How many cinder blocks to use on Christmas trees and do need to put a 2 liter bottle to keep it standing up?????:fish
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How many cinder blocks to use on Christmas trees and do need to put a 2 liter bottle to keep it standing up?????:fish
Hi,
I would think one cinder block will sink the christmas tree...We drill through the shaft and run wire and attach wire to cinder block..
jeremy
I have read a couple of articles that advised NOT using "needle" trees because of the chemicals in the tree's sap, which releases chemicals into the water and repel fish.
The guide at Lake Nimrod, who places the crappie condos there with assistance from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission advised the same. When I contacted Paul Harper, Lakes Manager, he likewise advised absolutely NO pine trees. I know pine tar/sap is a strong chemical, highly flammable and also a chemical used in strong solvents.
Interesting...but flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Perhaps it's just Pine, and not the fir or other trees used as "Christmas Trees"???
Comments...thoughts....ideas....
Have used same spots for 25 years. And only when I stoped using the trees is when I started catching less crappie. I started reading that it repels crappie. Ah. Not so sure anymore.
We have a guy down here (Texas), that adds 2-3 Christmas Tree's to a spot out in front of his boat dock every year, and has for several years. It has turned into a heck of a Crappie Hole. Christmas Tree's that have been there for a few years, are nothing but the trunk, and a few of the bigger limbs, but with the years he has been throwing Christmas Tree's in this spot, it is a huge area. This area HOLDS the Crappie, but Bass Fisherman sure can screw it up for ya. They use heavy enough fishing gear to drag some of the 4-5 year old trunks up and stirs up the pile.
But the bottom line is Christmas Tree's work here in Texas. This guys has built a heck of a Crappie Hole. If you can beat the Bass guys to the spot in the morning, before they have a chance to run the fish off, re-adjusting the pile, you can load your boat in Crappie.
keith
Willbreaku, have some personal experience helpping to "splash' a couple (hundred) "C" trees. Was part of a group, "The Friends of CJ Brown Reservoir", in 6 yrs placed over 1,000 attractors, approx 2/3rds "C" trees. the biggest drawback is that even Blue Spruce only lasts 3-5 yrs underwater in FERTILE waters (bodies of water with sediment bottoms), they will last much longer in infertile waters like gravel pits. the 2cnd biggest drawback is that yes, untill the needles fall off they are not AS "productive" as they are their 2cnd yr underwater. BUT, their 1st yr they are UNBEATABLE as cover for many kinds of infant and juvenille fish which NEED that cover to help them survive. They become nurseries for baby fish. Now, I know MOST people say "So what? I WANT SLABS." Ok, guess where those slabs go to SPAWN? To cover. Also, few slabs are hatched 12" long...Try placing them in lines shallow to deep in 8- 16 fow. TRY it...have you ever caught so many fish you finally just got TIRED of catching them?
ive been reading the same thing about the c trees being toxic not drawing fish or runni g them off so im gooing to try doing a fast burn off ofthe nnedles .anybody think that may help.ive been using c trees for a long time and have caught fishon them so i was just wondering if i burned needles off if it would hold even more fish:dono
Thanks guys for all the info i have about 31 trees will report back and post pics when i catch my first crappie:fish
4 quick points: #1; attempting to flash burn the needles off is UNNECESSARY. Plus you`ll likely ALSO burn off many of the finer twigs that help them become good nursery cover. And once lit, GOOD LUCK putting them out. #2: If you are placing them in areas with wave action or current use a heavier (10" or even 12") block or an additional 1/2 8" block. #3: ENSURE you secure the block at the trunk of the "C" tree TIGHTLY. Check it by lifting the end of the trunk; if it`s loose or there`s slack between the trunk and block, STOP and TIGHTEN it. Otherwise wave action can break or abraid your wire. 2 points of contact ENSURES it`s not able to break the connection. #4: VHD weed eater line is THE material to use in most cases...tie a loop on 1 end and cut about 24"- 30" long, 2 pieces per "C" tree. Again, after tieing it lift the end of the trunk; if loose, retie it TIGHT. You will LIKE the results..."SPLASH `em ENMASS ! BOMBS AWAY...
Lowell is VERY correct...the only BAD thing about Christmas Trees is that they don't last long, at least in our fertile water. We have proved many times over how well they attract fish, hold fry and minnows, and then hold larger fish as they decompose. If you continue to pile them up it becomes a nice tangle of main trunks that larger predators love...now when we drop C' trees, we make sure to keep the fish in the area by adding a longer lasting hardwood or PVC/Plastic with them!Quote:
Originally Posted by Lowellhturner
Intimidator is correct in this; when possible try a variety of "C" trees, brush blocks ("BB"s) made of HARD WOOD limbs like locust, hickory, osage orange (hedge apple) and mulberry. And of couse PVC. THE most important thing is LOCATION, the next most important is numbers; 1 line of just 5 attractors shallow to deep in 8- 18 fow AFFECTS 5X the actual volume of all those trees. Even just 10 such "sets" of 5 trees/ "BB"s, ect will affect 250X the area of a single tree. They are FAR more effective ENMASS...and with 10 "sets" out, the chances are that when you show up to fish, they likely ALL aren`t going to be occupied.
burning trees is out of the question for me then.thnx for saving me a bunch of time and head aches
We have never done Christmas Tree's or Cedar's. But this winter we are clearing the trash tree's off of our places, so decided to sink some cedars. We that being said, I just never have had the thought that a Christmas Tree's standing up in a Bucket of cement was the most effective way to use them. Last weekend about 4 guys we fish with got together and mixed up about 50 buckets (40# pre bucket) to sink a bunch of cedars. We have decided to lay them horizonally across the bucket, and wire them on. I feel this should make the Cedar set up off the bottom about 5' tall, and the cedar tree's are anywhere from 6'-10' tall. So this will mean the it will cover 6'-10' across the bottom, and be 5' tall. I don't need anything standing up 6'-10' tall.
We will put 3 cedar tree's out to a location. We figure this should give us about a 15'-25' diameter of structure, that will be 5' tall. we will target fish at different depths. Put some out in 10'-13', some in 15'-18', and then some in 18'-25'. Another trick we have started doing is MARKing our waypoints, and then color coding them to the depth the structure is put or found. We have taken the X on our HDS's and use it for our structure MARKS. When we run across a Brush Pile or sink a structure. We place a X , then if it is in 7'-13' we change the color of the X to YELLOW, from 13'-18' we use a RED X, and 18'-deeper we use a BLUE X. Now we can figure out what depth they are in, and know what depth the structures are, and only target the structure that are at the depths we have found fish.So during the fall bite, we know and have been catching fish at 15' of water, we can know which structures are in this depth of water, and target those structures. No matter what depth the fish around, we know exactly which structure will be holding fish.
It has been working REAL well for us this past year. We may haft to try 2-3 structure to figure out what depth the fish are, but once we figure their depth, we are only hitting productive depths. I'm sure others have thought of this, but no one that tends to share info with us. So we are constantly thinking of ideas to shorten the time for us to get on fish.
keith
i like that plan yall have keith. ive been mixing c trees in a hlf moon shape of 6 trees up right and i made some structures out of highwy safety cones with 3/4 inch plastic water lines through it with the pipe turned up with the tree looks.sa ded the plastic so the algae bloom sticks to it better.then drop two of those in the center of the trees.hoping the trees will hold the bit while the plastics hold the bigger fish.new trick we juzt started making and dropping a few week ago.I am putting them at diff depths like you wers saying in .if i ever learn how.to post pics on here i will post my cones they look purty neat. i have a feeling theyll be producers
There in lays the VALUE of this forum; sure as get out, if there`s a "better way', eventually someone WILL have that "lightbulb moment" and TRY it out...but SHARING ideas and everyone of the GPS positions is critical...let me try that again...
Interesting idea Doodle. Figure out the posting of PICS so we can see how you are doing, what you are doing. We are always interested in improving the mouse-trap. we have not had as much luck with PVC as with regular cedar or hard woods. So improving the uses of PVC (seeing how we have 2 trailer loads) would be a great find for us.Quote:
Originally Posted by doodle
keith
Have said many times and SINECERELY believe (but can`t "PROVE") naturals in rows with PVCs on the deeper ends works WONDERS
[QUOTE=Creamlevel Kennels;2168264]Interesting idea Doodle. Figure out the posting of PICS so we can see how you are doing, what you are doing. We are always interested in improving the mouse-trap. we have not had as much luck with PVC as with regular cedar or hard woods. So improving the uses of PVC (seeing how we have 2 trailer loads) would be a great find for us.
Keith
You can actually put hardwood 2x4's in with the PVC or Natural wood so you end up with the best of both. We have made buckets with a main 4"-6" PVC center pipe with wood or 2x4's all around it, or used hardwood center beam/limb etc with PVC all around it....or just mix them all up in one bucket or base!
Brent
Cheater !
we been sinking them on kentucky lake for years, we ALWAYS burn them first to remove the needles. dad told me 30 years ago that crappie dont like green c trees!!! we been getting broken blocks from a local company and using small hickory saplings, which can be 15' tall, but we usally trim them to 8-10', seems to work better than the c trees and we can get them year round.
Sir, what ever works! I do still strongly suspect sinking them in lines seems to provide the maximum depth range. whether they are at 6, 8, 10, 12, 20 and deeper fow, it`s literally "covered", pardon the pun. Will say the hickory should last abit.
Although crappie are attracted to the bugs & minnows that are attracted to lights, I recommend that you not plug in your Christmas tree lights when you sink them. :yikes
Badgerlosder i had to laugh at that.im gonna tell my buddy which in turn is a greenhorn at all of the crapie world.im gonna tell him sat when we load uo to go drop the bamboo and c trees to bring the generator and drop chords so we can plug the loghts in to draw the buggs lmao.thnx for the idea
I can tell you that the State of Florida sunk several public fish attractors that were nothing BUT "C" trees...
I can also tell you that using my side imaging there were some VERY large fish on them within weeks of the drop.
If the State allowed them to be dropped, they can not be that bad for the fish or the water...
Cheers!
Mike A!
The Kentucky dept of fish and wildlife make many fish attractors every year from cedar trees. They say the needles fall off in a short time after sinking them. They had a show last week on tv showing them making them. They cut the trees to open up the woods for wildlife. They cut the tops out and put them in piles for small game and birds. They drag the base to the lake with a 4 wheeler. They tie on several concrete blocks. They then use a boat to tow them into the lake and drop them. They improve both the wildlife habitat and the fishing habitat at the same time.
The ONLY exception is "painted" "C" trees. Am not certain painting trees is even legal anymore. Because the trees were sprayed with thinned down zinc chromate they really WERE "toxic" and we ended up burning 20- 50 completely up for a couple yrs. IF you reasonable suspect that you have a "Painted" tree (or trees) DO NOT sink them ! DO NOT try to burn off the needles; just properly dispose of it at a mulch place...