I am still a newbie and cannot answer your question because I don't know but I have a question for you. Do you have a Side Image fish finder? They can help you locate brush piles a lot easier than down scan and 2d sonar.
Ok...I get the message. Brush and a lot of it. It raises three questions...
1) Where, in the lake, is best?
2) How deep?
Answer if ya know!
Hepotter
PS: Yes, I know...I'm not good at math! So give simple answers.
I am still a newbie and cannot answer your question because I don't know but I have a question for you. Do you have a Side Image fish finder? They can help you locate brush piles a lot easier than down scan and 2d sonar.
Just look at steep ledges, submerged creek channel intersections, any place that has a substantial drop off. Keep in mind that any creek channel is a natural highway for the fish to move to and fro. You'll find some place where someone has dumped some brush over board. Make sure you try out all depths from the bottom all the way to above the brush. Fish the entire pile too. Sometimes, there will be a sweet spot that can produce bite after bite as fast as you drop it down there. You get a foot or two off that spot, and you just slowed down to a bite every thirty minutes or so. Good luck!
Reaper, Where Fish come to Fry
I can't afford a side imaging unit. I have the 570 DI by Humminbird. It does an ok job, but lacks a good width when scanning shallower waters of 20 feet or so. One problem I have is not having it show any fish ID signals??? I must have a setting wrong. The fish ID is on, and sensitivity set to half way.
On flats - on dropoffs - on points - in pockets - out away from established spawning banks ... any of these places are good.
How deep depends on WHERE & WHEN you expect the fish to be in that vicinity. That depends on learning the Crappie's migration routes on your body of water. All Crappie will generally follow the same "pattern", when it comes to migration/movement ... as does the baitfish they feed on ... so putting your brush in a position to become a "stopping point", ambush point, or staging point, will insure that it will be used at some point in time. If your waters develop a thermocline, you will want the deeper brush to have a portion of it above that depth.
Just remember ... only do it if it's legal on that body of water -- and, once you drop it in the lake, it's public property !!
... cp
Other than the spawn, I catch crappie on deep piles 20 or 25 feet on a ledge year round. Not that shallower is not an option, but this has been best for me.