Crappie guide gives crash course on building, sinking brush piles
Stephen Johnston isn't a hammer-and-nails kind of guy. But he is a master craftsman when it comes to the fine art of building cheap hotels for crappie.
Johnston is a crackerjack bass pro from Hemphill who also runs a successful guide business on lakes Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend. He has erected hundreds of brush piles over the years. Not surprisingly, he has seined them for literally thousands crappie, a sporting pan fish known for its pearly sides, paper thin mouth and succulent white meat.
What is the connection between crappie and brush piles?
For starters, crappie are object nuts. They like to set up camp around anything that provides them with cover. Brush also provides a foundation for the formation of zooplankton and other microscopic goodies on which shad, minnows and other bait fish feed. Once the bait fish show up, the crappie are not far behind.
Johnston, 41, says brush piles are to crappie what corn feeders are to whitetail deer. Build one at a favorable location and there is a good chance you will draw a crowd. Brush piles also go a long way towards helping keep clients stay hooked up when other anglers might be struggling.
"Brush piles are a big part of my business, mainly because it helps concentrate the fish to specific spots," he said. "Without them the fish would really scatter out, and you would have to hunt and peck to find them. Brush helps take the guesswork out of it. It is pretty much a guaranteed catch so long as the weather is right."
Crappie like to gather around brush just about any time of year, but they become especially attractive from summer through fall. The fish usually begin gravitating to brush piles in 10 to 15 feet of water during late spring, soon after the spawn winds down. They move progressively deeper as water temperatures continue to warm.
This sometimes forces anglers onto wide open water to seek out brush piles at depths of 25-35 feet. That's generally not a problem, so long as the wind isn't howling.
"Big winds like we're having lately can make it pretty tough to stay out there at times," Johnston said. "It's usually best to get out there early before the wind gets up."
Johnston says anglers who have done their homework can usually load a cooler pretty quickly. Some of his recent guide trips have landed him back to the cleaning table by 10 a.m with dozens of fish to process.
Productive as they are, fish hotels are not easy to construct. Done right, it is a demanding chore that means hard work and dirty hands. It also calls for a little ingenuity on the builder's part when it comes to selecting materials, putting them together, choosing a location and securing the goods to the bottom in a way that they will last for the long haul.
I asked Johnston to give me a crash course in building (and sinking) brush piles for crappie. He was quick to oblige with a lesson plan that will work on any lake with a respectable population of papermouths.
The proper materials
A crappie hotel is only as good as you build it, and quality materials are at the heart of every good brush pile.
Johnston says crappie will gravitate to just about any type of brush, though he prefers not to use cedar or pine.
Willows and sweet gums are long time favorites of brush doctors. When using willows, Johnston says it is a good idea to pluck a few limbs off several individual trees, then bond them together. Axing entire trees depletes the stock.
Sweet gums can be be diced into sections or utilized whole if the water depth is sufficient. These trees typically bounce back quickly.
Johnston gets his brush from a friend's private property, then transports it to the lake on a flatbed trailer and transfers it to his old wide draft flatbottom boat for distribution. He says it is important to sink the brush as quickly as possible after you cut it.
"If you wait longer than two days the leaves will start to curl up and turn brown," Johnston said. "Trees that are still green provide a lot more cover for shad and other forage than those with no leaves. In my opinion, the fresher the tree, the better off you are."
The guide pointed out that it is important to check with local authorities and/or property owners before cutting any trees along the shores of a public reservoir. In many cases it is illegal.
When available, Christmas trees also make great material for a fish hotel. These can usually be hauled off by the dozens soon after Christmas Day.
It is always a good idea to check out neighborhoods with large homes first. Often times that's where the taller trees will be. It might be wise to check with retail outlets, too. Surplus trees can usually be purchased cheap
Johnston always prunes his Christmas trees a little before sinking them. Otherwise, they are too dense for the fish to get inside."
"I like to make several cavities or pockets in the tree," Johnston said. "Sometimes crappie like to hang around the outside of a brush pile. Other times they like to bury up in it. Opening up some cavities gives them that option."
Store bought or homemade fish trees constructed from scrap plastic and PVC are viable alternatives for those who may not be physically able cut and sink cumbersome brush.
Some friends of mine built about a half dozen artificial fish trees a few years ago using scrap plastic including PVC pipe and 50-gallon plastic drums with openings carved in the sides. They created limbs by attaching copper or aluminum wire to the base, then adding gallon bleach jugs to the opposite end of the wire. The sealed jugs act as floats to keep the barrel standing upright on bottom. They anchored the barrels using 15-pound chunks of concrete.
Size factor
Johnston generally likes to keep his brush piles fairly small, about 8-10 feet in diameter. Anything larger and it creates too big of an area for the fish to set up camp.
Height also makes a difference. Johnson determines the height of his brush piles by considering the depth of water where he will sink it.
The best depth range can vary from one lake to the next according to the season of the year and water level. On Toledo Bend, Johnston likes his piles situated at depth ranges of 20-32 feet. He usually prefers to have 10-15 foot window between the top of the brush and the surface. Sometimes the fish will suspend on top of the brush. Other times they like to loaf around the outskirts.
"For springtime fishing you'll want brush in shallower water, say 10 feet deep," he said. "I'd use a 5-foot tall tree for that, so the fish can get on top of it."
Erecting a home
The best brush piles for crappie are those that stand vertical, so the fish can suspend around it. If you are sinking brush for bass, lay the tree on its side. You won't hang up near as much when casting.
Crappie trees must be weighted at the bottom and equipped with some type of float on top to accomplish this stance. Christmas tree sets or willow limbs should be snugged tight at the base using nylon rope.
Johnston uses 100-pound bags of sand to hold his brush piles in place. Cinder blocks and buckets of concrete also will work, but this can get expensive when sinking multiple brush piles.
Johnson says woven polypropylene sandbags equipped with ties are a much cheaper alternative. He fills the bags for free using sand from the shoreline, then cuts a hole in both sides before tying them shut. He loops a secondary rope through the holes, which is used for securing the bag to the artificial base.
Johnston uses one-liter soda water bottles or milk jugs to keep the tree standing erect. He attaches them to the crown using zip ties.
"Ideally, you should have everything except the weight attached before the boat ever leaves the bank," Johnston said. "It's a lot easier that way."
Pulling maintenance
Any brush pile constructed using natural materials will rot in time. Johnston likes to pull maintenance on his sweetest spots about once year. He always makes sure to drop the new brush right on top of existing brush to avoid enlarging the size of the attractor.
"If you sink it around the perimeter of the older brush, it will spread out too far and the fish won't group up as well," he said.
Spot on location
Main lake points, humps and ridges are great places to sink brush. Problem is, these types of places are frequently visited by other anglers whose boats are equipped with good depth finders and GPS mapping systems. Odds are a secret spot created in an obvious location probably won't remain a secret for very long.
Johnston prefers to sink his piles in places that are less conspicuous. He likes creek beds and river channel breaks in wide open water with no visible landmarks nearby. Main lake flats also can be good, so long as hydrilla is not overly abundant. He marks each spot using his GPS for future reference.
Johnston noted that just because a spot looks good does not mean it will attract fish. On average, Johnston said about one in four brush piles will evolve into a reliable fishing hole.
"Sinking brush piles is trial and error," he said. "It's sort of like street corner convenience stores. One store might not see much traffic at all, whereas another one located a mile down the road might stay covered up with business all the time."
Easy does it
It is fairly common to catch multiple fish off a single brush pile using small jigs or live shiners. But you can overdo it.
That's why Johnston has dozens of brush piles scattered out at varied depths. He prefers to rotate between several different piles as opposed to hammering just one or two.
"If I pull in on a spot and we catch 10 fish, I'm gone to the next one," he said. "It's always good to leave some fish behind. That way, others will move in there."
Matt Williams' email address is mattwilliams@netdot.com.
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