What Is Hardest Cover for Others to Detect with sonar?

Hi everyone.

The lakes I ice fish for crappies iare reasonably small and quite popular - but not very many folks plant cover.

I am thinking that if I make some structure/cover I can bunch up the fish a bit but I would appreciate knowing what everyone thinks is the "least detectable" cover. I am just afraid if I plant some, eveyone else will find it with their sonar units. I've heard driving single wooden stakes into the bottom is best - then spacing them a few feet apart is the best way to go. Apparently each single stake - pointing up - is hard to see on sonar.

Is that what the experts on this forum would do - or is there a better way to tackle this "problem"?

Appreciate everyone's help

My understanding is that PVC is really hard to detect on sonar.

Welcome to Crappie.com from Virginia. I know for a fact that single stakes will attract crappie but I don't know about seeing them on your sonar. Being somewhat familiar with the way fishfinders work, I would imagine they would be quite hard to see.

well, if you can't see it on your sonar how are you going to find it?

My FF shows my pvc without a problem. What I have noticed is the less you put in a location the harder it will be for someone to find...Trianglelate (spelling) the spot and gps it and just drop 1, 2, or 3 small tops...If you make them big, it will just be a matter of time.

If PVC has air in it, it shows up well, and less likely to show up with no air in it. example: Dont cap the end of the pvc

I think it depends on the sophistication of the sonar unit, that "everyone else" has on their boats. It's pretty hard to make "invisible" (to sonar) cover ... so, you might want to consider making several, in different spots, and making them as "vertical" as possible. It's also going to be a bit difficult to not be seen fishing these spots (or seen catching from them) ... so you might want to consider moving from spot to spot, frequently. Most people don't run to a spot, even after seeing someone catch fish from it, if that person doesn't stay on it long. ;) ............ cp :cool:

CP is right on. I will say this. pvc does not show up good on sonar at first unless it has air trapped in it. But if you have a good unit you can see it. It does look different at first and if one knows what to look for, they will find it. Mine look like a school of bait suspended off the bottom over a small stump ( my bucket) but over time as algae starts to grow, it shows up better and better. It will keep most of your novice anglers from finding them for a while but your more avid brush fishermen will pick up pretty quick if they see it on sonar. Keep the spot small. the shallower the spot, the better chances you have of keeping it secret because the cone is so much smaller coming off your transducer in shallow water. What I like about pvc is it will not rot and I'm sure for a while, that I will probably be the only one fishing it. but its like CP said if someone sees you catching fish off of it then the gigs up. CF

how come I don,t feel like I know anything until i read CP posts--LOL---very good thinking about not staying on a hot spot very long :) :)

even if the condo doesen`t show the fish will :D :eek: . just put out enough for everyone :D

I have dropped about a hundred PVC condo's in different locations. I GPSed all of them and then had GPS problems. I was able to find most of them back on my Lowrance LMS-334 with minimial difficulty; however, I already knew approx locations of all the structure. I know that if there aren't many fish on the PVC it is considerably harder to see them.

A buddy of mine dropped some cedar limps with a concrete block and kept it real low profile. This is one of the most difficult piles for me to find because it is so small (approx 3' in diameter). This pile consistantly holds the nicer fish it seems like. We attribute this to the lack of pressure it receives versus the more visible piles. This pile is only 8-12" tall and it is like two tubes of brush with two cinders in the middle.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
######
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

O = cedar limbs tied
# = cinder blocks

I myself was surprised to see so many of the nicer fish relate to this structure as it really isn't much.

I was told by a tournament angler at a seminar last year that a small spot will hold big fish sometimes because he can defend that small piece of structure against other fish but he can't defend a 30' wide brushpile. Don't know if big crappie are territorial or not but I too sometimes catch bigger fish on smaller structure. I would like to hear other thoughts on this. Thanks.
Mark