Free buckets

For you guys and gals that put in brush find a neighbor who has cats. If they get litter it may come in nice plastic buckets ( Tidy Cat)that they throw away. The handles that are on the bucket will hold 25 lbs of cement. I place pipe and cement in and let it dry than when at the lake I run a rope through the handle and slowly lower it until it's on the bottom and than bounce it up and down a few times. Let go of one end of the rope and bring it in. After you catch some fish make sure you feed the cat, some you'll need more buckets. It's a never ending cycle.

BBQ joints get sauce in 5 gal buckets and they throw em away....
My 2 cents............

Hardly any free B's in my area. They want anywhere from 3-5 bucks a bucket.

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Originally Posted by sparkie51

Hardly any free B's in my area. They want anywhere from 3-5 bucks a bucket.

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Go to bakery or large chain food store that has a bakery?cake section---cause that buttercreme frosting they put on all cakes, birthday etc comes in 5 gallon & 3 gallon plastic buckets that they rinse out and then throw away. the colored frosting comes in one gallon pails. Up here they won't allow U to go near trash dumpsters but will save for U if U promise to pick up daily as they can't have empties laying around in case health dept comes pokin around. Same goes for all bakeries. ;)

You can buy 5 gallon buckets at Home Depot now for $2.48 which beats driving all over town trying to find free buckets using lots of gas.

find any painter,sheetrock guy or go ask hardees, mcdonalds for their pickle buckets. most will give them to you free if you ask!

When I put out buckets I cut off the handles, drill holes in opposite sides of the bucket (near the top), run a rope through the holes, drop the buckets them pull the rope out by one end. I figure that lures could get caught in the handles more easily that holes drilled near the top.

my .02

me too.. Ranger you will hook onto the handles if you don't take them off.

Never hooked a handle before, but my handles are turned down when I put the bamboo in them.

Also, why are you lowering the buckets with a rope? Just toss them overboard....they go down like lawn darts or paratroopers.

I usually leave the handle on and upright in the middle, I also run my rope through the handle to gently lower it then when it gets to the bottom, usually mud, I raise it up and down a couple of times to make sure it will stay upright. I like to lower it slowly because I don't use cement, instead I put fine gravel and sand in about half the buckett then finish the top off with fist sized rocks. I figure the gravel locks the air filled boo in, but have found if I just drop it sometimes the boo tries to float out or the boat will move some and the boo will try to fall over, the rope seems to take care of that.
I went diving Sat and came upon some boo in a 5 gal bucket, the first I have ever found diving, it was laying on its side, but it had been put out on a slopeing point. I attempted to upright it by pushing on the bucket but gave up after a couple tries, it was heavy, probably could do it by geting out on the boo and having more leverage but I did not want to burn all my air doing that. Lake is down alot, it was in about 13' to 15' of water and I saw no fish around it, but then again visibility was very limited about 5 feet. It looked really good compared to other structure I have seen.

I insert a short piece of pvc "about 2to3 feet long" centered down in the cement filled bucket. Close to the top of the pvc pipe I drill a hole thru the pipe and insert a double loop of baling wire that will rust away. I have a long rope with a small metal hook on the end that I hook to the wire loop and lower it down to the bottom of the lake. After all the bubbles stop coming up and the im sure the bucket has settled upright, I then put some slack in the rope to release the hook from the wire loop and all done. My hook is nothing more than a "S" hook from a retro bungie strap. This is the easiest way I have found to sink pvc and bamboo condos without doing possible damage, or just having to drop the condo over the side of the boat and hope it settle upright, or leaving a rope in the water.

Most cafés and restaurants will save you 5 gallon buckets don't forget sometimes in your local places where they change oil in some garages get oil in 5 gallon buckets. We usually worse them out with hot water and soap but they are available there also. You may also try bakeries like Safeway in some a year chain stores get stuff in 5 gallon buckets.