Bass Piles
What makes a good brush pile?
“Bass,” says Dudley.
He’s not being flippant. He’s being
honest and to-the-point.
With modern electronics, finding
a brush pile is easier, and it’s possi-
ble to see if a kicker largemouth or
school of spots has taken up resi-
dence in it. When Dudley is actually
looking for brush piles, he scans
offshore areas in various depths,
looking for bass to show up on his
screen. Once he’s seen and marked a
few, he’ll start to develop a pattern
based on which brush piles at a
given depth seem to be holding the
bass he’s seeking.
That pattern might be on primo
brush piles on the very tips of prime
points that are holding largemouths,
or it could be targeting the obscure
ones in 12 to 15 feet of water near
channel swings. Simply let your elec-
tronics show you the bass and let
the bass tell you where to continue
looking.
After all, it’s the bass that make
the brush piles good, not the other
way around. A smart approach to
fishing brush is one where an angler
weighs all options to catch the heavi-
est stringer.
Brush Pile
Lure Selection
Don’t overthink bait selec-
tion. A brush pile is a feeding
spot. Bass are usually there to
eat, or at least thinking about it.
Dudley boils his bait selection
down to three lures.
1. Paddle-tail swimbait – A
soft-plastic paddle-tail swim-
bait such as a Keitech Swing
Impact FAT is a deadly brush-
pile lure. Dudley suggests cast-
ing off the deeper side of any
piece of brush and counting
the bait down just enough to
get close to the brush pile.
“You don’t need to get it
within an inch,” he says. “A
bass will usually swim out to
eat it, especially spots. So, as
an example, maybe count it
down 10 seconds. Then next
cast, count 12 seconds. Then
15. Just don’t count it down so
long you get hung.”
2. Drop-shot – If a bass
isn’t willing to swim out to
chase a swimbait, get a little
closer and fire a drop-shot out
to the sides of the brush pile.
It doesn’t need to be in the
brush, where it could get hung
and spook the fish. Just get it
close and tease him to come
out.
3. Big worm – While spot-
ted bass will come out to eat a
lure, largemouths sometimes
require you to bring it to them
on a platter. A big Texas-rigged
worm is great for slipping in
and around brush, and is often
a big enough meal to tempt a
lazy bass into biting.
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