PVC structure 1st Attempt

Good Afternoon Crappie Anglers,

After reading many threads on here I decided to build a PVC condo. I made a bamboo with buckets/concrete and it was a ton of work. I wasn't fully able to see how well they worked because the lake dropped 12' after I dropped them. This was my 1st attempt at building these.

I use a 4" pipe and going 10' long. I'm use 1" and 10'for the 'branches'.

I'm going to to use 24" zip ties to secure the PVC branches in place. I plan on weighing it down using an 80lbs concrete and rope.

One thing I am considering, should I tie a potato sack with dog food on it? Maybe speed up the attraction of minnows?

Also, how long does it normally take for crappie to show up on PVC if they are in the area? I'll take pictures once I drop it. I have a total of (3). I'm going to drop (2) in the same spot and (1) in another location.

The good thing is, it will only take me about 5 minutes to fully prep once I get on the water in my location. I'll keep everyone posted on the results.

* The PVC are not secured with zip ties, so the picture doesn't full show what it will look like.
Attachment 119878

You shouldn't need 80# to sink these and keep them in place unless there is current in the area where you plan to drop them. I seldom use more than 30 or 40 pounds on my beds and most of the time 20 to 25 pounds.

Looking good.

Agree that 30lbs of weight should work. As far as how soon, depends on where. Once they are algae covered they will be MUCH more effective...

Thanks for the info! I will be using lighter weight then. I did plan on just buying an 80lbs bag of concrete and getting it wet a few days before so it will get rock solid. What would you guys recommend using? cinder blocks?

Couple of cinder blocks and your good to go. Also take some rough sandpaper to it for more grooves for the algae.

Not big on the Dog Food idea. Think it draws Catfish, which will keep the crappie away. Put them out and wait on algea to grow. Get you a quaity GPS Mark. When the algea gets on the PVC, the structure will disappear.



keith

I know alot of people uses pvc, but just make sure it is legal on your lakes. The army corp. of engineers on our lake is just getting started to let us put in our own habitat and they want us to use only natural material and no plastics but we help them put in pvc porcupine balls but they have to get special permits from the EPA and they say it is costly. In my opinion, there is nothing better that christmas trees. We dropped some in last year and was catching nice fish off of them within just afew hours. Tie 3 or 4 together using coated cable and cable clamps and using about a 30# concrete weight and your good to go.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Creamlevel Kennels

Not big on the Dog Food idea. Think it draws Catfish, which will keep the crappie away. Put them out and wait on algea to grow. Get you a quaity GPS Mark. When the algea gets on the PVC, the structure will disappear.
keith

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I don't belive the Catfish run off Crappie. I catch them on my stuff alot. Even catch Crappie on my baited Catfish holes every summer.

Those "C" trees (depending on the type of tree) should last 3-5 yrs and are "fine" enough cover to help several species of fry and juvenile fish. Aged several yrs, most will still hold fish at least seasonably. IF you can convince the COE, put the PVCs on the deeper end of the "C" trees...(evil laughter sound effect here); you will LIKE the `results` !