Building structure

I launched this morning to the site of 2 fisherman gently lowering
cinderblocks out into open water. They must have had about 30 of them on the
jon boat as it looked like it was gonna sink. I fished nearby watching as
the continued to drop these blocks down. I figured they were building some
structure to fish later on some time. When they left I motored over and
marked it on my GPS. I'll see how it does whn I go back out.

Question:

If given the oppurtunity how would you go about adding some structure to a
lake. This particular lake has a very featureless bottom, barely any stumps
or sticks, average depth is between 8-12 feet and it's loaded with weeds.

What materials would you use to construct it, how big would it be and in
what shape? Anything that promotes fish growth and doesn't hurt the lake is
permissable. Idea's? suggestions?

Abandoned Xmas trees work extremely well here in Michigan.


"alwaysfishking" wrote in message
...
I launched this morning to the site of 2 fisherman gently lowering
cinderblocks out into open water. They must have had about 30 of them on
the jon boat as it looked like it was gonna sink. I fished nearby watching
as the continued to drop these blocks down. I figured they were building
some structure to fish later on some time. When they left I motored over
and marked it on my GPS. I'll see how it does whn I go back out.

Question:

If given the oppurtunity how would you go about adding some structure to
a lake. This particular lake has a very featureless bottom, barely any
stumps or sticks, average depth is between 8-12 feet and it's loaded with
weeds.

What materials would you use to construct it, how big would it be and in
what shape? Anything that promotes fish growth and doesn't hurt the lake
is permissable. Idea's? suggestions?

alwaysfishking wrote:
...
Question:

If given the oppurtunity how would you go about adding some structure to a
lake. ...

We drag Xmas trees out onto the ice in January.

--
Ken Fortenberry

alwaysfishking wrote:
I launched this morning to the site of 2 fisherman gently lowering
cinderblocks out into open water. They must have had about 30 of them on the
jon boat as it looked like it was gonna sink. I fished nearby watching as
the continued to drop these blocks down. I figured they were building some
structure to fish later on some time. When they left I motored over and
marked it on my GPS. I'll see how it does whn I go back out.

Question:

If given the oppurtunity how would you go about adding some structure to a
lake. This particular lake has a very featureless bottom, barely any stumps
or sticks, average depth is between 8-12 feet and it's loaded with weeds.

What materials would you use to construct it, how big would it be and in
what shape? Anything that promotes fish growth and doesn't hurt the lake is
permissable. Idea's? suggestions?


Personally, I would grab (or have :-) haha ) old dried out XMas trees, ,
drill a holes through the trunk of say 2 or 3, use a heavy duty wire
that will not rot and run the wire through the trees and then around
center blocksk so that the trees stand upright. In a featureless lake,
you definitely want to find areas that the fish would cross anyway, such
as the deep side of a point that turns in, or turns out. The end of a
the the point, a transition of bottom content (rock to mud), (clay, mud)
etc. Really I have found....uuhh.. ummm heard that where you put them
can almost be just as important as what you make them out of.

I had just stumbled across and article about some cribs that were
dropped on Lake Winnebago here several years ago using all Old Tires! I
have no idea where these cribs are. I have found other cribs that look
like small log cabins if you can picture that.

With all this said, I am not sure of the rules in your area with your
Natural Resource department, and in this case it isn't easier to ask for
forgiveness rather than for permission. Some reason the DNR thinks
they know more than fisherman do! (Haha, I hope you guys realize that
was a failed attempt at humor, and I in no way believe I know more than
a person or persons that studies fish biology for a living).

Good luck Randy, can you take pictures of your cribs before you drop
them??? If you so decide to do it, I would be really interested to see
what you come up with.

OH...one thing, make sure the tree is completely dead and dried out, I
again have heard for some reason the fish avoid "green" trees. I am
sure there is an explanation, but I have not looked into it.

Chris

When I was living in PA we got the short "scrap" pieces of 12" to 18" drain
pipe and put them in small ponds thatuse to be clay pits for the brickyards
in Adams Co. This seemed to work well and the county was glad to be rid
of the shorts from their pipe yard. Bill P.
================================================== ==========================

"alwaysfishking" wrote in message
...
I launched this morning to the site of 2 fisherman gently lowering
cinderblocks out into open water. They must have had about 30 of them on
the jon boat as it looked like it was gonna sink. I fished nearby watching
as the continued to drop these blocks down. I figured they were building
some structure to fish later on some time. When they left I motored over
and marked it on my GPS. I'll see how it does whn I go back out.

Question:

If given the oppurtunity how would you go about adding some structure to
a lake. This particular lake has a very featureless bottom, barely any
stumps or sticks, average depth is between 8-12 feet and it's loaded with
weeds.

What materials would you use to construct it, how big would it be and in
what shape? Anything that promotes fish growth and doesn't hurt the lake
is permissable. Idea's? suggestions?

Too bad they just dropped those concrete blockes in a heap... that will make
a very small structure, with no cover to speak of. If they had used the
blocks to anchor some other features, like tree stumps, trunk and branches,
or artificial structures, they might have gotten even more benefit from
them.

The best structure includes some cover. That's whey the Christmas tree
anchored in concrete serves as an effective fish concentrator. The downsides
are that they are prone to hang-ups, and I've known anglers using heavy
braided lines to pull up an entire christmas tree when their line wouldn't
break off. Then, when they drop it, it usually isn't placed with as much
care and ends up on its side. They also eventually decompose.

Take a look at J and J Habitat to get some ideas of environment-friendly,
snag-resistant alternatives. They turn PVC Pipe into gamefish habitat. J and
J has several differnt designs and various fish attractors in addition to
the PVC pipe. Their site is www.jandjhabitat.com.

Once you see their designs, be on the lookout for construction sites
throwing away scrap PVC and drain pip, and just make your own. Their bass
bucket (weighted by concrete, it simulates a stump with exposed root
structure... great for long tapering points) is made from a plastic 5-gallon
bucket and four lengths of drain pipe. It is only $9.95, but you can make
one from scraps for free. I'd modify it just a big by putting in a few more
lengths of drain pipe from the top as I added the concrete, so they came up
vertically and drooped to each side, like branches of a tree.

After the drilling, cutting, and glueing is done, throw all the components
in your boat. Assemble it on the water and lower it into place in two or
three minutes.
--
Joe Haubenreich
Secret Weapon Lures
Web: secretweaponlures.com
---------------------------------------
Better designs... better lures.... better results
---------------------------------------~ 0")))

"alwaysfishking" wrote in message
...
snip Idea's? suggestions?

Neat stuff there Joe, I like the Bass tree on the site, looks easy enough to
make. I will definetly make a few during the winter. We had a huge storm
here last January and have a huge supply of limbs and branchs. I'm going to
contact the main office here and see if they would mind me dragging some
stuff out


"Joe Haubenreich" (removethis)swljoe-at-secretweaponlures.com wrote in
message ...
Too bad they just dropped those concrete blockes in a heap... that will
make
a very small structure, with no cover to speak of. If they had used the
blocks to anchor some other features, like tree stumps, trunk and
branches,
or artificial structures, they might have gotten even more benefit from
them.

The best structure includes some cover. That's whey the Christmas tree
anchored in concrete serves as an effective fish concentrator. The
downsides
are that they are prone to hang-ups, and I've known anglers using heavy
braided lines to pull up an entire christmas tree when their line wouldn't
break off. Then, when they drop it, it usually isn't placed with as much
care and ends up on its side. They also eventually decompose.

Take a look at J and J Habitat to get some ideas of environment-friendly,
snag-resistant alternatives. They turn PVC Pipe into gamefish habitat. J
and
J has several differnt designs and various fish attractors in addition to
the PVC pipe. Their site is www.jandjhabitat.com.

Once you see their designs, be on the lookout for construction sites
throwing away scrap PVC and drain pip, and just make your own. Their bass
bucket (weighted by concrete, it simulates a stump with exposed root
structure... great for long tapering points) is made from a plastic
5-gallon
bucket and four lengths of drain pipe. It is only $9.95, but you can make
one from scraps for free. I'd modify it just a big by putting in a few
more
lengths of drain pipe from the top as I added the concrete, so they came
up
vertically and drooped to each side, like branches of a tree.

After the drilling, cutting, and glueing is done, throw all the components
in your boat. Assemble it on the water and lower it into place in two or
three minutes.
--
Joe Haubenreich
Secret Weapon Lures
Web: secretweaponlures.com
---------------------------------------
Better designs... better lures.... better results
---------------------------------------~ 0")))

"alwaysfishking" wrote in message
...
snip Idea's? suggestions?

alwaysfishking wrote:
I launched this morning to the site of 2 fisherman gently lowering
cinderblocks out into open water. They must have had about 30 of them on the
jon boat as it looked like it was gonna sink. I fished nearby watching as
the continued to drop these blocks down. I figured they were building some
structure to fish later on some time. When they left I motored over and
marked it on my GPS. I'll see how it does whn I go back out.

Question:

If given the oppurtunity how would you go about adding some structure to a
lake. This particular lake has a very featureless bottom, barely any stumps
or sticks, average depth is between 8-12 feet and it's loaded with weeds.

What materials would you use to construct it, how big would it be and in
what shape? Anything that promotes fish growth and doesn't hurt the lake is
permissable. Idea's? suggestions?


I used to build a lot of brush piles on lakes I fish. I like big trees -
cedar if possible, they last forever. I also liked green trees, easier
to sink. I would find a 20 foot tall cedar with big branches - I like
an open tree bass can get in rather than a tight tree like a Christmas
tree, and anchored it with cement blocks wired to it.

I put the trees on their sides on good structure like the ends or sides
of points, on ditch edges or on humps. I prefer only one brush pile per
s tructure, that concentrates the fish. Now I don't build brush piles
any more - there are already too many. You can ride most any point or
hump here and find several brushpiles - they are hard to fish because
fish may be in any of them. With one brush pile you fish it then go to
the next place.

I have caught fish out of brush piles within an hour after putting them
out - green trees. A couple of tournament guys I know put out fresh
piles just before a tournament - they want green trees to fish.

I usually built the brush piles in about 12 to 18 feet of water - never
had much luck in real deep piles, I think the bass hold in them but move
more shallow to feed.

Ronnie

http://fishing.about.com

Just about anything makes structure on barren lakes. The thing to
remember is to locate it very close to another structure (point,ridge,
saddle, shelf close to a channel, on a long point that runs close to
channel, etc.) or on top of a large barren structure to help locate
them in a smaller area.

Old vs. new: hotly debated! Many old rumore about new brush not holding
fish,,,,,bull hockey! I've caught fish off of it within 2 hours of
planting! Now, as the foliage starts decaying, it will deplete the
oxygen in that area and while that is happening, it won't be as
attractiveto the fish. Once that has ended, it'll start holding fish
again (maybe a couple months depending on type). Best woods are white
oak, cedar with limbs hacked off to create holes, osage orange (lasts
forever!) or mullberry and more. Soft woods like pine don't last nearly
as long.

GaryH1961 wrote:
Just about anything makes structure on barren lakes. The thing to
remember is to locate it very close to another structure (point,ridge,
saddle, shelf close to a channel, on a long point that runs close to
channel, etc.) or on top of a large barren structure to help locate
them in a smaller area.

Old vs. new: hotly debated! Many old rumore about new brush not holding
fish,,,,,bull hockey! I've caught fish off of it within 2 hours of
planting! Now, as the foliage starts decaying, it will deplete the
oxygen in that area and while that is happening, it won't be as
attractiveto the fish. Once that has ended, it'll start holding fish
again (maybe a couple months depending on type). Best woods are white
oak, cedar with limbs hacked off to create holes, osage orange (lasts
forever!) or mullberry and more. Soft woods like pine don't last nearly
as long.

Sorry Randy, my data on Green Trees was incorrect. Sounds like they do
hold fish. Data was passed on to me, and I had passed it on to you
without doing extensive research to disprove it otherwise.

I don't mind being wrong as long as I can learn from it. Thanks Ronnie,

Chris