To anglers, the term “brush” is a collective one pertaining to flooded bushes and small trees, the tops of large trees that have fallen into the water, and isolated piles of material that have been placed in the water to attract fish. Brush can provide excellent fishing opportunity for largemouth bass, and sometimes other species, including crappie, depending on the depth and location.

Bushes are a common characteristic of many reservoirs, where they exist on flats, along tributaries, and in shallow locations subject to flooding during high water.


Fallen treetops exist in all types of waters, but obviously near shore. This usually means that they are in shallow water, although in some places the bottom drops sharply away from a wooded shore and the water can be up to 20 feet deep where a treetop has fallen.

Fishing Brush for Bass

Bushes or small trees showing in the water usually mean that the water level is high. High water causes more food in newly flooded areas for small fish, as well as provides them with cover. It also means forage and ambush cover for predators.

In natural lakes, bushes may exist along shorelines or around the shore of islands. Bushes along mainland shorelines usually indicate that there is a couple of feet of water near the shore, and perhaps an undercut bank. Bass are close to the edge here because these bushes don’t extend very far into the water. Usually they are just temporarily flooded. When fishing shore-based bushes, you may be able to get close if the water is turbid; but when it is clear, you have to stay a reasonable casting distance away.

If you can get close, it pays to flip a jig or plastic worm to the cover. If you have to stay back because of water clarity, a surface lure, especially one with subtle motion that doesn’t move too far too fast, is a good bet; try a weedless surface lure that resists snagging objects.

If the fish are not aggressive and/or the water is clear, try a slow-moving lure like a soft jerkbait, slow-sinking jerkbait, or weightless Texas-rigged worm. These should be cast parallel to the cover rather than perpendicular to it because it is unlikely that a bass will come far out of the cover to get it. Work the lure as close to the cover as possible, for as long as possible; casting parallel accomplishes that.

Pick Your Spot/Season

Much of the same is true for bushes that are around an island or marshy hummock, although water may extend farther into this brush and thus bass may get back into this cover. Focus attention on the points of the island brush cover and on the pockets that indent the island. If the bass are not aggressive, perhaps because of cold water, a front, or angling pressure, they’re likely to be deeper in this cover and tougher to get a lure in front of. Pinpoint presentations, and perhaps low-light approaches, may be necessary. Flipping a jig or worm is a good option.

In reservoirs, bushes and small trees are usually found in patches near or away from the shoreline. High water often means a lot of bushes; the trick is figuring out which ones to fish. Bushes on points are an obviously important place to concentrate, and so are bushes along creek channels, in shallow bays, along flats, and in small coves or pockets. Isolated bushes are likely to have fish, as are bushes that stand out from others because they are on the points of a cluster or the edge of an opening; large bushes frequently harbor bigger bass.

Bushes may hold fish from springtime, when the water starts warming, through the fall. In midsummer, however, when the water is low and very warm in the shallows, the shallowest bushes are unlikely to be productive. On the other hand, shallow bushes may be very productive in the spring when the water is warming and bass are preparing to spawn. Thus, in spring, bushes in backwater areas are likely to be better than bushes along a mainland shoreline, but the reverse would be true later in the season. Bushes located along creeks would also be good in the summer.