I fish a lake that has a lot of standing timber around the lake. I was thinking of building some structure and sinking it, but wasn't sure how well it will attract crappie with so much other standing timber available. Most of the existing timber is 30+ years old so it's mostly trunks with some bigger main branches still attached. Most of the smaller stuff is long gone with the exception of some still standing cedars. Will this be a waste of time, or will the new structure still be effective?

Also, I plan to use some vinyl siding scraps to make the structure. Do crappie prefer a more vertical type of structure or would I be better trying to build structure with more horizontal limbs?