PVC structure 1st Attempt

Good Afternoon Crappie Anglers,

After reading many threads on here I decided to build a PVC condo. I made a bamboo with buckets/concrete and it was a ton of work. I wasn't fully able to see how well they worked because the lake dropped 12' after I dropped them. This was my 1st attempt at building these.

I use a 4" pipe and going 10' long. I'm use 1" and 10'for the 'branches'.

I'm going to to use 24" zip ties to secure the PVC branches in place. I plan on weighing it down using an 80lbs concrete and rope.

One thing I am considering, should I tie a potato sack with dog food on it? Maybe speed up the attraction of minnows?

Also, how long does it normally take for crappie to show up on PVC if they are in the area? I'll take pictures once I drop it. I have a total of (3). I'm going to drop (2) in the same spot and (1) in another location.

The good thing is, it will only take me about 5 minutes to fully prep once I get on the water in my location. I'll keep everyone posted on the results.

* The PVC are not secured with zip ties, so the picture doesn't full show what it will look like.
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You shouldn't need 80# to sink these and keep them in place unless there is current in the area where you plan to drop them. I seldom use more than 30 or 40 pounds on my beds and most of the time 20 to 25 pounds.

Looking good.

Agree that 30lbs of weight should work. As far as how soon, depends on where. Once they are algae covered they will be MUCH more effective...

Thanks for the info! I will be using lighter weight then. I did plan on just buying an 80lbs bag of concrete and getting it wet a few days before so it will get rock solid. What would you guys recommend using? cinder blocks?

Couple of cinder blocks and your good to go. Also take some rough sandpaper to it for more grooves for the algae.

Not big on the Dog Food idea. Think it draws Catfish, which will keep the crappie away. Put them out and wait on algea to grow. Get you a quaity GPS Mark. When the algea gets on the PVC, the structure will disappear.



keith

I know alot of people uses pvc, but just make sure it is legal on your lakes. The army corp. of engineers on our lake is just getting started to let us put in our own habitat and they want us to use only natural material and no plastics but we help them put in pvc porcupine balls but they have to get special permits from the EPA and they say it is costly. In my opinion, there is nothing better that christmas trees. We dropped some in last year and was catching nice fish off of them within just afew hours. Tie 3 or 4 together using coated cable and cable clamps and using about a 30# concrete weight and your good to go.

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Originally Posted by Creamlevel Kennels

Not big on the Dog Food idea. Think it draws Catfish, which will keep the crappie away. Put them out and wait on algea to grow. Get you a quaity GPS Mark. When the algea gets on the PVC, the structure will disappear.
keith

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I don't belive the Catfish run off Crappie. I catch them on my stuff alot. Even catch Crappie on my baited Catfish holes every summer.

Those "C" trees (depending on the type of tree) should last 3-5 yrs and are "fine" enough cover to help several species of fry and juvenile fish. Aged several yrs, most will still hold fish at least seasonably. IF you can convince the COE, put the PVCs on the deeper end of the "C" trees...(evil laughter sound effect here); you will LIKE the `results` !

whitemike,

I,m building something close to those except I am using the black drain pipe.

I shoved a 2 liter bottle in the top (help keep it up right)and capped it.

I plan on putting fish food inside the the pipe and sealing the bottom in concrete.

I drilled some 1/2" hole for the food to work out (wave action) and I'm thinking when the food is all gone minnows will swim in and out of them, keeping them crappie close, lol.

One more thing I did was screwed pallet planks on 4 sides, because I heard crappie like some wood.

anyway good luck and good fishin.
kenny

One more tip, I use 2 liter bottles and some line to mark mine when I first drop them, and usually drop 3 or more structures faily close together, the bottles lets me see where there at when dropping the next. when done GPS the spot and remove the bottles, and mark your map Top Secret.

Guys,

I just realized I never posted my results from my PVC drop. I fish saltwater 90% of the time and normally on the saltwater boards. It's getting that time for the Spring Crappie and Bass so I'm back. ;) I dropped these on Toledo Bend in about 18-20' of water. I dropped 2 of them just like this at a 90 degree angle from one another creating a "L" I have previously dropped a few trees probably 3-4 years ago in this same spot. This location has produced in years past, so I'm can't say with 100% conviction it was ALL the PVC doing... Last year when we went to Toledo Bend I dropped these 2 and fished that same night. 1st night we caught 18. 2nd nights 67 and the 3rd night 75 (our limit) and left them biting.

Overall, the PVC was MUCH easier to build/drop. Also, I know it will be there for a long time. Now that a year will have passed, I can't wait to fish it this Spring! I plan on taking more pictures. Going forward I will continue building PVC.

Here is me with the pipe put together right before the drop, leaving the marina, a mess of Crappie and a few Bass, finally my wife and father-in-law with a few slabs! Woooo Crapppie!

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Sir, try our PROVEN "C" tree line on a slope say from 8-20 fow (depending on the summer thermocline) shallow to deep with your PVC at the deepest point. Will BET you that PVC at the end produces the biggest crappie you`ll catch both pre and post spawn...good luck sir !

Granted, wood is very effective and has alot of benefits over PVC....but, over time it decays and has to be replaced .
If you want to continually replace cover every few years to every few decades with hedge apple, thats fine, but if you are doing an entire area, lake, or ecosystem, or don't want to redo cover all the time, then you need to use permanent material also.
You can mix PVC and wood, or place PVC close to wood....one way is not right or wrong, it's just how much time you want to spend building and placing cover.
We have photos of fish using PVC cover within 15 minutes of it being put in the water.
I agree that C trees are very good...especially the first year in the water....then after the 2nd year all the little branches are gone and you are left with a trunk....Christmas Trees and 'boo are great short term ..but you can engineer longer lasting wood and plastic that is just as good.

Here is one I constructed a few years ago. It's suspended underneath the dock. By the way in just a few weeks it was covered in algae

Last week we went back to Toledo Bend where I dropped my PVC poles last year. What an incredible trip we had. The 1st night my brother and I went, and we had 50 crappie, (Our 2 man limit) by 11:30pm. We fished for 3 hours and left them biting. The next night was rained out. The following night, another bad storm came through and knocked the power out, but we went afterwards and fished from 11:30pm-3am and had 47. The last night the weather was great. 6 of us went out and fished from 9pm-2am and we pulled up 131 crappie. We left biting once again knowing we had a long day coming up cleaning fish.

You can see the depth finder was full of fish. Where I was sitting you couldnt see the PVC on the depth finder. But, when I drove over the spot while moving you could clearly see it. I can't wait to go back!



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Originally Posted by Judson1

Here is one I constructed a few years ago. It's suspended underneath the dock. By the way in just a few weeks it was covered in algae

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Holy cow now that's one big arse tree. You ain't playing

a deep arse dock too.

I have uses lots of pvc.. i use a paddle bit in my drill and use a file to file just a little of the bit off so the small pvc fits real snug in the larger pvc (no use for zipties) . if the fish like the area I'v had them in it in just a couple of days..