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Fishing Advice Article:

Building A Better Brush Pile

Building a Better Brush Pile

by Steve Masters Bringitbaits.com As our lakes become more and more crowded and the shorelines become lined with new homes it is constantly becoming harder to have that little secrete honey hole. There is really only one solution, and that's to create one.

If you really want to get serious about setting out brush piles prepare yourself for some hard work, but it can pay off big later. Bass will use brush piles throughout the year but the heat of summer and winter are the prime times to fill your live well with brush pile bass or turn that 14 pound limit into a 20 pound sack with a big brush pile kicker. I'm not advocating breaking any laws but the ol chain saw and pruning shears method is hard to beat. About the best way to legally get and sink trees is asking someone clearing a lot off for construction for the ones they cut. They had rather give them to you than have to deal with them themselves almost every time. Another way for me at Lake Mitchell was after a tornado had gone through; there were prime hardwoods of all sizes along the bank blown over. A lot of my brush piles are large trees I've found floating down the river. If I'm just out fishing for fun I usually have a few concrete blocks in the floor of my boat just in case. You'll probably be surprised how much you can find to sink if you get in the habit of looking for it while on the lake.

A lot has been said about Christmas trees good and bad. Personally I use them, but they only make up about 20% or less of my pile. A bass isn't going to sit around starring at a Christmas tree all day. They need some bulk, something they can get under for shade or cruise around in looking for food. Just like the bass the bait fish need something they can hide and move around in if they are going to hang around. A couple of Christmas trees or a bush placed beside the main pile gives bait fish somewhere to gather. Think of these as the bass' dinning room. I can put up having to vacuum my boat afterwards if it means more fish in the boat. I've tried the pvc pipes sticking out of a bucket with concrete in them. I don't see these as good brush piles but an addition to the main pile.

What to use for the main pile? To me nothing works better than a real tree, preferably any hardwood, but I want turn my back on a big pine if I catch one floating along. Before sinking a tree think about getting hung up in it. Trim all the twigs and smaller limbs. The more forks it has the better. Point the treetop towards where you'll be fishing from. Jut before I untie and let it sink I tie a concrete block to the under side of the trunk to keep it up off the bottom. A tree trunk lying flat has little to offer a bass. Construction sites are great for finding brush pile material. There's a gold mine in those dumpsters, and it's free. You may get some strange looks but I've never had anyone object to me getting something they have to pay someone to haul off. One thing I like to do is liquid nail a few pieces of 4" black drain pipe into a large landscape bucket, let it sit a few days, fill the pipe about half way up with concrete, then while wet flip it all over so the concrete falls to the bottom of the pipes. What you wind up with is a stump sitting a foot or so off the bottom with 4" roots around it and it will all last forever.

See what you can find and let your imagination go to work, just keep in mind shade, security, and ambush. Speaking of lasting forever I use only copper wire scrapes for tying my blocks to brush. Nylon rope and treble hooks are not a good match. One of the few things I never use is palettes, too many pinch points to get hung in. My most productive brush pile has a good size tree, a 10 foot fiberglass column with blocks on each end to keep it off the bottom a bit, a couple of Christmas trees, and five landscape buckets with a three foot pvc pipe sticking up from the center. I cut slits in the pipe and glued small real-estate signs into the

Edition MAGIC Fishing Rod - Catfish 420
Edition IM-12 71? North Travel Fishing Rod

Whenever I mention that I fly fish to a fellow angler, he (or she) inevitably inquires whether I prefer fishing for trout or smallmouth bass. When I answer that trout and smallmouth bass are both OK, but that I also enjoy catching walleye, they look at me like I just deplaned from a spaceship. True, fly fishing and walleyes are not often used in the same sentence, but the times they are a changing. Fly fishermen who think outside of the box catch all varieties of fresh water fish on flies.

Julian has been living and working in Thailand now for several years. He is the owner of Siam Fishing Tours Which organize fishing trips in Thailand and is increasing popular destination -for huge Mekong catfish and Siamese carp to name a few. It is Jules idea to open up this market to westerners and introduce anglers the world over to the amazing fish of Thailand. It is my humble opinion that Jules may just have one of the best jobs in the world.

More than 25 percent of the fish caught in Wisconsin are nabbed when the lakes have frozen over, which tells you how popular ice fishing in in dairy country. The ice is "on" up north.

Whatever your style of fishing, there comes a point when the challenges available locally just don't match up to your dreams. Whether you want to catch bigger fish or more exotic fish, it's time to go further afield for more exciting sport. Fishing holidays abroad offer new challenges that will revitalise your whole sense of enjoyment and bring back the spark that first got you hooked.

Most carp anglers consider their bait a top factor in their success, yet few truly understand it enough to maximize its full power and possibilities for maximum effect! Your bait is vitally important in the manipulation of carp feeding and of other essential behaviors which seriously put the odds of success back in your favor.