Wood is probably the second most common type of cover where bass are found. Flooded brush and timber, laydowns and overhanging trees can provide some excellent bass fishing for numbers and quality-sized fish.
Use Heavy Tackle
To catch bass around wood, you must be using heavy tackle to consistently catch fish, especially big bass. The larger trees with the most branches will usually hold the most fish, so you need to use heavy enough tackle to make sure you can pull bigger bass out of these spots. 17 to 20 pound test line will work in most situations, but it may take 40 to 65 pound test line to get an 8 to 10 pound bass out of a large tree with lots of branches.
Submerged Trees
Submerged trees can be partially-exposed trunks, entire trees and trees that are hidden well below the surface. Whether the trees were cut before the reservoir was filled, or if the trees are just in flooded water, it doesn’t matter too much to the bass. They love wood and they will find it wherever and whenever they can. Brush usually grows along the shoreline in shallow water. After heavy rains, bass will seek these areas for cover. Fishing can be excellent in and around these brushy areas after big storms.
Overhanging Trees
Overhanging trees provide bass with 2 main things: shade and protection. The depth, time of day and water temperature will all affect on whether or not bass will use the spots near the overhanging trees. If there 3 to 6 feet of water, that’s usually enough for largemouth bass to hold under the overhanging trees. In the summer and fall, these spots can hold a lot of bass in the middle of the day. Bass will seek out the shade and you can sometimes catch bass in just a few feet of water even when it’s hot. If there is some deeper water, that would be even better.
One of the keys to fishing overhanging trees is to get your bait under the trees without getting snagged up. Skipping baits is the best way to fish under these overhanging trees.
Laydowns
Fallen trees, also known as laydowns, are trees that have fallen or been placed into the water. On many of the satellite maps nowadays, you can find some of the these laydowns from your computer while at home. If you are on the water, you can find many of these spots by taking a boat ride and searching the shorelines. The laydowns that lead into deeper water will usually hold larger numbers of bass as well as some quality bass.
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