Fish brush piles planted by locals?

[drmnbig]

I've got a dilemma. I've fished Lake Anna for several years and fished several tournaments there to only be hammered by a select few locals. After watching and then checking over areas where I've saw them fish on many occasions I've found several of their "planted" brush piles. Would it be sporting to fish these spots during tournaments or would it look bad to do so? I've been reluctant to do so because it is water that they've staked out and I'd feel like an intruder. When not in tournaments I've fished these brush piles and caught some nice bass off them. What would you guys do in such a situation?

[ChazfromVA]

well... i have also seen this happen on Gaston as well... i fish many tournaments down there and i personally don't care who planted the brush piles, imm gonna fish them. It's like if you kno these guys are gonna beat you on these spots then why not try to fish them. If you don't then you\r just giving them the advantage and they are gonna tan your hide. If you feel like you can win doing it then by all means do it. Just  because they fish the spots it doesn't make them there spots.  Go ahead and fish for the win

[CJ]

I would plant some of my own brushpiles. Once they placed the brushpiles in the public water they are "open to the public". However there is this thing about finding your own fish. It's not very sportsman like to fish a spot that you found by watching or marking where someone else is fishing. Around here we call it GPS pirating. I stay off any of my less known spots during practice times for bigger events because of this.

All that said, the choice is yours and I guess the situation would dictate.

[senko_77]

x2 on what CJ said.  Go make your own hotspot and whip the locals.  I don't think it's unsportsmanlike to fish them, especially if they have them planted in different areas.  If the same guy fishes the same spot everytime, I probably wouldn't fish it.

[drmnbig]

That's kind of the way I see it.  It's unsportsmanlike to not find my own fish.  After getting whipped a couple times the curiosity made me try to figure out what they were doing.  

[noway]

Seems like a bit of a guilt complex as you know who planted the brush.  Look at it this way.  If I was fishing your lake and found those piles, I'd be fishing them.  If you were fishing my lake and found some brush piles, I'm pretty sure you'd be fishing them as well.

[J Francho]

Planting brush is illegal here in NY, but I'm wondering if anyone has stooped to removing someone else's brush piles.

[Jig Man]

Our lakes have literally thousands of brush piles in them. Some were put in by the COE, some by the MO Conservation Dept and many many illegally put in by individuals. I find 'um I fish 'um.

[CWB]

I would plant some of my own brushpiles. Once they placed the brushpiles in the public water they are "open to the public". However there is this thing about finding your own fish. It's not very sportsman like to fish a spot that you found by watching or marking where someone else is fishing. Around here we call it GPS pirating. I stay off any of my less known spots during practice times for bigger events because of this.

All that said, the choice is yours and I guess the situation would dictate.

X2

CJ read my mind on this. Plant your own. Try to find the same type of area that the ones that are productive are on. No rule saying you can't fish a brushpile if you get there first though.

[Tanker4lyfe]

thats a bunch of crap your fishing tournemants you should not be dropping brush piles. never seen kevin van dam with a pile of christmas tree on the back of his boat. just goes to show the lack of skills for fisherman these days im not the best but i study practice and study some more leave the lake alone and learn to catch fish. wait i know my next tourney ill just set up a coraling net for sure ill win right

[Eddie Munster]

I'm not an advocate of doing anything to win and believe in integrity but I'm going to disagree with the consensus here. There's no telling who planted those brush piles and just because someone always fishes it doesn't make it their's. It's no different than any other little known underwater structure or cover.

'Find you own fish' is a good motto but I don't believe it applies to these brush piles. Someone manufactered this cover and fish came from somewhere else to populate it. Maybe they left someone else's 'honey-hole' to populate it. No telling.

Bottom line is you still have to throw the right thing at the right time to get these fish to bite. Nothing wrong with it.

[senko_77]

thats a bunch of crap your fishing tournemants you should not be dropping brush piles. never seen kevin van dam with a pile of christmas tree on the back of his boat. just goes to show the lack of skills for fisherman these days im not the best but i study practice and study some more leave the lake alone and learn to catch fish. wait i know my next tourney ill just set up a coraling net for sure ill win right

LOL.  Are you serious dude?  Just because you have a honey hole doesn't mean you can catch them.  How many times in all your hours of "practice" do you know the fish are there, but you just aren't good enough to get them to bite.  Judging by your response to this, I bet it happens quite a bit.  

And if you think about it, Vandam's fishing style doesn't match up well with fishing submerged brushpiles nor does he have the time to drop them because he is always traveling.

[Eddie Munster]

thats a bunch of crap your fishing tournemants you should not be dropping brush piles. never seen kevin van dam with a pile of christmas tree on the back of his boat. just goes to show the lack of skills for fisherman these days im not the best but i study practice and study some more leave the lake alone and learn to catch fish. wait i know my next tourney ill just set up a coraling net for sure ill win right

LOL. Are you serious dude? Just because you have a honey hole doesn't mean you can catch them. How many times in all your hours of "practice" do you know the fish are there, but you just aren't good enough to get them to bite. Judging by your response to this, I bet it happens quite a bit.

And if you think about it, Vandam's fishing style doesn't match up well with fishing submerged brushpiles nor does he have the time to drop them because he is always traveling.

Listen to senko77; he doesn't fish..............he catches.

His tears cure cancer; too bad he never cries.

Time waits for no man..................unless that man's name is senko77.

The boogieman checks under his bed every night for senko77.

Superman has senko77 pajamas.

[Tanker4lyfe]

of course fish wont bite all the time do you eat all the time? my point is if your a tournament fisher and your planting brush piles your dead wrong. if you have to go plant brush so you know where the fish will be your one step ahead run the lake mark spots and run and gun to find your fish its all part of the sport

[Tanker4lyfe]

heres something to try go ask your tourney director if you can hitch a cargo to the back of your boat and drop piles at pre-fish id like to hear his reaction

[senko_77]

Eddie - ROFL!!!

Donbeatya - Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and if you think that dropping brush is wrong, then don't do it.  I know I have only dropped a few PVC piles in the last few years and it's on a lake we hit once a year.  I catch fish off of them, but I don't rely on them.  I basically added them to help create a "sweetspot" on a point.  

Now let me ask you this....do you fish brushpiles that you find?  How do you know they aren't planted by someone else.  Is it ok to drop piles, but not fish them?  Is it ok to fish them as long as someone else dropped them?

[Tanker4lyfe]

if i was mapping a lake and came across a pile or piles then of course id mark them. i had no knowledge that someone planted them. yes everyone has opinions all im saying is if you learn to fish study what fish do and when and why they do it you dont need to plant piles.

[senko_77]

Your right. I guess I do need to learn about how to read maps and locate fish rather than just relying on brushpiles. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a bunch of people pointing me in the right direction or planting brush to make a spot....I would probably zero every time  

[drmnbig]

There is enough opinion on here that it may not be sportsman enough to fish someone else's "known" brush so I'll just continue shying away from it.  I have learned a thing or two about where the brush is planted and used the underwater terrain as a key to find other fish so it's not a complete loss for me.

BTW, for those of you that fish Anna you know there is little brush in the lake so just a small piece can hold a pile of bass.  

[flechero]

I've heard so many "my spot" controversies at weigh ins, that it wears me out.

No one owns a spot, or a brush pile once it's wet. And no one has any more right to fish any spot over another.

Whether you find em on the graph or you saw someone over there some time before and happen to find it, it makes no difference. And anyone who says they have never investigated a spot they saw another fish is either withholding the truth or has a poor memory. ...lol :-X

If a spot or pile is "open" when you arrive, fish it with no guilt.

[tyrius.]

I guess a better question would be is it sporting to drop brush piles and use those piles to win tourney after tourney expecting everyone else to "respect your right" to those piles?

My answer to that is no.  If you drop brush piles in a public lake it's a public spot and everyone can fish it.  The person who dropped the brush pile has no more "right" to that spot than anyone else.  Now the way that you found the spot may not be the most "sporting", but I don't see a huge deal with fishing them.

On the other hand, if you really want to stay off that spot then I'd find some buddies and have them set up on those brush piles on the day of the tourney.  Then those locals would be forced to compete without their advantage and you'd really see who was the better angler.   Or you could have your buddies go out the night before and just hammer those spots.  

8-)

[tyrius.]

No one owns a spot, or a brush pile once it's wet. And no one has any more right to fish any spot over another.

Agreed, but I don't fish tournies so I may be missing something from that "culture".

[Raul]

I've got a dilemma. I've fished Lake Anna for several years and fished several tournaments there to only be hammered by a select few locals. After watching and then checking over areas where I've saw them fish on many occasions I've found several of their "planted" brush piles. Would it be sporting to fish these spots during tournaments or would it look bad to do so? I've been reluctant to do so because it is water that they've staked out and I'd feel like an intruder. When not in tournaments I've fished these brush piles and caught some nice bass off them. What would you guys do in such a situation?

Dude, there ain 't no sign saying NO TRESSPASSING ON THIS BRUSHPILE, is there ?

If they hammer you down by fishing those brushpiles why can 't you hammer them ?

[Btech]

If they are there and they hold fish id fish em. Why skip over them.

[John G.]

I say fish them like crazy, side imaging finds everything any way.

   Let me tell everyone some thing as well, those pros have dropped brush piles of their own before. We fished a lake for the college championship a couple years ago and a now Elite Series pro had won tons of tournaments on the lake and word from multiple people to have seen his map was he has a map/gps points of brush piles all over the lake that no one else knows about and that's why he won over and over and over again. Those were the days before side imaging as well so you be the judge. All of the grass in the lake was treated constantly so it was nonexistent because they draw water from it and brush piles were the key and everyone was dropping them. Also, have heard of a Bass Champs multiple winner who pays people to take pontoons and dump them on gps spots for him so I think fair game in Texas, Brush Piles in Choke Canyon, Lewisville, Fork, Rayburn, Toledo Bend, Benton, and Conroe that I know of so why let them take your money?

   It is illegal here in Michigan has well but you can buy a $50 permit and it is 100% free game then and violates no rule, doubt it would violate any tournament rule as is.