Weakfish hang just outside the halo of light, and rush in to grab grass shrimp, the occasional spearing and 1-inch peanut bunker riding the current.
Anglers are fishing their lures from top to bottom along the dark perimeter created by an elevated dock light.
“The best dock light fishing for weaks happens at the top of the tide, when it seems more shrimp are flushed from surrounding cover,” says Crescitelli. “Most are ‘spikes’ in the 1- to 3-pound range and will clobber a small shrimp pattern or a Clouser Minnow tied on a No. 2 or 4 hook. Otherwise, you can score with a small jig or swimbait. I have fished for dock snook in Florida, and find that weakfish sometimes wise up almost as quickly as educated snook after a hookup or two under a dock.”
Guide and Shallow Water Angler regional editor Bobby Abruscato fishes dock lights on small canals and the bays along the Alabama coast in and around Mobile Bay, such as those around Dauphin Island and Fort Morgan Beach.
“I fish the dock lights during warmer months with “subtle” baits such as small plastic jerk shads. Plastic shrimp such as the 1⁄4-ounce D.O.A. glow shrimp can be a killer on trout and reds.”
“Usually I’ll get one fish per light due to the commotion that fish makes once hooked,” says Abruscato. “And I find that the green or white lights produce better than the softer orange lamps.”
Capt. George Hughes, of Virginia Beach, Virginia is a true night light aficionado. Though he spends a good deal of time fishing the lights of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel for stripers, he fishes the docks in the Bay as well, even from his kayak.
“Our nighttime dock fishing is best from late spring through early fall, and you can expect stripers, bluefish and some hickory shad in the lights,” says Hughes. “Dock lights of Lynn Haven Inlet are good, and fishing can be very visual with 25-inch school stripers right at the surface. In general, docks near grassbeds and sandbars are most productive.” As far as flies go, Hughes fishes primarily shrimp patterns and his go-to staple is a No. 4 or 6 white Crazy Charley bonefish fly, a great impressionistic minnow fly.
