Crappie Structure

I put out 6 of the Porcupine structures two weeks ago in Lake Thunderbird, OK. Have not been back yet to check out if fish have moved in. But will tell anyone who buys them that if your PVC is longer than two feet you need to drill through the lip where they are glued together in about three places and put a bold and nut. No. 8 machine screw will do the trick. They start to crack apart and the PVC will not stay in if you don't beacuse the longer PVC put pressure on the globe part. I built some for deep water with 5 footers in each hole and it was a chore getting time overboard without hitting the gunnels when you let them go.
Next one's I build will be out of 4'' to 5' old rubber or plastic hose stuck down in a concrete base about about the size of the small bags you can buy, that way no extra weight required and the hose is cheap. I even have some old soaker hose that would be good as it is rough like the bark on a tree. Good luck with yours.

made a couple 10 footers, had the same problem, someone had
a good idea but didn't do enough research--if he'da made a few
like ours he would have seen the need to make it a bit thicker and
stronger

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...6/DSCN0784.jpg

Hey DMAN...What is your center made out of? When you say 10 footers do you mean 10' on each side for a total of 20 feet or is it 5 feet on each said that equals 10'?

dmann436, that looks great. sac-a-lait, it looks like 5' per side to me.

Lake dirtybird....how is the fishing up there now? Last time I was there it was going downhill....im in Ardmore.

bv

Hey Sac............ them is those porcupine structures Bill Dance pushes. Bass Pro got them in the catalog, haven't checked the store in Pearl yet.

https://site2.apollohosting.com/porc...shing_tips.htm

I'm trying to figure out a way to make the center out of wood. Use some of the scraps from my chair building. I don't think I would make 'em that big.

I wonder how one of 'em about 4 feet across would work out?

john

and cut em in half, it's about 10' across, the hub is similar to pvc, very thin, matter of fact I broke 2 of the arms off (in the hub) when wrestling one of them in the water. I been thinkin bout using some 2x6 treated wood also and try to make an octogon, drill the holes and lock the arms in with deck screws. If they had made a round solid ball and put the sockets inside they would have been much stronger

You could use a 4X4 or 6X6 and drill holes in that, and make it almost like the store bought ones. That is kinda expensive though.

Thought of the post 4 x 4 or 4 x 6, yur right about the cost.............. but I end up with some short pieces of treated 2 x 4's from the chairs I build. Thought about glueing two together and drilling holes for small(1/2 x 1/2) pieces I get from the 1 x 6's I rip down for slats.

These will be anywhere from 23 to 31 inches long so that will make a small, by you guy's standards, structure about a 4 footish ball.

I think it might work, and since it's scraps, it don't cost anything, just keeps it from going to the dump.

the spheres are 10 buck apiece (http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catal...=SearchResults) however it might not be that much more expensive with wood and you can make
it like you want, the thing to remember is these should last along time. question is: do they hold fish as good as a "tree top". does anyone have any comments on this?
how bout it BudsBoy, you put yours out in march, they doin any good

I have been thinking about bowling balls

That would alleviate the need to weight them down. But wouldn't it bend the PVC?

Well shoot! If you just put the PVC in one side............make it look kinda like a comet, that thing would sit on the bottom, but I think it would move(wabble) around a bit to much.:D

put bout 6 around circumference to keep from tipping over and random drill holes in top half to form condo. once it settles on the bottom it should be there- good idea- (basically half a porcupine) how hard are bowling balls to drill

I dont think they are hard they are some type of resin.

that fits 1/2" pvc good

Theres a way to glue 2x4"s together and after a little sawing you have 6 sides to it.
Its not that hard. And will try to do it and see how it works.
There has to be a lot of different ways to work these into a wooden center.
Pete

the problem is is if you try and run the pipe all the way thru the wooden block you're gonna run out of space in the center where they will all intersect

why do you need to run them all the way thru, the one I made out of 2 -
2x6's laid side by side had plenty of 'hole' to hold the pipe and room to anchor
them in with deck screws, I stopped just short of going all the way thru with the drill

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...6/DSCN0801.jpg

took a torch and heated several pipes and bent'em to make it more even

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...6/DSCN0809.jpg

I don't know why this wouldn't work if it was in a 'ball' instead of being flat

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...6/DSCN0807.jpg

We make fish attractors that you might want to take a look at. Our web site is www.jandjhabitat.com. if you order any mention that you are a member of
the message board and take five dollars off of the price of any product
except the bass bucket. we are coming out with a package that just includes
bases, you can add 3/4 inch pvc and make them whatever size you want.

Chef

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by John Brower

We make fish attractors that you might want to take a look at. Our web site is www.jandjhabitat.com. if you order any mention that you are a member of
the message board and take five dollars off of the price of any product
except the bass bucket. we are coming out with a package that just includes
bases, you can add 3/4 inch pvc and make them whatever size you want.

Chef

---

here is some habitat ideas, many of them are like yours
http://www.crappieunlimited.com/, select "habitat types"

10 ft of 3" pvc sch 40 @ $10.58, 11 joints 10' 1/2 pvc@ $1.56= $17.00 plus deck screws, bout 1 1/2 hour to build.
5 ft tall, 10 ft long, 4 ft wide. around $ 30.00 for materials- think I'd rather have a bunch of these than the porcupines

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...6/DSCN0816.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...6/DSCN0817.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...6/DSCN0818.jpg

Can't you cap the thin ends of PVC, and fill with sand,eliminating the need for cement blocks?

I built some like these and the pvc by itself will sink, but just to make it a little more stable/secure, I capped the end and added about 8 lbs of pea gravel.

Hey DMAN, you better weight those things down goood...Another Katrina or Rita and those will be long gone from where you placed them. I would weight them down with several blocks tied and ropes...there's alot of surface area there...

Guys after i put mine out in spring they had already moved into the shallows. Caught some in the post spawn in 6ft of water. I had built some with 3ft. arms (6ft 6inches total height) some with 2ft arms, some 4ft . And some with 5 ft. arms. Well this is July 12 and buy chance the last porcupine condo we had after salting several depths, I decided to put one on a point just at the mouth of my favorite cove. Decided to put it in deeper water. Ended up we put it in 14ft of water on the inside side of the point near the old creek channel. And let me tell you this was the best move of them all. In the last 25 days, fishing about once every 5 days we have caught about 650 crappie off that one condo. Since the lake has been dropping with this dry weather it sits in 121/2 ft of water right now. The patter is always the same locate and anchor the boat directly over the condo. Then drop a minnow down through the structure to the bottom and real up one turn. Then slowly and I mean slowly raise and lover the bait about 8 inches and they will take it very lightly. Now these are not bragging fish, 7-9 inches and one every now and then about 10, but we have caught as many crappie this summer than we did during the spawn. Yes this is Lake Thunderbird east of Norman. And Jbusbv the fishing is good. Now I don't claim to be real smart, so I will say that the idea for where to put it was good, but exact location was just by chance. I will try to duplicate this pattern with three more condos this summer. Hope this answers some of your questions, and sorry I didn't post earlier, I didn't check back on this forum until now. Great Ideas for sturture building posted above, might try some.

dmann436
How long do you think the deck screws will last under water?
Pete

of dmann's condos ... but I think they'd tend to fall over on their sides (unless concrete blocks were 'creted to the bottom of the vertical "legs"). For purposes of transporting - wouldn't it be better to leave all the parts "un-connected" (and lying flat on the floor of the boat) until on the water ? Then, using PVC glue (rather than screws), construct the condo (on boat or shore) and drop it at a preconceived location (close by) ?? And, having end caps for the center PVC pipe ... and a large bag of sand ... would help weigh down the construction. Or else have the concrete blocks already concreted to several of the legs ... but not connected (glued/screwed) to the main pipe, until the "on the water" construction.

I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here ... not disrespecting anyone's methods. I'd have to transport "my" condos, by 17ft alum boat, for about 1.5hrs by road ... to reach the waters I'd want to put them in. So, my thinking is ... not advertising to the whole angling community, by keeping as low a profile, with the condos, as possible. And, also, for the safety factor of not having to haul the pre-fab'd condos, by highway. And that's not to mention having enough room, in the boat, for two anglers - condos - fishing gear ... and still be able to drive the boat to the drop destination. (I would construct/drop condo ... then fish my usual places, on that trip, and come back to the condo on a follow-up trip).
I'm still learning ..... and appreciate all the info being provided by our wonderful membership ..... Thanks !! ............ cp :cool:

together on site, one at a time and then put them in the water. They get way too big to transport if you are using 5' arms.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ShilohRed

dmann436
How long do you think the deck screws will last under water?
Pete

---

they advertise the screws 'not to rust', they look like they have an epoxy like coating on them, a bit pricy too

crappiepappy I tie a single cinder block on the two middle verticle pipes (bottom) about half way up, the cord is tied to the 4" also, this causes the bottom pvc pipes to bury in the mud 6-10 inches till the block settles in, I've made 5 or 6 of these and looking at them with the aquavue camera none have tilted or turned over. and yes you're right, they are a pain in the butt to get 'launched'. I live on Lake Bistineau so we load the boat in the back yard and tow 2 or 3 of them out in a 14' alum and wrestle them over in the 'sweet spot'. it's hard to be descrete with somethin as obvious as they are, I get some strange looks AND questions. they do produce fish and I 'm satisfied with the investment

me an la bill had a time gettin these out, had to drive bout 4 or 5 miles to the lake then wrestle each one over --you don't even wanna do it this way-lucky we didn't fall in
http://www.crappie.com/gr8vb3/showthread.php?t=23781

They do have these spheres in the bass pro in Pearl, ms.

I saw those at bass pro last weekend, Ican't remimber the price, but looks cool.

Hey DMANN436,
I just stole your idea. Built 2 of those this afternoon. I'll let you know how they work.

Steve

Would some old wooden kitchen chairs with cender blocks, wired to them work? :D I dropped 3 out in front of camp.
I know the Christmas tree works great too.

We stock a similar porcupine style structure where I work. They are the
O-NO hang fish habitat. They come in a forest greencolor. They are 1/2 inch pvc with an overall spread of six feet from side to side. Each side piece being three foot pvc 1/2 inch. I have used several of them in the past couple years and am very happy with their fish attracting abilities. Any questions you can go to their site at www.onohang.com or to our web site at www.JaysSportingGoods.com or send me a PM here.