Thread: New Piles

New brush piles, that is. Yesterday George and I found a brush pile that appeared to be fairly new. We caught several fish off it and later I got a report from a friend he had taken several off it just a few minutes before we got there. This was an a Tue; turns out the pile had been placed there the previous Sat--and a large number of good sized fish were already hanging out there! I was amazed they came that quickly. It was right next to a very steep dropoff-looked like it went from about 7 ft straight down to about 14 or so ft. Top of the brush was about 5 ft from the surface. I had never fished a new brush pile, but apparently sometimes it doesnt take long for the crappie to move in.

Merle I have fished wood all my life. Have put in 1000's of piles and fished them as well. I have caught crappie off of piles I sank the next day with green leaves still on them. I can say the complete opposite as well. If you have caught crappie from an area of the lake that has little cover its a good bet that cover will attract an even bigger concentration of fish including baitfish. I always try to place my new wood on or very close to wood that has dwindled in size since being in the water for several years. I also like to place wood where there has been some type of structure over the years already being a stump, rock pile, hump, creek channel, ledge, ect.. I am not saying that you can't go onto the biggest flat on Eufaula with nothing there, and have never caught a fish off it, and put a pile and not go back and catch fish from it. I am saying to give yourself the best chance to catch a fish is to put the wood in an active place already. The only way to tell if its an active pile or not is to fish it. EB and myself found a huge laydown in the river where 2 channels come together. We fished it the first time and caught 2 huge crappie off it both being in the 2lb class, 1 being a black and the other a white species. Where this laydown is makes it a perfect place for crappie to ambush their meal cause of the 2 channels. Guess what they don't like it as well as we thought they would and I haven't caught 3 crappie from it since. Some they like some they don't.....Just have to fish em.....Ranger