Snowden’s Approach: Snowden built his first brushpile in 1998 and began guiding in 2003. By the summer of 2006, he figured he’d built more that 60. Most of Snowden’s piles are constructed of sycamore trees. “Sycamore have large limbs,” Snowden notes, “and the ones I use are about 15 feet tall and 9 feet wide. I anchor each tree so it rests horizontally along the bottom in water as shallow as 15 feet and as deep as 50. I place them within 5 to 25 feet of a drop-off. A major bend in a river or creek channel near a massive flat, hump, or point might be an ideal location.”
Snowden positions the piles according to reservoir topography. On Table Rock’s upper, shallower end, a significant drop might be just 5 feet. On the lower portions of the reservoir toward the dam, optimal drop-offs for brushpiles range from 50 to more than 100 feet. He places brush on barren areas, such as a huge gravel flat devoid of flooded timber, rockpiles, or stumps. Brushpiles thus become the key feature at that location. Because they’re such unique objects in these otherwise featureless locales, Snowden says bass are attracted to them within days. “But I don’t enhance a spot that already attracts bass,” Snowden adds.
“Precise placement isn’t critical, so I don’t need to position the tree with a rope. Just drop it overboard, and record the location on your GPS unit.” Snowden finds that his deepwater piles yield their best catches from June through October, and June is the best month. Several deep piles are productive during winter, as well.
Sainato’s Approach: Tim Sainato began his guiding career on Table Rock in 1974 and built his first deepwater brushpile in the 1980s. In addition to fishing, he’s spent countless hours scuba diving to keep an eye on Table Rock’s black bass. On his dives, he’s seldom seen bass congregating around a deep brushpile festooned with green leaves.
So, Sainato drops leafless sycamores, noting that they also sink more easily than those bearing leaves. Sycamores are durable; he rarely has to refurbish a productive pile. Like Snowden, he prefers trees from 10 to 15 feet long, anchoring each with a large rock tied in the middle of the trunk to keep it horizontal on the bottom.
Although he uses his fishing and diving experience to determine where to sink a pile, he finds many of his best spots from studying topographical maps. “Once I’ve located a potential spot on the map, I slowly cruise the area with sonar and may make a dive or two before placing a brushpile.” He typically places piles on spots from 15 to 45 feet deep.
Sainato built a set of deepwater brushpiles he can fish every month of the year, even during the Spawn Period. During the spawn at Table Rock, he doesn’t pursue bedding bass, instead fishing for prespawn or postspawn fish. These overlapping phases run from April into June, and non-nesting bass often find their way to his brushpiles.
To attract prespawn and postspawn fish, he places his brushpiles on gravel main-lake points that abut spawning sites. He notes that a deep creek channel should pass nearby. His piles at these spots lie in 25 to 28 feet of water and are placed on areas devoid of flooded timber or other cover. Sainato wants each brushpile to be the most outstanding object on a hump, deep flat, or point along a creek or river channel.
He also positions his piles on spots that are harder for other anglers to find, ignoring shorelines, boat docks, or main river-channel ledges that other anglers are likely to scan with their electronics.
