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John N. Felsher's Crappie Fishing Adventures
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Everyone knows that fish love to hang around brush piles, so some
fanatical crappie anglers conceal the locations of their hot honey holes with
almost the same vigor that pirates use to guard maps to buried treasure.
Placing a brush pile or fish attractor near a bottom irregularity that
might hold fish creates additional habitat for an entire food chain. Minnows
and other baitfish use any cover they can find to escape predators. Plus,
they feed upon algae that grows on the branches. After small fish invade a
pile, larger predators quickly gather where they find easy feeding. Within
24 hours, a good brush pile could become a thriving habitat for bass,
crappies, catfish, bream and other fish species.
However, not every pile automatically becomes a new honey hole.
Anglers cannot just throw bushes anywhere in a big lake and hope to find
fish the next day. Just like deer hunters placing stands where they think
deer might walk, crappie anglers carefully select places that should
concentrate fish already in an area. Flats near creek channels that provide
fish easy access to shallow or deep water make excellent places to build
piles. Also, look for areas with good food, oxygen and other cover. A
nearby grass bed can provide all three key ingredients.
“The first thing I do is locate an area where I can catch one crappie,”
said Frank Reed, an avid brush pile builder and crappie angler who fishes
Toledo Bend near Zwolle, La. “I mark that area and build the brush pile
there. People will never draw a fish to an area that fish wouldn’t naturally
live in. I use electronics to scan for something with bottom irregularities. It
might be a creek channel, a bank or a drop-off that normally holds fish.”
When Reed finds a place he likes, he drops fresh, green willows in an
area about 20-feet square. He puts a weight on the bottom and ties a
capped plastic jug to the top. The combination of weight and jug holds the
artificial bush upright like a Christmas tree sprouting from the bottom.
“I generally drop four bushes in a 20-foot square,” he said. “I put one
bush in each of the four corners. In that way, I can circle the pile and not
disturb the fish. If I disturb them or get hung up in one pile, I move to the
next one, which is only 20 feet away, and continue working around the pile.”
People can use any type of material to create a brush pile, but Jerry
Blake of Action Fishing Trips of Pearcy, Ark., prefers hardwoods or bamboo
to softer pines or willows. Hardwoods last longer than pines and tend to
attract more fish. For shallow water, he ties bamboo into bundles shaped
like crosses and weighs them down with concrete blocks at different depths
along channel drop-offs or points. For taller cover in deep water, he builds
“crappie condos” out of bamboo inserted in five-gallon buckets of concrete.
“A ‘crappie condo’ is like a big cypress tree standing up and spreading
out under water,” Blake explained. “It’s usually about 15 feet tall and 18
feet across. It covers a lot of area. Crappies get under the limbs and
inside the cover. Bamboo holds up better than pines, willows or other
bushes. A bamboo pile may last for three to four years while all the small
limbs on a brush pile rot off in a year or so. Bamboo is also easier to fish
around because the hook just slides off it. We can handle a lot more
volume with a lot less trouble.”
People can also drop artificial fish attractors into their favorite waters.
Some use horizontal pallets attached to plastic pipe to make a series of
platforms. Berkley makes cage-like fish habitats out of recycled
monofilament fishing line. A Porcupine Fish Attractor looks something like a
World War II sea mine, a sphere radiating several hollow plastic tubes.
Minnows actually swim inside the plastic tubes all the way to the sphere
center to escape danger and pop out like prairie dogs after predators leave.
Weather can cause seasonal water level fluctuations in any lake. In
addition, as seasons change, fish may move up or down in the water
column. A hot crappie pile in June might not produce a single fish in
February. Almost any type of cover may attract fish occasionally, but a
dedicated crappie angler creates several hundred piles at various depths in
a multitude of configurations to offer fishing outstanding opportunities
during any season or lake condition.
For booking trips, call Blake at (501) 844-9028. On the Internet, see
actionfishingtrips.com.
fanatical crappie anglers conceal the locations of their hot honey holes with
almost the same vigor that pirates use to guard maps to buried treasure.
Placing a brush pile or fish attractor near a bottom irregularity that
might hold fish creates additional habitat for an entire food chain. Minnows
and other baitfish use any cover they can find to escape predators. Plus,
they feed upon algae that grows on the branches. After small fish invade a
pile, larger predators quickly gather where they find easy feeding. Within
24 hours, a good brush pile could become a thriving habitat for bass,
crappies, catfish, bream and other fish species.
However, not every pile automatically becomes a new honey hole.
Anglers cannot just throw bushes anywhere in a big lake and hope to find
fish the next day. Just like deer hunters placing stands where they think
deer might walk, crappie anglers carefully select places that should
concentrate fish already in an area. Flats near creek channels that provide
fish easy access to shallow or deep water make excellent places to build
piles. Also, look for areas with good food, oxygen and other cover. A
nearby grass bed can provide all three key ingredients.
“The first thing I do is locate an area where I can catch one crappie,”
said Frank Reed, an avid brush pile builder and crappie angler who fishes
Toledo Bend near Zwolle, La. “I mark that area and build the brush pile
there. People will never draw a fish to an area that fish wouldn’t naturally
live in. I use electronics to scan for something with bottom irregularities. It
might be a creek channel, a bank or a drop-off that normally holds fish.”
When Reed finds a place he likes, he drops fresh, green willows in an
area about 20-feet square. He puts a weight on the bottom and ties a
capped plastic jug to the top. The combination of weight and jug holds the
artificial bush upright like a Christmas tree sprouting from the bottom.
“I generally drop four bushes in a 20-foot square,” he said. “I put one
bush in each of the four corners. In that way, I can circle the pile and not
disturb the fish. If I disturb them or get hung up in one pile, I move to the
next one, which is only 20 feet away, and continue working around the pile.”
People can use any type of material to create a brush pile, but Jerry
Blake of Action Fishing Trips of Pearcy, Ark., prefers hardwoods or bamboo
to softer pines or willows. Hardwoods last longer than pines and tend to
attract more fish. For shallow water, he ties bamboo into bundles shaped
like crosses and weighs them down with concrete blocks at different depths
along channel drop-offs or points. For taller cover in deep water, he builds
“crappie condos” out of bamboo inserted in five-gallon buckets of concrete.
“A ‘crappie condo’ is like a big cypress tree standing up and spreading
out under water,” Blake explained. “It’s usually about 15 feet tall and 18
feet across. It covers a lot of area. Crappies get under the limbs and
inside the cover. Bamboo holds up better than pines, willows or other
bushes. A bamboo pile may last for three to four years while all the small
limbs on a brush pile rot off in a year or so. Bamboo is also easier to fish
around because the hook just slides off it. We can handle a lot more
volume with a lot less trouble.”
People can also drop artificial fish attractors into their favorite waters.
Some use horizontal pallets attached to plastic pipe to make a series of
platforms. Berkley makes cage-like fish habitats out of recycled
monofilament fishing line. A Porcupine Fish Attractor looks something like a
World War II sea mine, a sphere radiating several hollow plastic tubes.
Minnows actually swim inside the plastic tubes all the way to the sphere
center to escape danger and pop out like prairie dogs after predators leave.
Weather can cause seasonal water level fluctuations in any lake. In
addition, as seasons change, fish may move up or down in the water
column. A hot crappie pile in June might not produce a single fish in
February. Almost any type of cover may attract fish occasionally, but a
dedicated crappie angler creates several hundred piles at various depths in
a multitude of configurations to offer fishing outstanding opportunities
during any season or lake condition.
For booking trips, call Blake at (501) 844-9028. On the Internet, see
actionfishingtrips.com.
Make your own
treasured hot
spots for big
slab crappies
treasured hot
spots for big
slab crappies
Jerry Blake of Action Fishing Trips guide service brings a couple of
his clients to one of his favorite honey holes on Lake Hamilton near
Hot Springs, Ark. He builds many brush piles in Arkansas lakes.
his clients to one of his favorite honey holes on Lake Hamilton near
Hot Springs, Ark. He builds many brush piles in Arkansas lakes.
Daniel Felsher shows off a big
winter crappie he caught
while fishing over a sunken
brush pile on Lake Hamilton
near Hot Springs, Ark.
winter crappie he caught
while fishing over a sunken
brush pile on Lake Hamilton
near Hot Springs, Ark.