Thread: Still looking for my condo

Give it a little time, Algae will grow and it will be easier to find. That is one of the advantages of PVC. Hard to find for you and everyone else. At least you know it is there. I have one that is just about invisable, the only way I see it is if there are fish on it and they show up.
THE BANDIT

Originally Posted by EDDY CREEK BANDIT

Give it a little time, Algae will grow and it will be easier to find. That is one of the advantages of PVC. Hard to find for you and everyone else. At least you know it is there. I have one that is just about invisable, the only way I see it is if there are fish on it and they show up.
THE BANDIT

will algae actually grow on PVC in 30ft of water ??

I don't know if adding "wood" or a Willow tree is the answer either ... esp. if you're going to be using jigs around it. Isn't one of the main ideas of using PVC, NOT getting hung up in it ??

A 40' circle isn't all that big an area ... that's only three boat lengths +/- .... and a 20deg cone angle shows a 10ft diameter circle of bottom, in 30ft of water ... so why not make 4 passes over the area, and look for the bucket (or concrete base), dropping markers during each pass (so you don't pass over the same area twice) ??

I'm interested in placing some PVC condos, myself ... so I'm just playing "devil's advocate" here, with these questions/statements. I keep "hearing" about all these latest and greatest depth finders, GPS enabled units, and such .... but, I've yet to see a picture of a depth finder screen display showing a PVC condo. If my old $100 Eagle's can pick up a single small fish's air bladder ... then why can't these multi-thousand dollar systems find a piece of PVC ?? Isn't PVC a denser material than wood ?? Or is it because the PVC is arrayed in a "standing" position ?? And, if that's the case ... why not put some smaller cross members thru the upward pointing pipes, and cap them (leaving air inside, to return the signal) or fill them with concrete (to show a signal above bottom) ??

Just curious. ... cp

Algae will grow in 18 foot or so. I know it will on Barkley Lake where my PVC is located. Mud will also coat the stuff. The way I understand it the PVC does not return the signals as well as wood or other solid materials. If you cap the ends and trap air it should show up just like air bubbles show up. I lost a bucket a couple of years ago in twelve foot water only to find it last year, I assume due to the mud or algae building up. I would have missed the bucket unless I had been looking for it specificaly. I really found it by fish signals and then concentrating real hard to find it. Catching fish nearly every time I fish it now. It is worth the effort.
THE BANDIT

Another reason pvc might not show up well on standard (down looking) sonar is simply the angle of the pvc sticks in the bucket of concrete. There has to be some horizontal type of structure to reflect the sound waves back to the transducer to read & show on your display. I have pvc in less than 8 feet of water that is hard to find.

I've read where some of the members would stuff aluminum foil or pour gravel or jam a stick down the pvc where it would show up.

i used to fill mine with gravel and dog food mix ..attracts fish instanstly and shows up great.. i always drilled bunch ofholes in my pvc so it helped sink also..i seen alot of people just put plaine pvc with no holes..dont know whatis actually better just know what works for me

Originally Posted by john h

i used to fill mine with gravel and dog food mix ..attracts fish instanstly and shows up great.. i always drilled bunch ofholes in my pvc so it helped sink also..i seen alot of people just put plaine pvc with no holes..dont know whatis actually better just know what works for me

john, i drilled holes in the verticle poles as well, all thirty of them. it sank really easy, just dissapeared, lol. i'm gonna do the blind man trick today, with a 30' pole and tap, tap, tap. I'm putting some suspended condos on top of these that are 10' tall also, thats why its important for me to exactly locate the bottom condo. i'll then have structure from 10' down to the 30' bottom.