How long will cedars last sunk green?
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How long will cedars last sunk green?
Alot depends on how big the diameter of the tree is. Small stuff does'nt last too long. I perfer pallets or stakes of solid hardwood or cedar. When I use trees my choice is persimmon as it is heavy dense wood that takes only a block to anchor it in place as it will sink if green with little or no weight. It has few limbs to get hung on and lasts well . Green Cedar is too dense and tends to moss over in alot of lakes. Rule of thumb is never use any cover that is too dense to put 8'' wide board through, otherwise big fish don't use it as well and holds mostly small fish. Atleast my experience here. Some guys dry cedar trees and then drag or burn off the needles first before sinking.
From what have read and actually retrieving 1 or 2 unintentionally with boat anchors would say depends on several factors; 1- how FERTILE are the waters they are going into; a cedar going into a quarry or gravel pit type enviroment will last 2- 3X longer than the same cedar going into a very fertile body of water. 2- WHICH species of cedars- am no biologist but have read some are simply more persistant than others. 3- was the cedar allowed to dry out first? Contrary to all logic, a cedar tree/ shrub that has been dried out first then sunk will outlast 1 that hasn`t. And yes the denser cedars aren`t as useful DIRECTLY as cover; BUT being denser they are more useful for fingerling bass and prey., and as spawning cover for other types of fish. Using both thick and thinner cover TOGETHER as well as say 10 hole bricks creates a variety of habitats in 1 set of attractors. And set on transition zones where bottom types change in my opinion makes them all the MORE productive.
I ran into a couple of old timers this past spring puting out cedar trees, they said cedars are what they prefer. They told me they get about 5 years out of them.
They were using pretty good size trees (7-10') and big chunks of concrete in milk crates. They were wiring the concrete to the trees with a copper coated barb wire without the barbs.
These were tough old birds, prolly somewhere around 70 yr. old and I could tell they'd been doing it for a while. They had a good system down for hauling, loading, and deploying these trees.
I kidded with them and asked them if they minded if I followed them around while they put them out and they said they didn't care, but I didn't do it. I did see them drop a couple though and could tell they'd done it quite a few times.
Just about any structure you put out will be a lot better than nothing at all! If you're worried about the cedars being too dense (the old timers weren't) you can prune some of the secondary branches off before you sink them. Just leave the main branches that come off of the trunk. I plan to do this with christmas trees this year.
GDC, well put. Several oldtimers over the years have shown my young dumb a thing or 2. Agreed ANYTHING is better than nothing at all! Would use any cedar could place. And loved the term "night stalker", used to do that under a full moon in early fall for many yrs in a row, with bi- catch a-plenty, occasional striped bass, cats, "tooth fairies" with their glowing eyes and more than a few green carp! And watching the huge schools of shad ripple under the Marina lights, all but a single life form, suddenly bursting with individual shad skittering out of the way of hungry flashing keepers and better slashing thru their very slowly but steadily diminishing ranks, fattening up all those hungry mouthes...untill winter.
Is this some type of epic fishing poem?????Quote:
Originally Posted by Lowellhturner
No, Biggerjigger, it`s not. Merely a collective set of terminalogical descriptive phrases intended to impart and/ or convey an image or scene of a thing of beauty, which of course is subject to the interpetation and/ or judgement of the viewer. Is a sunrise upon quietly misting fall waters beautiful? Is harvesting a limit of barn door sized slabs off a forest you helped placed and shared the GPS`s beautiful? Was the skill of Capt Skully on the Hudson beautiful? The courage of the passangers and crew of Flight 93? Is the sight of a flight of A-10s to those in a desperate fight against overwhelming numbers who called in the " herd of swine"; YES!. To those they are used against? NO! NO!! NO!!! Same with a flight of B-52s at high altitude, the cold sunlight glistening off them, as their bomb bay doors snap open and they simultainiously stick their fingers down their throats figuratively, vomitting their cargoes in unision towards the target awaiting below them. Enjoy attractor placement on THAT scale, admittedly without that kind of speed or volume (or visual or audio effects), still, results COUNT. It is better to give than recieve....
the trunk of the cedar will last a lifetime just look at the fenceposts in the water you fish
Other very persistant woods include osage orange, locust, ash, hickory, pin oak, and mulberry.
Man I gotta say bigger you asked for it, he has to be a state senator or congressman............
When i use cedar its always a big tree (6"plus) about 6' or so tall and i cut all the smaller limbs out of it so it will be open and easier to fish,i've been fishing some for 7-8 years and they're still holding fish.
Perish the thought, no wouldn`t make a good political animal, infact got out of the service after 24 yrs (6 honorables) as an E-1; which is considered all but unheard of and all but impossible to do. Easy if you simply speak your mind regardless of the consequences, although do try to be kinder anymore... regardless, results still count and between next spring`s walleye netting near extensive cover and the Spring crappie bite we are awaiting those results on CJ Brown...time shall tell the tail...tight lines, guys!
Forgive me, but just gotta say it; my favorite politican is... Cinnicatious, the Reluctant; talk about RESULTS...
I wouldn't worry about density of cedars they'll just bust them up with their anchors. We take 8'-10' cedars and cut them in the middle, then trim the new top back to stubs and stick them into a pail of wet cement and let them dry a couple days. When we sink them they para-sail to the bottom and as they saturate the branches wilt down and stop when they make bottom contact. You will get more places for crappie to bed during the spawn, and the deeper stuff seems to provide a bigger shade pattern. Oh yea, the anchors tend to slide to the side better preserving the structure. I fished a pile yesterday that we made in 99, about 60% of it is still there, maybe a little more. My friend makes the PVC trees and we have greatly improved their success by "bushing" up the bottom with willows mostly. The PVC trees will do better if ya take some sandpaper and rub the gloss off, it gets em "growing" way faster. In rivers and creeks we like to sink a pile under willows mostly, we cut them so they fall covering our bottom pile, and boy does this technique work. Seems like the crappie are much more comfortable with a roof over their head, try this one, its the easiest and can be the most productive. Just don't ever use any kind of walnut, even after a decade you'll never catch any fish from it. Hay bales are good to but they don't last, green ones on the spawn are pure delight, just let them soak next to the bank a few hours and they go down right where you put em with no weights, they'll also help control algae and moss. Crappie love a cut-bank. Good luck and you will be rewarded!
Forgive my spelling that was supposed to be Cinncinatius the Reluctant
"Splash" 52 ! Repeat, "splash" 52 (more)! All cedar or tactis. Thank you to 5 Star, Jason, Brent, and the other Sugar Shackers; also Fritz, Steve, the Intimidator, and James and Rose... more later.