What is a good bait and technique for fishing deep brush piles?

Gambler 13" ribbon tail worm




I have good luck throwing these on a 1/2-1oz weight over brush piles. These are more durable than a power worm as well. I kinda swim it over the top of the brush pile.

Santonelures.com
1/2 santone jig!

Thanks for the replies big bass and JM. Appreciate it.

I'm partial to the Santone 1/2 oz flipping jig!! Caught a lot of big fish on them!

Texas rigged power worm with a 1/4 oz sinker and a glass bead between the hook and sinker. Throw past the brush pile, let it sink, pull in slow until you feel the brush. Try to work the worm up gently a couple of feet off the bottom into the brush and basically try to get it hung up but without putting much pressure to get it loose. Once it snags flicker the slack in the line lightly making the weight tap on the glass bead then pause. Flicker few times and pause. Be patient and work it slow. It will break loose and when it does let it sink back into the brush and keep doing it. Sometimes you won't even feel the bite you will only see the line tick. Reel up and hammer it. I've caught some of my biggest bass at night doing this in brush piles. The lighter the bite, usually the bigger the bass.

Night fishing is my favorite. I would go out before dark and throw markers on 2-3 brush piles. Then an hour or so after dark I would come back and start fishing them. I would approach them from upcurrent and shut off my big motor at least 75-100 yards out. then I would use my trolling motor only when needed and drift into position. I would drop anchor at the right time and then get still and quiet. Then I would fish quietly as possible using the above technique for at least an hour per brush pile before I moved.

I had an old timer share this method with me and I fine tuned it to my liking. He taught me patience. Without his teaching I would have never spent an hour on one brush pile or hole, using the anchor, without moving on. He taught me how big bass were smart and an entirely different challenge. He would tell me in his very southern country voice, "Them big bass are just different. They hear one noise and they go stick their nose under a log." I learned to believe it.

Back when I had a house on Cypress I hammered many big bass out of brush piles at night. If I was in the mood to fish for big ones this is how I did it. And I learned to love sitting on a hole quietly and learned to feel the structure. It was a lot like hunting to me. Man did I catch some hogs on Cypress at night. I sure miss them days.

Sometimes it seems you need a larger heavier bait (big jig or heavy TX rig) to get down in there to reach the fish you want to catch. Of course, you lose a lot of baits this way. Other times, the piles have been hammered so much, a more stealthy approach is better. For this I like a 3/16 or 1/4oz shaky head with a Trick Worm. And sometimes ramming a crank bait in to them brings the big girls out to play. Love to fish brush piles!

I've been doing exceptionally well lately on bass up to just under 10 pounds by fishing brush piles with both 4" and 5" Havoc Pit Boss in black/blue fleck and watermelon/orange fleck. I fish them T-rigged with a strong 5/0 hook and a 3/8-oz slip sinker with a bobber stop. If it's windy, sometimes I have to anchor and 'deadstick' the bait for long periods and/or make repeat casts to the same brush pile to get a bite, but eventually one will try to pull my rod out of my hands.

A big 3/4 oz jig is my favorite but I will also throw a Texas rigged ribbon rain, a shakey head, wobble head and Carolina rig. You kinda just gotta figure out what they want