help with structure location

Hi guys. I will try to keep this as short as possible. I live near a 6 acre sand pit that is decades old. From what I can find and what old timers tell me there is really only one main tree pile in this lake and it is in 12-18ft of water. The deepest the lake gets is about 23ft. This tree pile is very handy for me to just put the jon boat in, paddle out about 15 yards and fish it, or cast from the bank. The crappie hold up in this pile in the spring and fall but cannot find them here in the summer or winter for some reason. My main question is, I am planning on building my own structure piles from pvc, etc to drop down. Would you recommend putting my piles in a different spot so that nobody knows where they are or to add to the already pile since the fish are already used to coming there? This lake is semi private in that one side of the lake cannot be fished from the bank by the public but they can access this pile by boat. Not many people currently fish the lake in a boat. The main kicker is myself and two other guys are planning on restocking the lake this fall so i want to provide the best habitat I can beforehand. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

The more fish habitat that you put out the better. I really don't think you can have too much. :twocents

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jwetovick

My main question is, I am planning on building my own structure piles from pvc, etc to drop down. Would you recommend putting my piles in a different spot so that nobody knows where they are or to add to the already pile since the fish are already used to coming there?

---

You need to map the bottom of the pond with a good depth finder. Then place the structure near the drop offs and other places where the depth of the water changes. These areas hold crappie.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jwetovick

This lake is semi private in that one side of the lake cannot be fished from the bank by the public but they can access this pile by boat. Not many people currently fish the lake in a boat.

---

NOTE: Once you place a piece of structure in a body of water that has public access it is no longer "yours". Using your map you may find it but rest assured the first person with a decent FF/DF will know where it is also, and if he/she has a GPS it will be marked.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jwetovick

The main kicker is myself and two other guys are planning on restocking the lake this fall so i want to provide the best habitat I can beforehand. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

---

RED FLAG Unless you own the property this is fraught with dangers both legal and environmental. In many states it is illegal to introduce fish into any public body of water. Most think that a 6 acre pond is marginal for crappie. Crappie spawn before the bass and bluegill and will take over a small pond and then start to get smaller and smaller with each generation. There are lots of farm ponds around here with thousands of 3" to 4" crappie and that is as big as they will ever get. I suggest you contact your local Fish & Game folks to get some guidance on this.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Clint

You need to map the bottom of the pond with a good depth finder. Then place the structure near the drop offs and other places where the depth of the water changes. These areas hold crappie.




NOTE: Once you place a piece of structure in a body of water that has public access it is no longer "yours". Using your map you may find it but rest assured the first person with a decent FF/DF will know where it is also, and if he/she has a GPS it will be marked.




RED FLAG Unless you own the property this is fraught with dangers both legal and environmental. In many states it is illegal to introduce fish into any public body of water. Most think that a 6 acre pond is marginal for crappie. Crappie spawn before the bass and bluegill and will take over a small pond and then start to get smaller and smaller with each generation. There are lots of farm ponds around here with thousands of 3" to 4" crappie and that is as big as they will ever get. I suggest you contact your local Fish & Game folks to get some guidance on this.

---

Thanks a lot for the info Clint. I should have been more clear on the private/public deal. The lake is privately owned on both sides, it is just that the guy on the north side lets anyone that wants to fish and camp in there. For some crazy reason a guy told me 15 yrs ago it used to be just loaded with crappie and now the only crappie i seem to catch are 15in hogs and very very few smaller ones which leaves me scratching my head. I've only lived by this lake for 3 yrs and it seems we have too many largemouth bass in it. The plan is to cull many bass the next 3yrs. We have very nice gills in the 9-11in range as well. Planning on adding some 6in perch and some walleye next fall. Biggest thing that has me confused is why I'm not catching any smaller crappie. Sure would be nice knowing there are multiple yr classes.

I my experience on lakes that small if you put brush anywhere they will use it. So I don't think you'll go wrong putting it anywhere. But if there's crappie already in the lake no need to restock. Just add cover and it will get better.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jwetovick

Thanks a lot for the info Clint. I should have been more clear on the private/public deal. The lake is privately owned on both sides, it is just that the guy on the north side lets anyone that wants to fish and camp in there. For some crazy reason a guy told me 15 yrs ago it used to be just loaded with crappie and now the only crappie i seem to catch are 15in hogs and very very few smaller ones which leaves me scratching my head. I've only lived by this lake for 3 yrs and it seems we have too many largemouth bass in it. The plan is to cull many bass the next 3yrs. We have very nice gills in the 9-11in range as well. Planning on adding some 6in perch and some walleye next fall. Biggest thing that has me confused is why I'm not catching any smaller crappie. Sure would be nice knowing there are multiple yr classes.

---

Not sure the Perch/Walleye addition is wise. It seems the Bass are keeping the Bluegill & Crappie numbers down to where they aren't able to overpopulate ... so I'm not sure removing many of the Bass is such a good idea, either. Micromanaging the lake may well upset the balance it currently has ... and may result in ruining it.

And like Clint says ... unless you are one of the owners, and have permission from the other owners, I wouldn't mess with the current situation. And if permission was granted, I'd have the local F&W/DNR check it out first ... and offer suggestions as to what species, if any, should be added to the lake.

From your description, it would appear that the Bass, Crappie, & Bluegill are keeping each other in check & not allowing any one of them to overpopulate & upset the balance of their ecosystem. Even adding some species of forage fish (bait fish) may cause one or more of the current predator fish to slack off from eating one of the other species of predator fish ... allowing them to overpopulate.

We have a 784 acre lake that was supposed to be a "Trophy" Bass lake ... with LMB, Black Crappie, Bluegill, Shellcracker, and Channel Catfish stocked proportionally to keep each one's numbers in check. It started out great & some people caught huge fish ... until Gizzard Shad became present in the lake. Then the Bass left the Crappie & Bluegill & Shellcrackers alone, in favor of the soft finned shad ... and their numbers exploded to the point where the size & creel limits had to be removed or changed for them. It's been several years since those limits were changed, and now the Crappie are finally getting some size to them.
It was originally thought that the Shad were introduced by some well meaning angler, in order to feed the Bass & make them grow faster. But, with the finding of several other species of Sunfish showing up in the lake ... it appears as though the F&W guys didn't poison the creek far enough back, after damming it up, and those Shad & Sunfish were never fully eradicated to start with. The "balance" was never fully maintained, even with the strict size/creel limits ... so they had to change them to "make do" with the situation being what it is.

So you can see from this ... it only takes one misstep to totally skew the original intention of a balanced ecosystem.

... cp :kewl

This is awesome info guys. Thanks! I think the main goal is to increase the amount of crappie. The bass are 90 percent in the 9-14in range and rarely any bigger. I have been talking to a fish hatchery close to me and by the info i gave him he thinks we have an over population of bass most certainly. I dont mind fishing for bass but they are just all small. There is really no bait fish in the lake as far as shad, etc. adding perch and walleye is just an idea as im a big perch guy. Perch will no doubt add more forage for the bass and crappie. When i say add perch im only talking 250 6in perch in the 6 acre lake and probably the same amount of walleye. This lake was a nebraska game and parks owned lake for many years up until about 12 yrs ago so the initial stocking was most likely done well but the past 12 yrs most people have only done catch and release which seems to be the reason the bass have hurt the crappie and gill population. That being said the gills and crappie that i do catch are nice i just worry about younger class crappie as i have caught one in 3 yrs. maybe this is good i dont know which is why i am asking for your help. Keep the info coming! Thanks again.

Perhaps putting a lot more structure will help the crappie and gills survive when young? Maybe thats all it needs? Sure couldnt hurt i wouldnt think.

Put some pine trees in there with the pcv. Small forage and young of the year need those tight branches to get into so the bigger fish will have a harder time getting to them. They'll have time to grow bigger. You may not catch a lot of bigger crappies from them for a while but eventually they will start producing good fish. Put plenty of them in there.

Started building some structure out of pvc and also bought some 3in drain tubing i plan on using as well. I am still stuck on where to drop these down. Where the main tree pile is now is so handy for me to put jon boat in and fish it and is also blocked by south wind for most part. This leads me to want to just drop new structure around this main tree pile and build a huge pile of options fish cant resist. On flip side some people already know where this tree pile is. Ugghh. I need advice. I really like where the main tree pile is now because is close enough to bank that if the winds not blowing i dont even need to load up battery and trolling motor as i just paddle out. Thoughts?? Thanks

first off 6 acres is small enough for me to figure out without electronics in a trip or 2 .....
not all folks that ketch fish need electronics to find them .
second put your cover on the less traveled side at lots of various depths to cover all the seasons ....
third i would consider black crappie if you intend to try stocking it and make sure whoever owns it is ok with it
and thats my 3 cents on it

Adding fish structures can only help your cause. Do you have a fish finder you can take on the lake with you? It wouldn't take that long to scan the bottom looking for other structure and drop offs in a lake of that size. You'd be surprised to find what other structure may exist in the lake. Being a sand pit though, there may not be. In the summer and winter months the bait fish will school up and suspend and the crappies will school up below them, usually close to the bottom. Even your most basic fish finders will be able to pitch this up. The crappies will follow the baitfish where ever they move to. It should make it much easier to find them during these months.