# lures for dock lights?



## Rocky Creek Rider (Jan 14, 2009)

What is the best lure to use when hitting the dock lights?


----------



## Splittine (Nov 24, 2007)

If you want to use artificials use Gulps or even DOA's. But live shrimp would be the best.


----------



## inshore slam (Mar 27, 2009)

from fishin the lights alot i would be most confident with the zahara super spook. trout candy


----------



## Jighead (Feb 11, 2009)

This year I am going to try the Storm Thin Fin in 1/2 oz white. I have a feeling it will be pretty good. Its the best imitation of thread fin I've seen.


----------



## F|nz (Sep 16, 2008)

5" JerkShads always works good for me. I use a wide gap lightly weighted hook....its nice and "stealthy"


----------



## [email protected] (Mar 20, 2008)

1/4oz DOA Glow Shrimp...it will outfish live shrimp on most nights. Live lys or dead are good too. Mirrodines work well too.


----------



## tat (Oct 8, 2007)

I like shrimp imitations (1/4 oz DOA glow shrimp or Gulp!). Sometime hard baits work really well, I like to down size for stealth: MirroMinnow.

Still, I get my butt kicked by my fishing buddy with his fly rod. Glass minnow or shrimp patterns are deadly and stealthy. I bought a 6 wt. fly rod just for fishing lights - now we'll see!


----------



## Butcherpen (Oct 8, 2007)

What about fishing between the docks? Any need?


----------



## User6882 (Feb 4, 2009)

DOA shrimp or a Yo Zuri floating Crystal Minnow


----------



## wrightackle (Oct 29, 2007)

Lots of big specks are caught nowhere near docklights with noisy topwater lures, especially during the full moon phase. Those big guys are cruising around looking for finger mullet and a surface lure will kill them. It is kind of neat to be working a topwater lure in the dark. You get keyed in on listening to the lure chugging away and then you get an explosion. Way more fun than fishing dock lights.


----------



## PBTH (Oct 1, 2007)

Kinda like during the most recent full moon...



And yes, I go with glow DOA's for dock lights if i'm not using the ol' long rod.


----------



## GatorBait (May 14, 2008)

WHITE GLOW D.O.A.'S!!! I started fishing the dock lights on the East side of Mobile Bay over a year ago and still to this day have not changed. I told myself untillI get skunkedI wouldn't change. I definately have no reason to change, not just yet.


----------



## fisheye48 (Sep 28, 2007)

yo-zuri pins minnow...or a chugbug just outside the light


----------



## mdrobe2 (Oct 12, 2007)

People may doubt, but we used to massacre the redfish in dock lights off Scenic Hwy using 1/4 oz. Rattle Traps. There is a picture of a big speck in my gallery that also took a Rattle Trap in a dock light in Mackey Cove. Sidewinder spoons fool specks in the ICW around Perdido. I also like live shrimp free lined, but you said you wanted a lure, so those are my best suggestions. The reds will chew the paint off your Rattle Traps- just keep throwing them. When you hook the first red in a light his buddies will leave. Wait 20 minutes- they'll be back.


----------



## bayou boyextra (Mar 29, 2008)

I do well with pins minnow and shrimp baits..top waters chuggers and skitterwalks fished on the peripherary top waters on the full moon in the dark to waning quarters..fished on the falling tide..usually on the falling tide line huge success at this intersections....the bigger ones do wait in the dark..but a line with right plug will drw attention..the biggest mistake I see people make fishing the ligts around here is motoring up to the light even tying up to the dock..I have caught most of the big trout in the dark areas and anyone spending time on any dock has heard thesound of fish hitting surface targets all around the lighted areas more often than not away from the light..so far this year the bait has not shown up and the large schools of mullet in the inles and bayous have not been plentiful this year as in years past as well as tailing fish..blame it on the weather I guess or theheavy rainfall patterns of the year..but the trout are here but not as aggressive as in the past.


----------



## mitch66 (Apr 13, 2010)

i usually stay away from topwater lures because they tend to scare fish away in some circumstances. i like anything that doesnt sink to fast and is a softplastic really once they see it in the light. live bait is always good too but when you get on the fish hot and heavy its harder to bait up and throw back plus you could potentially go through alot of bait. its easier to pick out the bigger ones this way.


----------



## sunnh2o (Jul 28, 2009)

I THROW A RAPALA X-RAP IN THE PEARLWHITE OR SILVERBLACK COLORS. THE SUSPENDING ACTION KILLS EM WHEN YOU STOP THE RETRIEVE.


----------



## hogdogs (Apr 19, 2010)

I found many lures to be productive but also find the large eyes at night in dock lights are real line shy... Lighter fluro leader seemed to help... I like a leader near 2/3rds rod length and a tiny sampo swivel. 
Brent


----------



## reeldrunk (Nov 9, 2008)

white stingray grub, rigged only with plain hook, no leadhead hook, on6-8 lb test.Place one or two tiny split shot weights about 18 inches from grub so it will sink very slow. Twich your rod to give the grub a kick and wait for about 5-6 seconds to let the grub slow sink before twiching your rod again.Big gator trout arevery spooky, Best fishing after 9 PM. Be very quiet and walk softly down the dock, make sure that you do not cast your shadow on the water if dock lights are overhead.
good luck,
reeldrunk


----------



## Fly Samurai (Apr 25, 2010)

I agree with tat, this is one of the few times that the long rod will out produce a spinning rod. But even with a fly rod it is crucial to fish long leaders and soft landing patterns to get the most out of your presentation. Weighted flies and heavy leaders will catch fish, but just like lures, after you get a few off of a single light, the noise of repeated casts will put the fish down for a bit. Soft landing flies and lures are less likely to spook fish and allow you to take more fish off of a single light.


----------



## Yaksquatch (Mar 23, 2009)

Looks like you've got a bunch of lure suggestions already but I've got 2 suggestions on how to fish them. 

1) Skip-cast with soft plastics, doesn't work very well with hard baits. It takes some practice but basically a modified side cast that cause the bait to skip a half dozen to dozen times across the light. If you sit away from an active light and watch the bait attempting to escape the predators below, you will see the bait skip across the surface with bigger fish in hot pursuit. If you do it right, you'll probably get bit as soon as the bait stops skipping and starts sinking.

2) Since it's dark, pay EXTRA SPECIAL attention to the condition of your lures. I've missed good hits to the plastic fouling the hook weirdly and/or the hook points being dulled (botched skip-casts bounching off pillings). If you miss a couple fish in a row, you'll probably not get any bites for a while at that light since you've spooked everything down. Move to another light and come back in a bit.

Good luck,
Alex


----------

