Best Location for Habitat in a Flat Shallow Lake?

Afternoon folks,

I been reading the board for a year or so after catching a few small crappie on a private lake. I tried a few condos with river cane last year and quickly found out that river cane is not the right material.

I now have my own boat, depth finder, gps and bamboo so I have started building my condos.

I have found that the 75 acre lake is pretty featureless, very few stumps or trees, clay bottom and a depth that ranges from an average of 1.5 feet to 24 feet. It is a long skinny lake with the deep section in the middle and no holes or ridges that I have found so far. At least 75% of the lake is less than 7 feet deep.

So my question, where do I drop the condos?

The deep section that is 10-24 feet is heavily fished but not like a public lake. I have marked three locations that are out of casting distance and on the edge of the area the kids seem to troll.

Since the lake is so shallow overall, should I place mats instead of condos in the shallow areas of the lake away from the high traffic?

SV

I'd put some condos in the deepest part and then mats at various depths in the shallower water. Since there is no noticable structure to put the cover on, you can place your cover in such a manner that it is a trail in and out of the deeper water. You will want to do this in all directions to help you when fishing in the wind and it will help the crappie too when one part of the small lake is warmer than another.

Thanks for the tip, I like the idea of making a trail and will probably need to go back to the source for more bamboo. I have quite a few butt sections leftover and will probably make some heavy cover for bass.

There may not be a large population of crappie and most are 4"-8" but the habitat should help.