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I've been thinking of sinking a few x-mas trees left over. What do you guys think ?
Natural Christmas trees--not artificial trees--make excellent crappie attractors.
Insert the trunk end of the tree into a 5-gallon bucket filled 3/4 of the way with concrete. After the concrete hardens, place the tree in an area of water that does not have an abundance of cover. Alternatively, attach the tree to a concrete block and then sink it.
its got to work if you thnk about it .....input welcomed
I've never had any luck out of them myself. The branches are too dense for the fish or anything other than the smallest of bait fish to get in .
I have never used them, but I have been told that if you burn all the little branches off they work great.
I've also read to take a pair of pruning snips and open a few holes by removing some limbs. That sounds like it would work .;):)
Get some cane about 6-8ft long and stick them in at angles around the X-mas tree to form a big area of cover and it will work great I mean like 10-20 sticks all around and with the leaves still on. Throw them in a line on a shallow ledge if you can and report back in about 2-3 months.
I like the cane idea.....hummm
I don't have any experience myself, but have been told (for what it's worth)
They work better without the needles on.
Sounds like the same thing as mentioned earlier of trimming the small branch tips.
Good luck and give us a report
I have seen what they look like after a year or two in the water. Barren River is drawn down 25 foot in the winter. They end up being about like a pointy fence post with a few nubs sticking out. Once you get past the main trunk they reall don't have that much meat on them.
A bucket with cane is probably better but doesn't seem to last as long. A bunch of christmas trees set pretty close together are good the second and third years. Like a forest of stickups. One tree won't amount to much.
As more and more people are getting out of tobacco I am able to get tobacco sticks (good hardwood) and use them in buckets and in cinder blocks. They are sturdy and last a long time in the water. Three arranged in a triangle on a sloping point is a very good tactic.
There is lots of good info in Crappie cover and structure forum.
I agree on the christmas trees, they arent much good at all unless they are really big and spacey. I see the ones in cave run at draw down and i dont fish em anymore. You would be better off using cane or stakes and pallets and you could definitely attract more fish than the christmas trees.
is it illegal to use pallets or any other artificial attractant ?
it's not on nolin but i now that if it is a core of engineers lake you have to get a permit to put attractors in the lake or they will fine you if cought but the permit is free. I fish over a lot of christmas trees but they are all trimmed out to be a little thinner. You will get about 3 good years out of them but there better be sevarel in a spot to make it a good one.
I agree with most, Christmas Trees make only fair fish habitat for the effort. They are short lived, with only the trunk left after 2 years. In their first few months they are so dense that only small fish can use them. Although, where there are small fish, bigger fish may use this area as a feeding ground. Also, small fingerling size fish leaving the nest after spawned could use the dense cover for protection. Just because the trees have dense branches, I do not recommend burning them out though, it only makes a mess. However, shortly after Christmas there is a free surplus of the trees. So we use them, because on an open mud flat, they are better than nothing. Oak and Hickory last a lot longer, is less dense and seems to hold more fish. The down side is availability.
There was some information that came out of another state which did some research on different types of trees and arrangement of trees. They said the Christmas Trees stood up vertical were better then laid on the bottom horizontal. I don't know that I agree, but we tried it. I've attached a few photos of work we did the other day. They are in Shaw Branch on Lake Barkley. We plan to go back this spring and assess this fish habitat.
We have also drilled holes in the bottom of the trunk and tied blocks to the trees to be sunk. I believe several sunk in the same area will work fine.
A few have asked about legality of putting out fish structure. To be "legal" there is a permit process with TVA and the USCOE that you must have. Kentucky Lake: TVA requires a 26A permit for placing fish attractors in KY Lake. For further information call TVA's Paris, TN office at 731-641-2000.
Lake Barkley: US Army Corps of Engineers requires a Fish Attractor permit for placing fish attractors in Lake Barkley. Call Charlotte Stenger at 270-362-4236 for more information.
Have you guys thought about using the leftover tops and limbs from the ice storm damage as structure? Should be some of that available right near the shoreline.
Gentlemen, must agree with you that they aren`t much good the first year; the 2cnd to 4th yrs they CAN be excellent! Try setting them in lines shallow to deeper in groups of 8- 12; during the spring crappie "fling' they can "influence 5X their actual volume. A better choice is cedar, then osage orange, locust, then hickory ash and finally mulberry. Try stuffing these limbs through the block holes with the tree on top; call them "supers". Check out "Ohio" "Lake Erie South II"; in the last 2 yrs the "Friends of CJ BRown Reservoir" have sunk and GPSed over 700, the positions are listed in the post; it is a LONG list...good luck! By the way, we`re going for 1,000+ total...and the Corps of Engineers loves it...
Thats a good idea Quackr. I am not sure about this but I think it is illeagal to use any trees from the shoreline. Since TVA has rights up to a certain elevation on KY and the Corp on Barkley any thing up to that point is considered theirs.Quote:
Have you guys thought about using the leftover tops and limbs from the ice storm damage as structure? Should be some of that available right near the shoreline.
I know that it is illegal to cut trees but I don't think it is illegal to use already downed brush/trees. I could be wrong on that. From looking at some of the stumps on the shoreline there are enough people that don't subscribe to that rule anyway.
Regardless, it could be a viable longer lasting option for the KDFWR instead of Christmas trees.
I agree that it would be a better option for KDFWR. Like you I know that cutting trees is illeagal but I am not sure about stuff that is already down. Might have to look into that.
alot of valuable information on here .....numbers , names ....the whole nine....!!!! thanks guys .........keep da info coming!