Newbuilderaskin

New to the condo thing but have a cabin on Kerr and got two weeks coming to fish and build. Want to spice up my dock area (for the kids) and with water still a little low, depth in front is 12 to 15. HOw high should I keep my condos? Im figuring 8, but what do yall usually try for depth/height? Im using some of cedar and some of PVC towers like Ive seen here. Also, got a few 'select' places in my big cove, channels, dropedges off flats, ends of some points and wonderin how many per 'spot'. Three or four or more and how far apart? Finally, if I set em out say on a Sat, how long will it be before some visitors show up (of the fish variety, not the fisherMAN type!)? By next sat might there be reason to try it? Im new to the crappie bug, but SURE HAVE CAUGHT IT! Soakin up as much info as I can here and SURE DO appreciate the tips and help yall give so freely. THANKS!

Welcome QBDAD, nice to meet yet another slab hunter. its a matter of how long the pvc pieces you have are, the condo is going to set on the bottom so if you are at 12 ft then i would use a variety in size, perhaps from 2ft to 7ft which means the condo would provide cover all the way up to less than 5 feet of water. as for the trees, i would try putting a few at different depths, that way you can fish the deep ones in summer, and the more shallow ones in spring and winter. AS FOR WHEN THE FISH WILL COME, with the trees they go through a "souring" state and may take some time depending on how fresh they are, i normally dry mine out through a full summer before i put them in. It could take a little while for the fish to find the trees. AS FOR THE PVC, I have had fish in mine within two weeks, and I have had condos where it took nearly 2 months. It wont hurt to check them though, the worst that could happen is nothin.

Just a word of caution. If those kids are going to be swimming & diving/jumping off of that pier put the condos where they won't hit them. Don't want to spoil a good day at the lake. Good luck.