Hey Ronnie:

Welcome aboard the board.

If you are fishing a deep reservoir – plenty of water over 25-feet deep – you’ll want some cover in deeper water. We sink brush from shallow water to over 40-feet of water so we can catch crappie year around and at different lake levels.

Points that extend into deep water, especially old creek channels, inside bends in creek channels and the ledge or drop at the edge of a flat where it drops into the creek channel are good places to put brush. Most anything will work for cover but from my experience they prefer wood over metal or plastic. We’re making some with bamboo in 5-gallon buckets and so far they have been very productive. Christmas trees are OK but they can matt down if they still have the needles on them and it takes several good sized ones to make a decent condo. If you put weight at the bottom and a float of some kind at the top so they stand up they will work better.

If you haven’t already discovered it, you can “pick someone’s brain” on this board by clicking on their name and then clicking on “Find all posts by …..”.

You’ll have to wade through a lot of stuff you’re not interested in. At one time or another I’ve explained pretty much all aspects of how we make brushpiles and fish for crappie year around in my guide service.

Of course there are many different systems and tactics used by members here so you are sure to find a system that will work for you on the lakes you fish.

If you have any specific questions please don’t hesitate to ask – you’ll get plenty of opinions – and you know what opinions are like……… everybody has one!