Attachment 219441 So the old peeps say bait fish love it. Gonna try some
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Attachment 219441 So the old peeps say bait fish love it. Gonna try some
Yep!
If you want a longer lasting BAITFISH AREA, also drop some soft "fruit wood" by it....the "sugars" not only attract baitfish but the entire lower levels of the food chain! You can add pallets and laydowns to provide cover and breeding areas, and keep the baitfish there!
We set Baitfish Areas in the shallows close to feeding flats...then we have all of our regular cover close by, around drop-offs and other key areas, that will hold Crappie!
This way the Crappie have no need to move far!:)
What depth water will you be dropping this hay in and will other types of hay will work or will any type hay work just as good. :scratchhead
Dropping in 20-25 fow. They tell me to use alfalfa only. Never tried it so I'm not sure
I always sink mine in 8 to 10 fow it works great
Might as well be the one to tell you of my experiences....it is gonna take a lot of weight to get it down (A lot of air trapped in there), you can soak it for a couple days but then it is a PITA to drop it....I have only done it twice because of this!
If you want it to last longer make sure to band it more, so it doesn't all fall apart as soon as it gets wet...I couldn't get enough wire so I used a bunch of my 250lb tie straps....then it degrades ALOT slower.
Tried one in pond. One block would not sink it
Attachment 219470Wrapping them in chicken wire
Very Nice thought, using chicken wire!Quote:
Originally Posted by BAMA S
Once they get water logged they will sink....then your good!
Now you have done it. I am going to have to check at my Co-op feed store and see if they have some alfalfa hay for sale. I have a question will this be considered baiting fish or is this considered to just be fishing habitat? :dono I sure would not like to get a ticket:yikes for baiting fish.
So for the more experienced, will a cinder block sink a bale of hay?
If you started runnin the river and lakes here with bales like that stacked on a boat, you would for sure gather a bunch of attention real quick. Probably have every sheriff and border patrol helicopter, as well as every chase boat in 3 counties activated. Very interesting project though. Hope it works well for you.
Takes two blocks and some patience
Hee Hee...glad you experienced the same thing as I did...I couldn't find a good way to keep doing these, so I just made alot of laydowns with fruit wood.Quote:
Originally Posted by BAMA S
THERE IS A GREAT THREAD ON THE "COVER" FORUM that Scrat reposted....the Milk Crate Condos that I have in there are full of fruit wood....they are fantastic!
That alfalfa stuff ain't cheap.
I can still get it for $2.50 per bale around here SW Ohio!Quote:
Originally Posted by scout-j-m
That's cheap.....Quote:
Originally Posted by INTIMIDATOR
Quote:
Originally Posted by BAMA S
No doubt! It's $15-20 here.
We grow it easily here and have many cuttings during the season...we use a lot of silage for dairy cattle, and dry hay for other livestock! Almost all of our farmers grow some for use or to sell the extra!
Works great for strawberry and tomato plant mulch but never thought of sinking some. Hmmm
Talk about cheap, I pay $25 a bale here.Quote:
Originally Posted by BAMA S
it isn't cheap but it will for sure attract fish ....pulled up a many bale ties in my day .....
Wow! It's tough to grow in the south plus it's more prone to getting blister beetles in it here I believe.Quote:
Originally Posted by INTIMIDATOR
Paid 9.00 bux s bale. But by the time you wrap it and buy blocked it's Probaly closer to 25 per hole. Hope it works
It will work.....I have done it spring and summer and it takes about two weeks to get zooplankton on it to attract bait fish......dont know about this time of year.
Like I said...try putting it close to some other cover you have put in, or put some more cover around this area...take full advantage of the money you have spent! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by BAMA S
I just rebaited the holes that are producing good. I did not fool with any new or bad holes
Wouldn't sinking a bag or theses alfalfa cubes do the same thing as the hay?:dono Maybe just put them in a burlap sack or big plastic onion sack and tie 1 cinder block on the end and sink, is what I was thinking!!!:scratchhead To me if this would work it would be a lots cheaper(than buying the wire for the bale), cleaner, and easier than the hay bales.
http://www.fleetfarm.com/products/im...0000091733.jpg
The idea is to have a big surface area that micro-organisms are attracted to and can feed off of, baitfish can graze on the "hay" or the micro-organisms. If you enclose the cubes, you lower the amount of "food" available to the area...the burlap, until it degrades, would only slow down the process...you still would have a smaller surface area than the bales...if you used onion sacks, you would have to drop alot, to have the same surface area also.
It's almost a Catch22
Why does it have to be alfalfa hay? Looks like any hay or perhaps straw would work just as well. The reason I ask is we put up lots of fescue hay and I could get it cheap.Quote:
Originally Posted by scrat
Alfalfa may be the "cream of the crop" in the hay world, but anything will work. Fescue may not be quite as nice as the alfalfa, but it will produce the microorganisms and the zooplankton. Just not as much
You answered the questions perfectly...If you can get Alfalfa at a decent price, or one you are comfortable with, go ahead and use the best! Alfalfa has the highest nutritional valve (Sugars, proteins, etc) of any hay, and can supply a higher density of micro-organisms for a longer period.Quote:
Originally Posted by vic n
I could find very little scientific research of aquatic uses of hay, except that it is used as a very large, super dense, feeding station...but it seems that aquarists are leading the charge and using alfalfa cubes to establish/feed beneficial bacteria and micro-organisms for a healthy tank and fry production...aquarium fry need all the micro-organisms for growth just like fry/baitfish in our lakes.
Confusing to people is the effect of certain kinds of hay to clear algae from ponds...the difference is the hay for this use has to be loosely bagged/etc, so it can decompose evenly...in this case it does not provide food and grow algae, it produces 2% hydrogen peroxide THAT KILLS ALGAE!
I think Bama will like his results...and I have plenty of chicken wire to reinforce my bales like he did!:)
It would be worth my while to drive to SW Ohio!!!!! I am paying $7 a bale here in SEMO and I have to feed it year around, sand SUCKS with no water on it and 5 head of horses munching on what pasture I do have.Quote:
Originally Posted by INTIMIDATOR
This is the first ive ever heard of this. Where did you get the info on this? We are trying to remove a bunch of crappie out of my pond. If this help bunch up the crappie we can get more of them out. Trying to remove at least 1000 out of pond. just for starters
JDQuote:
Originally Posted by johndeere5045
This is mainly to set up feeding stations for Baitfish/etc, then to draw Crappie in to feed on the Minnows/etc...the problem in your pond is that most, if not all, of the baitfish population (FOOD) has been eaten by the over population of Crappie....then the Crappie have no food and they stunt...the only real food they will have is fry from their own spawns (until they grow too big) or micro-organisms and insects, which will pretty much only keep them alive!
Once you get the Crappie Population thinned out, you will have to add minnows/etc...then you can add bales to feed the food chain (micro-organisms, minnows, worms, etc), but along with this, you will have to provide plenty of cover for baitfish/minnows/etc, so their population can get established and grow....or you will be caught in the same vicious CRAPPIE OVER-POPULATION STUNTED CYCLE!
I've never heard of it either. I've heard of people baiting holes with dog food, etc. (not sure if legally or illegally) but never using Alfalfa bales. Wheat straw is pretty easy to come by around here. Would that work???Quote:
Originally Posted by johndeere5045
The benefits of using wheat straw would be so low as to be un-noticeable. Hay is cut at it's prime....very high in nutrients, vitamins, proteins, etc, while straw is just the leftovers from a wheat crop.....there is no food value in wheat and it is only used as bedding for animals or mulch in a garden. As it deteriorates, I'm sure wheat straw would have some micro-organisms, but nothing like the explosion of organisms from good hay. Is it baiting? Doubtful. It is baiting the bait of the bait's bait, wayyyy at the tiniest part of the food chain.
Interesting vic n. I had no idea this was used.
We pay more for sage grass or straw a bale ! I hear Alfalfa is way past 10 bucks !Quote:
Originally Posted by INTIMIDATOR
Like I said, Alfalfa grows easily around here...EVERY Farmer in the area has a field set aside for it...normally around here it is hardy and regrows for 20 or more years, it can be cut up to 4 times a year...it can also be a rotated crop to add nitrogen back into the soil for corn/etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by NIMROD
Several of my friends farm thousands of acres, they rotate alfalfa but also have long-standing fields of it to feed their animals, then they leave the last stand up for Winter, to attract deer etc.
Normally I can get bales for free, but they charge me $2.50 if I want more than 10...I have been buying about 30 bales a year and corn for a dollar a bushel to feed my friends (you never know when you want the taste of fresh venison).
I have a 2 mile by 2 mile woods across the road and hundreds of acres of farm fields on each side of it...we have 2 herds of 20+ deer that live on the sides and in the woods.