppose walking out on the Dock brings a whole list of issues too???


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## a (Oct 2, 2007)

Snagged Line said:


> so I suppose walking out on the Dock brings a whole list of issues too???


no doubt!.....walk out there quickly and youll see the big ones bolt.....


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## CaptScoob38 (Jan 30, 2012)

Ive caught plenty of big specks in my offshore boat with a noisy 2 stroke, pull up and drop anchor just outside the shadow of light. If I scared em off they usually come back.


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## LIM-IT-OUT (Aug 26, 2014)

shut motor off well away from desired spot up current once in casting distance drop anchor. anything running is no bueno ( trolling motor included )


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## DreamWeaver21 (Oct 3, 2007)

CaptScoob38 said:


> Ive caught plenty of big specks in my offshore boat with a noisy 2 stroke, pull up and drop anchor just outside the shadow of light. If I scared em off they usually come back.


 When I take the "big" boat (26 Horn) dock light fishing I have a pair of two strokes running, the radio playing, and we make plenty of noise. I honestly don't think it makes a damn bit of difference but I am not much of an inshore fisherman either. I mostly fish the intercostal and I know these fish hear boats all day every day during the summer. I would think they would be numb to it. Kind of like the deer on the side of Blue Angel that don't even look up when I run my diesel truck by it at 55mph.


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