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I found out that the NJ Fish and Wildlife division put out Christmas tree brush piles in a number of lakes back in 2006. The internet article also listed the GPS coordinates of the brush piles. I was wondering if, after 9 years, these piles would still be attracting fish. Anybody have an opinion on this?
Depends on many factors. The wood of the trees would probably still be there but disintegrated for the most part. The branches and leaves only last about 2 weeks and the tree will last for years but it will lay down, move with current, bury under silt, etc.
Now if others fish this spot and put their own piles on top of them (that is usually what a lot of people do) then the pile will be newer and still good. You have to scan with your electronics to be sure.
Scan, scan and scan some more. Some people place their piles close to but not on the same spots.
If the crappie are used to staging on a certain brush pile and you add other brush piles next to it then you will get some stragglers on your pile until they get used to it and will be on it more often as time goes by.
Best bet for me was to place my piles in new locations off points and near shore that I knew would hold crappie staging to spawn or move around the lake. Good luck!
We have a local group that has added cover to our home lake for over 10+ years.
Our lake is extremely fertile, and Christmas trees last about 2 years max....in 3 years, the only thing left is the concrete block and Vinyl coated Stainless Steel cable and clamps. We never re-cover areas that have known GPS locations or that have been found and fished alot!
We have experienced the BAD SIDE of providing GPS fishing areas to fishermen!
One year, the ONDR wanted to throw local Fishermen a bone....we had to provide GPS locations of several Christmas Tree areas, for bait-houses and local stores, etc...this was a DISASTER! Fist fights in parking lots, boat crashes, bank fishermen fist fighting for spots, people pushing kids and handicapped people off handicap platforms, etc., etc., etc.
We had people coming in from different States and All over Ohio....they fished the cover 24/7. Within a year it was all destroyed, and it took several years for the areas to recover JUST TO the "before cover norm"....to this day, we never put any cover back in those locations!
We learned valuable lessons from this...the saddest lesson was how fast fishermen can destroy a fishery!:(
christmas tree piles from 2006 are most likely not much of anything unless they are being maintained and replenished . some folks in these parts drop cedar and it lasts a good while and some drop oak and it lasts a long time as well . most of it depends on the original materials used . some of it will last real well and some will be gone quickly . i sink willows when i want to ketch crappie right away , but i also know in a very short period of time they are gone . i like bamboo because fish set up in it quickly as well and it lasts a bit longer ...but if you are not really good with your graph it can be very difficult to "see" after its been down a while .
as far as "community" piles we have alot of those that the corp. of eng. build when they make lakes here . corp piles are bulldozed up everything tree wise and last a real long time. there is a good likely hood that if the corp of eng built a lake you fish it may have some rather large old piles in it. the big lumber in them will last quite a long time maybe in excess of 20 years or more .
and one thing for certain those that are made of pvc and like material last past a lifetime best i can tell .
Yeah, it's a shame when people don't know how to act. Never really had any confrontations like that but if I did I would find another place to fish. I fish to relax not to get aggravated. Thanks for your response.
I feel fortunate my lakes have lots of natural cover.
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That is beautiful...I'm Jealous!:)Quote:
Originally Posted by feelay
The Great State of Ohio, in all it's wisdom, decided that when it built the reservoir outside of my hometown, it should bulldoze the entire area clean....the only thing left were the hills, creek channels, roads and ditches, and railroad track banks....all the structures, trees, wood, vegetation, etc., was wiped out!
Much of the timber is cypress...has been there for 70+ years since the lakes were built.Quote:
Originally Posted by INTIMIDATOR
Some day I will get down there to fish the Big 3....I hope you guys appreciate what you have...take care of them!:)Quote:
Originally Posted by feelay
In my opinion is Christmas trees are nearly worthless . They start out too thick and tend to moss over . They are mostly Pines and Spruce trees which rot rapidly . I use hardwood trees or Red Cedar most times when we sink trees . I really like pallet stake beds or driven stake beds or even a combination of the two . We find hardwood tends to last many years if it stays submerged .Nimrod Lake was filled in 1942 and stumps that are totally submerged still rock solid for the most part after 73 years. I tell folks my heavy driven stake beds are great for holding fish and should last longer than I'll be fishing .I get 2x4 sized hardwood boards rough cut and drive in the bottom during drawdowns but some build drivers to use out of a boat . My grand kids should be fishing them for years to come .
For Fishing I Agree....but as a laydown cover for the micro-organisms, minnows, and small baitfish, Christmas Trees are one of the best....because they moss, grow organisms, and decay so fast!Quote:
Originally Posted by NIMROD
People don't understand that more and more people are fishing....either to put cheap food on the table, as a cheap entertainment that can supplement food, or just for fun!
These people are also figuring out and realizing that by adding cover, they attract fish into one area, and can catch many more fish all at once!
What they DON"T CARE ABOUT, is if you don't spend the time to try and balance the fishery out, by adding cover for forage, fry, small fish, etc., you are not replenishing what is being taken....NO LAKE, can run on a deficit!
I can remember when people would say that there is no way you can strip a BIG Crappie lake of fish....it sure didn't take long for people to realize that that idea was wrong! Now you are seeing fluctuations at the Prized Crappie lakes and they had to make changes also!
Instead of telling people Christmas trees are worthless, we need to them about the benefits....in the long run, IT HELPS THE LAKE AND ALL OF US!
as a cheap entertainment that can supplement food, or just for fun!
anyone that can call fishing a CHEAP FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT isn't a real fisherman LOL
capps and coleman said at a seminiar one time that people use to commerical fish crappie at reelfoot lake and there crappie still in the lakeQuote:
Originally Posted by INTIMIDATOR
Reelfoot had a "Small Pond" Crappie Problem...the Crappie dominated the lake due to the Perfect habitat and ate everything up...so you ended up with an OVERPOPULATION of STUNTED Crappie. They allowed commercial fishing to help remove Crappie and bring Balance to the lake....THEY MANAGED IT!Quote:
Originally Posted by blueball
In 2001? the TWRC stopped the commercial fishing because they got a healthy BIG BASS population established, and the number of RECREATIONAL FISHERMEN HAS QUADRUPLED which is keeping the Crappie in Check....if they continued to allow Commercial fishing the lake would have not been able to handle the extra Fishing Pressure and would have TURNED THE WRONG WAY.
The Lake is Balanced...FOR NOW!
yep,capps and coleman said you couldnt strip a big crappie lake of fish,what do they know lolQuote:
Originally Posted by INTIMIDATOR
Commercial Crappie Fishing Stopped
courtesy of TWRA
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission (TWRC) closed Reelfoot lake to commercial crappie fishing during its May meeting held in Nashville, TN. The TWRC voted unanimously to close the commercial taking of crappie, which has been allowed on Reelfoot Lake off and on since the 1940's.
In recent years, the commercial taking of crappie has been by contract only. Reelfoot Lake was the only body of water in the United States where crappie could be harvested commercially and sold.
Tim Broadbent, TWRA Region I reservoir biologist stated, "Several factors have come into play over the last decade which led to the recommendation that the commercial taking of crappie be closed at Reelfoot.
First was the 15 inch minimum length placed on bass in the lake. This allowed the bass in the lake to attain a size to help keep the crappie population under control. The second factor has been that over the last ten years, sport fishing pressure for crappie at Reelfoot has quadrupled."
Broadbent further stated, "the decision made by the TWRC to close commercial crappie fishing at Reelfoot has received nothing but positive support from local restaurants, resort owners and anglers around the lake.
Yes they are still there and their are still no fish on them. I'm not being sarcastic either. They have never been good.Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Lad
Agreed....:)Quote:
Originally Posted by wannabe fisherman
But it's cheap entertainment for kids! :)
What's the story behind that?Quote:
Originally Posted by NJcrappie
Were they put in bad locations?
I've fished some Christmas tree piles in the past. By themselves they are a good food source for forage fish but the branches are too tight for the Crappie to move in and around like they like to. I've heard of some that folks cut out sections of the branches so the fish could move around them better and they were supposed to hold crappie better. I have fished Bamboo sprays, not clumps or laydowns, that held crappie better than anything I know. By a spray I mean take 10 or 12 sticks of 'boo about 10' long and put them into a 5gal bucket and letting them lay to the sides of the bucket. Pour 40lbs of concrete and let it harden for a couple of days and drop it in about 15 fow. I won my first tourney out of this. Having Christmas trees nearby, which I found later, no doubt added to this piles success. The 'boo doesn't last but maybe a couple of years and way less if gets exposed during a drawdown but it's cheap to replace. Couple of boo sprays and a couple of cedars pretty close should be a real good setup.
I saw a pic of a hickory stick that a man had put in a stake bed 12 years or more earlier and there was still half of it there, he just pulled this one to show us. I've fished pallet piles that also held fish well in 20 to 35fow that were best in cooler water temps. Any wood that is used seems to last longer if it is dried for a time before use. I have used pine branches and plastic nearby that also worked but needed to be bigger to be effective. I think a line of brush, whatever you can get, laid down in 5 fow and running a line toward deeper water every few feet to about 20' is going to hold fish better as they can just move shallower or deeper as they need to. Some areas might not ever hold any fish for some reason. That will just tell you which ones to replenish and which to ignore. Find one that works and put another 50' away in similar depth and you just might become a slumlord. Several like this and you can hop from pile to pile and let them calm down some before you return. Trees on a river channel can be like this. Some work and some don't. Those that do have sweet spots. Can't tell you why but I've seen it several times. Maybe shade, current, bait, or maybe just cuz they're fish and don't need a reason. That's what keep me coming back........Skeet
If it falls in our yard, it goes in the lake. Best stuff I have ever use for longevity is cedar. I let it age some, then burn the needles off. If hardwood stakes float up, I recycle them too. The best producing brush piles are the ones that I have maintained over the decades.
I made a special trip to the lake to move my collection of cedar so the rising water wouldn't "snatch" it from me.
No, I don't think so. The locations are more than adequate for warmer/cooler water fishing.Quote:
Originally Posted by INTIMIDATOR
Myself and the other anglers I talk with have found poor fishing for crappie near Christmas trees. I have caught some fish in the vicinity of them but I think that's due to the weedline down there and balls of baitfish.