Brushpile Fishing

[Atimm693]

I have a question. Been doing a lot more brush fishing now that I have good enough electronics to find and stay on them.

Under what conditions do you consider it "safe" to park the boat on top of a brush pile and either fish vertically or cast and retrieve around the edges?

[catchNgrease]

Safe from what?

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[CrappiePappy]

Safe from what?

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I think he means "safe" from spooking the school.

IMHO ... it's dependent upon so many different factors that I don't do it if/when it can be avoided. In open water circumstances, I'll drop a marker (or pop the map up on my depth finder) and attempt to cast to the brush from a distance. THEN, after I'm convinced that I've worked the brush over pretty good & haven't had a thump in the last several casts, I "may" ease over top of the brush and fish it vertically. And that's only when I've got a good depth of water over the brush and/or the water is not very clear.

[crappie wrangler]

If the water is real clear stay back and cast or use slip cork. If it is stained or deep you can get right on top of them. A little chop on the water helps with getting close.

[Grainraiser]

It really depends on how deep the brushpile is and the clarity of the water. I can say for certain that crappie will get spooked by the shadow of the boat. My lakes are pretty stained so I back off any brushpiles that are 10ft or shallower. Anything over 10ft I sneak up on them with my trolling motor.

[jackie53]

We Fish a lot of deep brush on clear lakes.
With the Advance of Good electronics Espically with transducer on trolling motor.
If you watch you can see turbulence From trolling motor Prop."we call wash"
On your locater.
We Run Garmin.
My Trolling motor on high can see the Turbulence 20' .
You know this is being felt by the Fish!!
We have pulled up to a pile catch 1 or 2 fish .
The Fish vanish from the screen.
You know you spooked them.
Back off down wind just enough to make a good cast.
After a few times you will figure out how much is to close.
Good Fishing.

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[Atimm693]

I think he means "safe" from spooking the school.

IMHO ... it's dependent upon so many different factors that I don't do it if/when it can be avoided. In open water circumstances, I'll drop a marker (or pop the map up on my depth finder) and attempt to cast to the brush from a distance. THEN, after I'm convinced that I've worked the brush over pretty good & haven't had a thump in the last several casts, I "may" ease over top of the brush and fish it vertically. And that's only when I've got a good depth of water over the brush and/or the water is not very clear.

Correct.

What would you guys consider to be "deep enough"?

[catchNgrease]

5'

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[scrat]

I like to mark the brush pile with a buoy then cast in and around it trying not to disturb it no more than possible to start with. If too many eyes are around using the target on your sonar you can set it at different distances to know where it is to cast to the brush pile also. Also if conditions are deep water or dark water I like to vertical fish it like CrappiePappy said. CrappiePappy has a great article on vertical casting also.

[Eagle 1]

Crappy 1 on here set up my depth finder (Helix-9)so that it shows casting rings on each way point . 12 ft, casting rings and using a 12 ft. b/m Sam Heaton jigging pole is my favorite way to fish .