When Evers arrived for prefishing, he had hopes of catching largemouths in Table Rock’s tributaries. After failing to define productive patterns in the upper portions of the James River, however, he abandoned the shallows and elected to search deeper areas for spotted bass. With his Lowrance LCX-26C sonar-GPS unit, he scouted scores of points, humps, and flats in the reservoir’s lower reaches, looking for brushpiles, shad, and bass in 25 to 40 feet of water.
Evers saved his most thorough examinations until after dark, however. When the wind and waves subsided after sunset, he was able to move more precisely and record the best spots on his GPS. He also wanted to do his scouting out of sight of other competitors.
His nocturnal endeavors paid dividends: When the tournament began on September 7, he’d identified 20 deep brushpiles that held aggregations of bass. After his 2nd place finish, he credited his state-of-the-art sonar and GPS. “Without such detailed readouts and accurate waypoint placement,” he said, “finding and returning to brushpiles smaller than my boat on offshore areas bigger than a football field would have been impossible.” During the 4-day event, Evers had caught all but one of his 20 bass from brushpiles.
The most productive piles were on the main lake, along a 15-mile swath of the lower third of this highland reservoir. On each tournament day, he tried to visit every brushpile four times; if he didn’t hook a bass within 10 minutes, he’d move to another.
He caught some bass on a white 3/4-ounce spoon, but most bit a drop-shot rig with a 4-inch purple-brown Kinami Cut Tail Worm, on an 18-inch leader above a 3/8-ounce drop-shot sinker. He used a 1/0 Owner Mosquito hook and tied a small swivel 2 feet above the hook and worm to limit line-twist. He’s also found that the swivel allows him to assemble several rigs beforehand. If one snags, he can quickly tie another rig to the swivel.
When spotted bass were active, Evers’ sonar showed them roaming 20 or more feet from the piles, and some would follow a hooked bass toward the surface. After noting this activity on his Lowrance, he kept another drop-shot rig ready. As soon as he landed a bass, he opened the bail of the other rig and dropped a second worm. On several occasions, another bass engulfed it immediately. This phenomenon occurred when the spots were most active, typically during midday.
Bass weren’t active most of the time, however, and he had to entice them by holding his rig dead-still. When bass were tentative, Evers had more success if the wind and the lake’s surface were calm, allowing him to place the rig precisely and hold it still.
His most productive depth was 32 feet. Even at that depth, and especially when bass were tentative, Evers found it important to operate his electric trolling motor slowly and steadily. He reported that whenever he turned the trolling motor around to reverse the boat’s path, the noise made bass more tentative.
At famed Table Rock Lake and at other waters across the land, the old art of brushpiling has undergone a renaissance, thanks to the marvels of hi-tech sonar and mapping GPS units. Experts note that winter is prime time to plan, manufacture, and plant piles of brush. The colder months provide leafless trees and, better yet, mean empty boat ramps, so your spots remain a secret between you and your GPS.
*Field Editor Ned Kehde of Lawrence, Kansas, has fished Ozark impoundments for four decades, and his detailed angling reports have appeared in In-Fisherman for almost 20 years.
