Thread: Man Made structure ????

I have been reading through the post on the structure forum, and have found it interesting. There are a couple of lakes here that has very little structure, there are crappie but most of the time they are hard to find. I was thinking about building some of these things but am not sure it is legal. Page 4 of the illinois information book around pollution says it is unlawful to put any trees, brush or other insoluble materials in the water, does that include crappie structure???

It has been discussed in here and it is ILLEGAL to put any in Illinois waters..But there are exceptions I believe as when the IDNR hosts a christmas tree drop or maybe if you contact the IDNR or somehting to get permission to do it...But of course you know people are dropping all kinds of stuff anyways taking that chance they wont get caught, but some dummies dont know exactly what they are doing and drop it in shallow water for people to run over with their motors..just research before you do any dropping...

It IS illegal to put brush in lakes in Illinois. But, it is done all of the time. Just because I have the makings for crappie condos and live by alake, doesn't prove I put out structure. I have noticed a number of brush piles put out in the lake this summer that were not put out by me, so some folks are doing it. I think Birdy may put out brush but I haven't seen him do it. I may have his piles on my GPS though and my side imaging can find piles real easy.

I know a CPO that has over 1000 brush piles on his GPS that folks he didn't catch put out on his lake that he patrols. It is a huge lake and he suspects they do it at night. He catches 17" crappie off of some of them.

On Rend lake you can put out structure but first you need a permit from the corp of enginers. They have specifications on what type of structure. The permit is free. I have got em before. I dont know about any other lakes. I think each has its own rules.

i know on shelbyville you need to contact the lake manager. I talked to mike mounce who is the biologist for this area. Mike wants to see pallet cribs put in but they also want to tell you where to put them. Dont take this wrong cause it is NOT legal. With permission from the lake manager you might be able to do it. I have a buddy of mine that puts them in all the time he just takes the chance and hopes he doesnt get caught. Mike reason behind wanting to tell you where to put them, is that if it wree legal you would have every crappie fisherman out there putting them in and guys would put them right in the channel and then you would have pleasure boaters tearing lower units up cause they hit a brushpile. I even mentioned to mike about starting a crappie club for shelbyville so that we could do what Spfld. crappie club does on sangchris and other lakes. But he didnt think we needed to do that. So i guess try to contact the lake manager and get permission, or chance it and hope you dont get caught.

brushpiles don't tear off lower units. big stumps and rocks do. You are right,if it were legal, everybody would have brush in and it would look like Grenada at low water. The high water this year at shelbyville has eroded the banks very badly, putting a lot of new trees in the water, but also has exposed a bunch of clay which will cause silting of the lake. I remember when there was a channel into Whitley creek. It is now a mud flat. same with the okaw, kaskaskia, the back of camfield, no name, wolf, skull,,,,all of them. the cover is very quickly going away in the lake and in some areas, the brushpiles are the ONLY cover for the fish. I would not encourage anyone to put brush in, when it isn't legal, but make no mistake, I don't think badly of you, if you do.

It Would Be A Shame If Shelby Turned Out Like Grenada!! Lol

Originally Posted by REDEYE50

It Would Be A Shame If Shelby Turned Out Like Grenada!! Lol

be nice

If you figure in expences and time put into building and setting of structure

your problible better of buying a new si radar for your boat and just find all
the other brush piles that are allready out. Now if I can just talk my wife into that investment. Ha Ha

I don't know about how ambitious you are, but cover can be as simple as a rock tied to a branch. most people aren't going to put much effort into placing cover. they will talk about it and maybe make a half hearted attempt and then make the HUGE mistake of fishing it all the time. There are several people in this area,,,probably all areas, that will watch you and then go over and find the spot you were fishing, because they don't have their own. so by fishing your only brushpile every weekend, you have defeated the purpose of doing it in the first place. I have noticed that the lakes with crappie usa tournaments have a LOT more brush showing up in them.,,, and a couple small lakes that I fish have had a lot show up too. especially the lake where our cabin is,,someone has been VERY busy. It wasn't me, but they are smart about it. That guy should be giving lessons on how to set cover on the breakline and how to tuck it in just right. We went down and winterized the cabin yesterday and I caught 6 decent fish off the dock from brush that somehow ended up out in front. won't be fishing much. it's hard to cast a bow.