What to throw for dock bass after heavy rain?

Throw a black-and-blue chatterbait or a buzzbait tight to the shady dock posts, then follow up with a white or chartreuse soft jerkbait if they miss. 🎣

First move

Start with a 3/8 oz chatterbait in black-blue or white/chartreuse, and run it along the dock edges, posts, and walkways. Keep the retrieve steady and slow enough to feel the blade thumping, then give it a quick pause when it bumps a post or shade pocket. If you want more commotion, a buzzbait like Davy Jones’ Buzz is money in stained water.

Why it should work

After heavy rain, bass usually don’t vanish — they reposition. In stained water, they lean on cover and use the darkest, most protected parts of docks to ambush bait. Your best clues here are late spring and rising pressure: that often means the bite can be a little cautious, so make your lure easy to find with vibration, flash, and a silhouette. The weather also shows light wind and mainly clear conditions, so the stain itself is likely the bigger factor than the wind.

Adjust if

• If the water is only slightly stained: switch to a 1/2 oz white spinnerbait or pearl paddletail and fish it faster along the shady side.
• If the water is muddy: go darker and louder — black, blue, chartreuse, or gold blades — and slow down around the first dock in deeper water.
• If fish are missing the bait: downsize to a 4.75” twitch jerkbait like 4.75” Twitch Jerkbait – Large Soft Jerkbait, twitch-twitch-pause right beside the posts.

Backup plan

If the topwater and moving baits aren’t getting touched, skip a 3/8 oz Texas-rigged stick worm or creature bait under the dock and let it sit on bottom for a few seconds. Fish the back shade, deepest posts, and any dock near a drain or runoff edge first — that’s where the buffet line usually starts after rain.

If you can only tie on one bait, make it a black-and-blue chatterbait and put it right in the shade. Good luck — the next cast could be the one. 💪