Lay Down/vs/Woodpile

[redneckshadrap]

How do you guys fish these?

Billy

[DJD]

Hey Billy,
Like most things in fishing we each have our own preferences and mine are...on laydowns i go for the heart of it first with a jig or soft palstic bait. I'm a big fan of the #17 and #20lb Excel Clear with a 7ft medium heavy rod. A small white Crankbait of Spinnerbait running parallel to the logs works for me at times as well.
The woodpiles or junk i'm thinking of are like the ones that accumulate in the backs of coves and i fish these the same way with the exception that these areas have more targets or holes to fish. I don't use braid for this type of fishing because i seem to overpower the fish and rip holes in their face when i set the hook which usually means if they jump they can get off.
Hopefully we can all get together this winter and hit the creek like a few years ago when Biggw won our baits! Good luck to you.
Don

[mhall]

How do you guys fish these?

Billy

If water temps allow, I first attack with topwaters then subsurface. I like DJD will fish it similar to his post. I seem to spend more time on a big pile though where I might only make 3 to 5 casts at a laydown. That is probably a mistake as I fish too fast sometimes. Jigs, spinnerbaits, cranks and worms all will work subsurface at times. But for me again if it's high 50 degree water or above, I will always buzzbait or walk the dog over it first if possible.

[Col Forbin]

If I can run something parallel to it, I usually start off with a crankbait or spinnerbait, and maybe try to bump it a few times. If it is pretty branchy I will use something that I know won’t hang up, a jig or worm and fish around it before hitting the middle. I sometimes will throw a buzz bait if the conditions are right, but I shy away from a walker until the end. I get these hung up sometimes on cover, and then you kill the spot for a while getting it back.

[MsgMills]

I too fish these types of cover as mentioned above. With one exception I use a spinner bait with a small say # 4 size willow leaf blade. I toss out the spinner bait and let it sink on a tight line and then hop the spinner bait up off the bottom let it flutter back down and watch my line. If the line makes a tick or jumps, then a fish has got the bait and I set the hook. This trick works especially great around Beaver Dam's.

[roadrunner]

Billy I fish them both the same I throw a plastic worm in get bit swing and miss throw back in now I am jumpier than a bucket of frogs, feel the limb set the hook twice as hard get hung up spook all the fish. Then I leave go tho the next piece of cover and repeat.

Beep Beep.

[Devils Horse]

I try to work the deep end of a laydown because I believe that's where the fat girls lie in wait. I'll work plastic/jig parallel and diagonal to the laydown letting it fall off the end into deeper water. I'll try cranking around it the same way. Burning a crank by the end of it will sometimes cause a reaction bite.

I work plastic/jig around the edges of an 'offshore' brushpile. Then maybe crank over and around it for a reaction. (When that crankbait loads up it's a beautiful thing.) If all that fails I'll throw the jig right across it and work back through it. I almost always wind up getting hung on a brushpile and either pulling half of it up or break off in it.

[redneckshadrap]

Depending on "where" in the creek I'm fishing ditates on how I approach. Faster water sometimes don't give me a lot of casts to such structure. I mainly have a small buzzer or plastic tied on 2 different rods. I'll work the buzzer a couple of casts then drop the plastic in accordingly.
Some of the slower impoundment gives me the lake approach.
Woodpiles and laydowns in creeks will be a little different that lakes.
Mother Nature will change a laydown into a woodpile in a creek over time. Sometimes that time will vary. Sometimes that laydown will take on different angles the older it gets.

[bigwormy]

mhall, it doesnt have to be in the high 50's to whack one on that buzz baby!! it mind sound a little odd, but i have honestly jacked some prespawn fish with water in the low 50's.

[CTFSHWHISKER]

i usaually aways hit any forks on the amin trunk and places where they lay across each other,seems my own experience tells me i always get the bite
on around the fork.if not then i just just drop the bait in and yo yo it in 3 or 4 places and let it set then move on.top water it first if there isn't much sticking out of the surface.

[DJD]

mhall, it doesnt have to be in the high 50's to whack one on that buzz baby!! it mind sound a little odd, but i have honestly jacked some prespawn fish with water in the low 50's.

Man i believe you 100% because we got into them at Cedar Creek one March when it was COLD and the water temps were in the low 50's and high 40's...if i wasn't there i would find it hard to believe but it was awesome!
On a whim my buddy cast out a Spook in about 3 foot of water and then the fun started the three of us caught 15-20 fish on top with many others on tubes and lizards. No explosions but just fun topwater fishing. You just never know

[PatientlyWading24]

While creeking it, in a larger pool, i normally throw a walker near the lay down if it is early or late. If the topwater opportunity has died off, i will pitch softplastics around it. Normally i don't spend a whole lot of time on these areas, while it looks so promising, my bigger fish and numbers don't come off the cover. It is more important to me what lies beneth, i pick more fish up in the middle where there are boulders, that you just can't see, until you trip over it.
There are some smaller pools that will have a lay down, that day/week, and those normally hold fish. I take a soft plastic and let the current control it. The fish will eat it up because they happen to be stacked right in that area. Like any flow, cover is subject to change and sometimes quick.