Brush drops per spot

Something I've noticed since having live scope, and somewhat noticed prior to.... It doesn't take much cover to have and hold fish.

Let's give a scenario....

20-24FOW, Id like to put something at least 6-10ft tall. Lets say bamboo buckets, or similar sized woody, I'd put 2-3 to a spot, thinking that's what it took to attract fish.

Now after using live sonar, and actually dissecting brush that I find, it doesn't look like it takes much at all, when they're relating to cover, to attract and hold fish. In fact, I find myself liking the smaller brush piles I find, because it holds FEWER fish, and I can pick it apart better, and try to target more specific fish.

Anyone else noticing this? Just me lol. It seems like your efforts can be spread across a much larger area as well. Instead of loading the boat with say 2 or 3 "drops", and making one spot to fish, you can create 2 or 3 separate, productive spots.

Many a good spot has been ruined and turned into a nursery, small fish spot, by adding too much brush IMO.
Small brush for me usually holds less but bigger fish.

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Originally Posted by Roy

Many a good spot has been ruined and turned into a nursery, small fish spot, by adding too much brush IMO.
Small brush for me usually holds less but bigger fish.

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I'm starting to see that as well. I found a spot on Veteran's Day that is in 50FOW, tree had been cut from the adjacent bank and drug out to the channel. Comes up 20ft from the bottom. 25ft long (the brushy part). It had hundreds of fish on it. Most were 6-8 inches long. I went back the other day, and they had moved to deep dock near by. It was ridiculous the amount of fish there. 99% sure this was the school that was on that brushpile before, as it was fairly void of fish, comparatively.

Attachment 413982

SK Crappie Catching Adventures on YouTube has stated this for years. Those small piles hold better quality fish typically then the big piles or community holes. Might only pull one or two off each but usually they are nicer quality fish.

Makes sense. Maybe less is more…quality.
Bob

It's not the size of the brushpile.............:Rofl

I have discovered one dock that has the bottom covered in Christmas Trees laid down. It is not very often that you dont find fish under this dock. Some days they are small, sometimes it is full of the big ones. And some days they are mixed. There are probably 20 trees down there.

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

I have discovered one dock that has the bottom covered in Christmas Trees laid down. It is not very often that you dont find fish under this dock. Some days they are small, sometimes it is full of the big ones. And some days they are mixed. There are probably 20 trees down there.

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MERRY XMAS sounds appropriate thx

Thanks for sharing your insight

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Originally Posted by cva34

MERRY XMAS sounds appropriate thx

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Floating dock/ boat house. Even trees tied to the dock upside down with what I guess is a weight at the bottom holding it straight down.

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

Floating dock/ boat house. Even trees tied to the dock upside down with what I guess is a weight at the bottom holding it straight down.

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Actually, Jack ... the best way to hang a cedar off a boat dock is to put the rope or wire around the upper 1/3 section of the trunk & hang or cement the bottom of the trunk to a concrete block. :ThumbsUp

For the dock owner: Hanging them "upside down" means you'll be dragging your jig or hook against the direction of the branches, leading to more snagging up. The probability of snagging when the tree is hung "upright" is much less.

I didn't hang them. They will certainly do hold some fish at times. During winter draw down they hit the bottom and lean over a little

lone small types of cover typically hold very few fish ,but as stated , most of the time much better size wise .
but lots of folks hit the water here to ketch dinner not trophy fish
in the end we typically look at it like this here in these parts .
the stalking of certain fish in certain size ranges isn't the agenda for me and my buddy's
we just want lots of bites ....
and we do enjoy a big pile that everyone in the boat is on top of and ketchn fish
just saying

Pherhaps a large brushpile with smaller ones set out from it would be the ticket for holding both the size and numbers of fish

Even smaller brush piles are holding a lot more fish than I ever imagined. Quality aside, I used to think, prior to live scope, that it took a fair amount of cover to attract a school. We've known that smaller cover would hold a fish or two, but it's eye opening to see that it really doesn't take dumping a lot, to make a good spot.

From what I see location is more important than amount of structure.

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Originally Posted by SuperDave336

From what I see location is more important than amount of structure.

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Thats true. I know where a couple beautiful piles are that arent holding squat

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Originally Posted by SuperDave336

From what I see location is more important than amount of structure.

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I had to pull one up and replace it in a better location one time. A pvc tree. Two seasons and not one fish off of it. Moved it to a different area and been catching fish off of it for six seasons now.

Well I like all sizes of brush piles and this is about the largest I have seen a pic of, wish it was here and I knew where it was, lol!

It does look very good to me! I do not remember where I even got this pic!

Skip

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Originally Posted by skiptomylu

Well I like all sizes of brush piles and this is about the largest I have seen a pic of, wish it was here and I knew where it was, lol!

It does look very good to me! I do not remember where I even got this pic!

Skip

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looks like a corp pile to me and they run huge , some i know of are a hundred yards long , many times the timber in them is monster size , the often hold large fish and large numbers of fish as well and are about as easy as it gets to find .:highfive

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Originally Posted by chaunc

I had to pull one up and replace it in a better location one time. A pvc tree. Two seasons and not one fish off of it. Moved it to a different area and been catching fish off of it for six seasons now.

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Chaunc what are your tips for sinking pa brush?

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Originally Posted by Charman03

Chaunc what are your tips for sinking pa brush?

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Don’t have any as they don’t permit it on my home lakes. They’re COE waters. The one time I put that tree in was before I knew it was illegal.

In some cases permits may be got from the COE to put brush piles in the water. You can't cut anything living, but you can pick up brush, build your own out of different materials or put pvc in the water too. I talked to the coe myself & thay just asked the general area they would be sunk.