How long do you stay on a brushpile after you've caught a couple of fish off it?

[Bronson]

I've got a real bad habit of staying with a brushpile after I've caught a few fish off of it. I'm thinking I should probably be moving on and looking for some fresh fish. I can usually pick up one or two over the next 30 minutes to an hour but I'd probably be more productive moving on.

My question is how soon do you leave a brushpile after you've caught a couple but it seems they have stopped biting? I know some that will leave within 10 min. or less if they haven't had a bite. I seen a lot of guys set up shop like they feel it's just a matter of time before their honeyhole pays off.

[Lowellhturner]

With 65 sets of attractors in 27 groups if no decent bites within 20 minutes I`m on to the next 1 maybe 5- 10 minutes away...

[barrelslime]

10 minuets and move it.

[bugman]

Depends on the time of year and if i'm confident there's big fish on the cover i'm fishin for example i found big fish in a small area no longer than 200 yards then a cold front came in and shut the fish down a day before a tournament we were fishin so instead of runnin up and down the lake we fished 6 brushpiles all day and it was tough for me to do because i normally move within 5 minutes but in 39 degree water those fish aint gonna move very far so we camped on em and it won us the tournament.In the warmer water when the fish are more active i think a more of run and gun approach will put more big fish in the boat because as a rule i usually catch the biggest fish first.

[CatFan]

It depends a lot on how they are hitting that day. Sometimes, 5 minutes without a bite is too long. Some days you have to wait them out. If I catch a couple and then it quiets down for longer than I think it should I'll go fish another spot and then come back.

[Lonestar Proud]

If I've caught some fish off a pile and they quit on me I'll scan the structure with the electronics again to be sure they didn't vacate, if they're still there I'll switch colors and give it 5 minutes or so. If the color change doesn't produce it's time to find active fish...just my opinion. That said, if the electronics were still showing fish on that structure but a color change didn't get them started biting again, I'll come back a little later and check on em.

[CrappiePappy]

I always thought that I fished it around 30mins, then moved if no fish or they stopped hitting. But, time has a way of sneeking past you, when you're concentrating on presentation/speed/depth & all the bait changes Rofl ... so, in reality, I was actually spending an hour or so at potentially producing spots. But, that's brushpile spots & downed trees. Docks are another story, altogether. That's 15mins max, if no fish ... and no more than 10mins after the last fish is caught & no hits following.

Another factor in how long I'll spend on a brushpile, is whether I'm catching fish "around" the pile or "in" the pile. "In the pile" fish I will give twice as long as "around the pile" fish. Reason being ... around the pile fish are usually more active, so I'll usually get the gooduns quick. If I'm catching "in the pile" fish, and they're good sized, I'll work on them longer.

There's an old saying that says "you don't leave fish, to go find fish" ... and while that may be true in essence, it's also possible to gauge what the mood of the fish is (when you're on them) and you may know other spots with the potential to hold more or bigger fish than what you're catching.

How much "day" you have to fish for them, is also a factor in how long you spend on a spot ... or how many spots (& which ones) you try & cover in your alloted time.

... cp

[Brad in MS]

i had a good day yesterday fishing some blowdowns in shallow water.

i was there around 45 minutes with only 1 bite. almost decided to go home as a storm was moving in. so i moved to another tree (just about 10 ft away) and BAM ! i had 30 in around and hour and a half. all caught on the same lure, a "limetreuse" LFT baby shad. i had 15 over 12 inches. they were in-haling the bait. no monsters but several nice eating size fish.

so i guess we never know how close we are to catching a bunch. i stayed longer on this tree than i normally do but it paid off.

[Bronson]

Some good points made. I'm one of those who lets 30 minutes turn into an hour on a regular basis. It's kind of odd since I like dropping a jig on a new brushpile and every time I go to the lake I've got several brushpiles I wanted to fish but didn't get too.

Crappiepappy made a good point too when he said to fish the outside and inside of a brushpile. I have a tendency to get in the heart of it and work it around but plan on fishing the edges more from now on. I'm also going to start making myself move more often. My buddy does this all the time and he's always telling me he'll fish 20-30 brushpiles and come across one where he finds them stacked. The rest he just tries to pull a couple of fish off of each one.

[resevoirdog]

When you have caught a few and the quit biting try to chum the fish. Take two minnows and cut them into thirds. Toss pieces into brushpile. Then drop a live minnow on a hook in the brushpile. This is a good trick to score a couple extra fish off a pile. If this trick don't work I would move on. A friendof mine takes a couple dozen minnows and grins them up in a blender. And when he is done fishing a pile he always throws a spoonful of minnow hoop into pile. This will attract more fish to the pile while your fishing another spot. My friend swears by this. Says every since he started chumming his piles they hold more fish and refill with new fish faster. And you can chum a spot before you fish it too. Throw in a spoonful of minnow hoop and come back in 20 minutes or so. GOOD FISHING!