Dropping Brush Piles

[aprestonSEK]

How do you go about making the perfect brush pile?  Where should I drop them?  I would like to make some areas to catch bass and crappie.  Any input is appreciated!

[Bluebasser86]

I use cinder blocks, jam branches or the base of a tree in each hole facing opposite directions. That way they lay flat on the bottom and extend out away from the block, makes it so nobody else can find my hard work by simply seeing it extending towards the surface of the water

[aavery2]

Works well if you have access to a pontoon boat to set them.  As mentioned tying cinder blocks to them works well, does not hurt to tie your brush together also.  You will want to set your brush piles well ahead of any fishing you want to do over them.    Sometimes fish move in on them quickly but seems like it usually takes a while before they get real good.   Look for sharp breaks in the depth of water, like a 12 to 20 or something similar, set your brush piles on the break.  

 

With the advent of SI fish finders it is usually only a matter of time before someone finds your honey hole.

[Catt]

I like to use small willow trees or branches

Cinder block with tie wire

Creek channel, 12-18', look for underwater points

[Raul]

Just before you drop anything in your local waters better check if it´s not illegal.

[mrmacwvu1]

Pvc pipe roughed up with sandpaper. Make your own trees. I use five gallon buckets with cement in them.

[Sam]

Cinder blocks are what we usually use to weight the brush piles.

 

You can select any "type" of wood you wish.

 

You have to decide how "bushy" you want the brush piles.

 

You can have then stocked full of branches or have a lot of open spaces.

 

If you have them stocked full of branches you will attract more smaller fish.

 

The bigger ladies like open areas in brush piles so they can hide for safety and ambush their next meal.

 

What ever you do just remember three rules of placing brush piles in the water:

1.  Make sure it is legal.

2.  Never tell anyone where you have dropped them.

3.  Keep a map of the waters so you can mark the places you dropped them.

 

If you are placing them in a tidal river you may want to use two cinder blocks tied securely together with wire or a chain to keep the current from moving them farther down the river.

 

And get someone to help you drop them in the water. If you don't you will have many sore muscles the next few days.

[Sam]

And one last item I just remembered.

 

Your boat will get dirty from the twigs, branches and junk coming off the cinder blocks so be ready to clean the boat after every time you drop your piles.

 

Be careful as you place them in the water as the cinder blocks will scratch your hull.

[ww2farmer]

Just before you drop anything in your local waters better check if it´s not illegal.

It is illegal here in NYS. But people do it anyways. Not that it means anything to the OP, but your right Raul..........check with your area's DEC/DEP/ECON. Dept. ...etc.....first. Just because people do it don't mean it's right and/or allowed by law.

 

 I am personally very ANTI- cover planting, first and foremost because it not allowed by law here, and secondly, our lakes have plenty of natural cover. Now if our lakes were void of cover, and it was allowed, I'd probably be out there doing it myself.

[Sam]

Farmer, guys in Virginia have been dropping their own brush piles for years in lakes and rivers.

 

They keep this information to themselves and then hit the spots during tournaments.