Pete Pritchard, longtime guide for crappies, stripers, cats, shell crackers and, well, just about anything that swims in Santee-Cooper, recently demonstrated on In-Fisherman television how he constructs and fishes brushpiles.

“Placement is the main thing for big crappies,” Pritchard says. “The lake averages about 25 feet—so Santee-Cooper isn’t really all that deep. I try to place brushpiles in a zone that crappies use to travel back and forth from shallow to deep. If you can find a creek channel heading into a cove and place a pile right on the point of that, you’ve got it made. That’s not to say other places won’t work but, in my experience, that’s the place to be for truly big crappies.”

Pritchard constructs his crappie condos out of hardwood. “We use major limbs of oak, cherry, or dogwood, because hardwood lasts 4 or 5 years. Start with 16-inch concrete blocks, the ones with just two holes,” he says. “Lay one on its side with holes parallel to the ground. Stick the butt of the brush right in the block and wire it so it stays. One in each hole. Then wire another block to that block and create a second tree. When you drop one of these brushpiles in the lake, it will stand up like a tree. We try to make our trees at least 10 feet tall, sometimes 14 feet unless the water’s only 8 or 9 feet deep—then we shorten it up. It’s good to have some open water above the brush so crappies can suspend where they’re easy to catch. More importantly, don’t make it easy for other anglers to find your brushpiles.

“Crappies like the long, skinny limbs. I like to get the top of the brush to spread out, so I prefer to use whole tops from trees the right size. If somebody’s taking down a hardwood around here, I take a close look at the crown. I place piles no closer than 100 yards apart. Fungi grows and minnows feed there. A good brushpile produces both shelter and food.

“I have brushpiles on featureless flats that work pretty well, but they have to be situated in an area that crappies use. In Santee-Cooper, crappies go back to the same areas they use in spring as the water cools a little in October and November. I use the same brushpiles I use in March, April, and May, in water 10 to 22 feet deep. Actually, in a shallow reservoir like this, a brushpile in 13 to 16 feet of water is productive all year. But cool water can push the fish a little deeper than normal.

“In October, the biggest crappies generally inhabit 12- to 13-foot brushpiles in coves and backwater ponds, but they may move as shallow as 8 or 9 feet. With brushpiles at every conceivable depth, I might check those from 8 down to 20 feet every day in fall. It’s good to have a lot of brushpiles to check, but spread them out. If you saturate one area with brush, you’re just spreading the fish. In a really good cove, I might put out only 8 or 9 brushpiles. Any more than that and the fish just scatter.”

Pritchard uses small shiner minnows on Aberdeen hooks with a split shot. He and his clients present this rig with 8- to 10-foot flyrods matched with small spinning reels. From a pontoon boat rigged with a trolling motor, he lines up, using permanent objects on shore to triangulate. Then he edges the boat right over the top of the pile, where everyone can reach out and dap jigs down through the branches. “Measure line by using the rod length and stripping line off in measured amounts,” he advises. “Being exact about depth is critical. If you know how deep a crappie was when it bit, you can duplicate that depth the next time.

“Santee-Cooper doesn’t drastically change overnight, but it fluctuates quite a bit from year to year. A change of 5 feet would be a drastic change from one year to the next, so placing brush ahead of time is easier. It’s critical to have brush situated throughout the key depths crappies use, which in fall ranges from 8 to 20 feet. And I think this is crucial: Put brush where it’s protected no matter which way the wind blows.”