Bush piles exist everywhere bass swim, so it’s in your best interest to learn how to locate and fish them fast and efficiently. Mark Daniels Jr. showcases how to find brush piles quickly using his fish finders and then catch bass with a highly-effective jerkbait and drop shot 1-2 punch with the aid of forward-facing sonar (LiveScope in this case).
TACKLE USED
ELECTRONICS
- FISH FINDER – Garmin ECHOMAP Ultra 102sv
- TROLLING MOTOR – Garmin Force
- FORWARD-FACING SONAR – Garmin Panoptix LiveScope PLUS System
Jerkbait Setup
- JERKBAIT – 6th Sense Provoke 106X Jerkbait, color – Ghost Pro Shad
- ROD – Favorite Fishing Pro Series Casting Rod, 6’8” Medium Power Moderate-Fast Action
- REEL – Bass Pro Shops Johhny Morris Platinum Signature Casting Reel, 6.8:1
- LINE – Seaguar Tatsu Fluorocarobon, 12-pound
Unlike many regionally-specific cover types (e.g., rocks, grass, sea walls, etc.), brush piles or various wood cover exist nearly everywhere and at multiple depths. There’s always bass on the prowl. Daniels demonstrates how to find brush piles using side imaging and LiveScope. And contrary to what many people think, forward-facing sonar performs well in shallow water, where he discovers the fish-holding brush.
His first play is to work a jerkbait over the brush to gauge the fish’s mood and trigger the biggest and most aggressive bass. With LiveScope as his mood barometer, he’ll pivot to a drop shot worm setup to scratch out a few more fish before moving to the next spot.
Drop Shot Setup
- WORM – Roboworm 6” Straight Tail Worm, color – Aaron’s Morning Dawn
- HOOK – VMC Finesse Neko Hook, size 1
- WEIGHT – WOO! Tungsten Tear Drop Closed Eye Drop Shot Weight
- ROD – Favorite Fishing Hex Spinning Rod, 6’10” Medium Power
- REEL – Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris Platinum Signature Spinning Reel – JPT3000
- LINE (braided mainline) – Seaguar Smackdown Braided Line, color – Flash Green, 10-pound
- LINE (leader) – Seaguar Tatsu Fluorocarobon, 12-pound
Forward-facing sonar helps achieve consistent and accurate lineups, with the right rod combos delivering the lures on target. Daniels details his go-to jerkbait and drop shot rod setups for this brush fishing application.
