Thrift has always paid extra attention to offshore brush piles , but rapid growth in electronics tech has given him an even better understanding of their potential .
PHOTO BY GARRICK DIXON
Ebare exercises a common-sense approach to staying stealthy when fishing offshore .
PHOTO BY KORY SAVAGE
Fishing Brush Piles and The Element of Surprise
Being stealthy , making as little noise as possible and accurate casts are givens when fishing shallow water , but Thrift takes the same approach when he ’ s fishing offshore , too . For instance , when lining up to fish a brush pile or just about anywhere offshore , he sets the range of his Humminbird Mega Live and 360 imaging to 80 feet .
“ That ’ s roughly four boat lengths away and a pretty good distance for a cast , but it ’ s far enough that you won ’ t spook a fish ,” he says . “ I line up to it and make the best cast I can ; accuracy is crucial for your first presentation so you get the element of surprise . A bad cast hurts your chances of getting that reaction , and it can also pull fish away from the cover . In my experience , the more a fish has to chase your bait , the less likely you can get him to commit .”
Ebare has a very similar outlook on how best to approach offshore targets , with some common-sense ways to help him line up for any piece of cover .
“ It ’ s simple , but always fishing into the wind is one of the easiest things you can do , and it helps boat positioning tremendously ,” he shares . “ Offshore fish get pressured and become skittish when boats come too close , and most people don ’ t stay far enough away . I try to stay as far back as possible to still be efficient with my casting .”
For locating brush piles , Thrift uses the standard approach of side-scanning and utilizing other technologies available to him . He also mixes in some old-school thinking to speed up the process .
“ The first clue is the type of fishery that you ’ re on and most of the brush piles will normally be placed in predictable areas ,” he says . “ On a lake with a lot of docks , they ’ re usually dumped right under them ; on a herring lake , brush piles are probably going to be on main-lake points close to deep water . These are the places I always look first , but nothing beats time behind the wheel idling and looking for them .”
72 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | JUNE-JULY 2022