What's the best method to fish tree tops in deep water? I've never been able to figure out an efficient method that catches fish and doesn't result in constant hang-ups. Anyone had success they'd be willing to share?

I like to throw a tx rig with lightest weight possible past the tree and work it up and thru the limbs slow.

A lot of factors to consider that would result in different answers to your question -
What types of bass are you targeting - spots? largemouth?
Water temp
Wind blowing?
Current?
Water clarity
etc.

Here's an experience I had with deep (30' +) trees:
Fishing a tournament on Beaver Lake Arkansas.
Fall. Water temp 63. 10 to15mph wind. Clear water. Large spotted bass.
Full grown standing oaks in 50' to 80' water.
Every time the wind would blow a school of shad across a submerged tree top, schools of spots would boil up out of the tree.
Making long casts into the school with a clear zara pup would get bites in the initial boil.
After the boil went down, crippled shad would "V wake" along the surface as they got away from the tree.
Big spots would blast the cripples. The pup didnt work so well with those fish.
Better bet was clear 3" pepper flake tube with a 1/8oz head. Rig the tube with weighted hook not fully inserted into the tube.
This allowed me to "skim" the tube at the surface making the same zig zagging V wake.
Both lures fished on spinning rods with 10#.

Wasnt able to get bit on jerk baits, flukes, etc.

Yeah light as you can go-3/8 brush jig with a stiff weed guard

Lighter spoon with weed guard ticking the limbs works pretty well.

I am not sure about deep water tree tops, but there should be plenty of people chime in on out of water tree tops. Some of them look like a Christmas tree with all the lures hanging off of them.

Ned rig works pretty well.

Smaller hook is a must in my opinion, bigger the hooks the more likely you will impale a fish on a branch coming up. on Amistad I have fished vertically with a back weighted senko in the past.

I do the same.

Caught a lot of fish in 22 years on Ray Roberts slow rolling 1/2 to1 oz spinner bait thru tree tops. Diamondback spinner baits custom built some 5/8 oz for me that really worked well.

Sounds like what Lindy Roberts and Jim Walling used to do,.

I am always looking for the Magic Tree. This is one that may hold several large Bass. The deeper the tree during the summer and winter months the better. In the late spring large Bass will never leave their home tree for any reason. They even spawn in the forks of the larger limbs at the best light pentation depth for that lake. Here is my technique and experiences on lake Falcon, Amistad, Ivie and the Mexico Lakes.
- No reason not to verify that a huge tree is holding fish and bait with todays electronics.
- Vertical presentation
- T-Rig 1/2 oz. Pegged
- 4.0 Heavy Line Gami. Wide Gap hook
- 50 # Braid.
- Large Brush Hog in Watermelon/Red
- Let the rig free fall through the huge tree to the bottom.
- Bring the Brush Hog off the bottom about 3 ft. and hold it dead still.
- Bring the Bait up another 3 ft. and hold it very still. The bite will just load-up like a Crappie bite.
- Keeping the bait in the strike zone motionless is the key. The tails of the Brush Hog never stop moving no matter how still you hold the rig.
- Work your way around a 35 ft. tall tree to fish all sides and concentrate heavily on the shady side even in winter months.
- Large Bass that live on their resident tree will usually bite quickly when you get the Brush Hog in her strike zone.
- Most of these fish do not run with the bait. They just suck it in and hang tight.
- If there are 3 or 4 big fish using that tree, they will fire up and you will catch all of them.
- When vertical fishing in deep water these fish air up quickly. It is important to get them back in the water quickly. Be ready with you camera phones for a quick picture and release.

I talked to a guy that did that all the time with square bill crank baits. He said you have to learn how to walk the bait through the limbs but he said when you do, It was a very effective technique.

There were some bass suspended on Niche while I was there in the tops of the trees I never coaxed one but threw the sink at them, square bills, deep divers, flukes, senkos, you name it.

I threw a glide bait a few hours over some with bass sitting in them w no luck after seeing a 9 caught on a big glide bait!

On Falcon I caught them in tree tops w senko, trick worms and lizards all tx rig slowly drug over each branch. I originally knew they were there because I caught a few on whacky but due to the way you fish it I never landed those ones, they all broke me off.

Are we talking tree tops like brush piles, standing timber like Toledo, or like table rock where its 50ft deep and the tops are 25ft deep? What depth range are you trying to hit