Best way to sink brush?

Me and a buddy have rounded up a few trees this year. Got the old pontoon boat out and tiller steer motor mounted on it. We have concrete blocks but have been reading and watching videos of people using sandbags. Anyone have any personal experience when sinking trees. I know bunch of people just use blocks with stainless tire wire or the big heavy duty zip ties. Going to try to make several sweet spots to hit and maybe catch a few more crappie this year. Also thinking about sinking some cane bundles and willow limb bundles. Anyone got any preferences on how to sink or why types of wood/trees to sink that work better than others. I think we up to 67 trees we have got.
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I just used concrete blocks with big zip ties and I also tied 2 litter bottles to the tops so they would stand up and not lay down this is what they looked like while I was sinking them. Attachment 391677Attachment 391678


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Is it pretty much 1 block per tree, or if it’s a big tree might need 2 blocks. We got a couple of sho nuff big trees. I’ve heard on the small trees, might can get 2 with 1 block. I guess if it doesn’t sink, put another block on it.

The trees I have dumped sank well with one block. I used that twisted nylon rope to tie my trees to the blocks and several of them came loose soon after sinking them. I tied a square knot in the rope but they came undone somehow. I'm going to go to a poultry farm supply store and buy a whole roll of 1/8 cable and aluminum swedges to use this year. I have a pair of the swedge crimpers. I'm going to drill a hole through the trees and fasten them to the blocks.

Did you get those trees at a Lowe's or Marvins type store?

Local co-op sold me the left overs they had for 20 bucks there was 27 trees. There was another place in town that set up to sell Christmas trees a buddy called the owner and asked if we’re could get them, they said yea come get them and didn’t charge us anything, we got 40 from them.

I’ve heard from some old timers to make sure the cable or wire is stainless or galvanized coated. Anything else will rot in a year or so. I do know from working at a plant that uses river water as coolant for condensers and heat exchangers, that when river water gets hot it’s almost as corrosive as acid, it will destroy a carbon steel heat exchanger.

I heard on those Christmas trees if you cut some of the branches off it makes a better habitat for the bigger fish. :dono

I cut some of the branches out and then singe the needles off. The char seems to help keep the wood longer in the water.

I stick bamboo or brush in blocks, then fill in cells with quickcrete.Let it dry a day then sink. Works well

Hey Fur, been talking to some guys that sink a lot of brush and they said they only way to go as far as tieing it to the blocks or bags is mule tape/ pull tape. It’s a thin almost choker/ nylon strap type material. The 1/2 inch has a 1250 lb breaking strength and it’s pretty cheap, especially if you know someone that works for the power company or own an electrical business. Look it up and see what you think.

Duplicate post

Prater4586. I used to place attractors in Santee lake. I used the discarded 'tomato' stakes that were hardwood. I put 2-3 nails at one end of about 10 stakes, leaving the nail stick out about an inch. Found some of the small black plastic potting pots. Got some quick setting concrete, mixed it up, poured it in the black pot, (don't need a lot) and put about 6-10 of the stakes In the pot (with the nails sticking out) and 1 of the stakes in the center with a ring eye at the top. I let the concrete set and loaded about 15 of these on the pontoon to set out. I ran a rope through the eye I had on each pot. Lowered to the bottom and pulled the rope back through the ring eye. Now, you may be able to do something similar with your trees. Drive several nails in the base of the tree, mix some concrete (again you don't need a lot per tree and put the tree in a discarded black plant pot and let it set. You can then just dump the tree where you want and not worry about tying some weight to the bottom. If you want it stand up, you will need to attach a plastic bottle or some other floatation material to the top to make sure it stays upwright when you drop it. This may or may not be legal.

How many trees would y'all sink together to make one spot?

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Originally Posted by Snakebit

How many trees would y'all sink together to make one spot?

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The best spot I have I pulled up the boat, put it on spot lock and dumped 9 trees off it. That made 3 piles of 3 trees each, real close together. I'm new to structure putting out compared to a lot of guys on here, but clumps have worked better for me than single trees spaced several feet apart.

We are planning to put at least 5 in each clump, might make a one big pile of 10. Probably try different variations and see what works best. This will be the first year for us putting out trees, I’ve put out a little brush before, but not whole trees.

The bigger the better is what I've seen. Keep in mind those Christmas trees want last long, 2 years and you got to add to them

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Originally Posted by Snakebit

How many trees would y'all sink together to make one spot?

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Originally Posted by lowe175

The bigger the better is what I've seen. Keep in mind those Christmas trees want last long, 2 years and you got to add to them

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You're right, they don't last long. I put some out 2 years ago and there's hardly anything left of the pile. The best thing about Christmas trees is that they don't cost anything, they don't take any real work to get ready and they're easy to sink. I'm gonna start putting out Christmas trees in new spots and only adding "good" structure after that spot shows to hold fish. I sunk some stuff that took an hour apiece to build and haven't caught a fish off them. If I had saved them til I made sure the spot was good with Christmas trees first, then I'd have some long lasting stuff in my best spots.

To all, I have had a lot of luck with putting out attractors, but had trouble with people 'finding' where I put them. Example, put out over 40 of my 'submerged' stake beds in a nice bay. I guess the Bass fishermen found them shortly after I placed them. Could not find a time later when someone was not sitting on top of them fishing, either pan fishing or bass fishing. So, this is not their fault, I needed to find a more 'remote' place to put the attractors. I've also had the reverse of this. I found a pile of brush about 100 feet out from a residences dock. Started fishing the area, and caught a couple nice crappie. The owner came out on the dock and said I need to leave the area, he had spent a lot of time putting the brush in the area and he asked me not to fish his 'hole'. I did not have to leave per the rules of the lake, but I did.

Yea in my opinion once they hit the water, they are free game, because they are in public waters. Now if it was a pile that someone put out and they came up while I was fishing it, I would gladly leave. There is a lot of work that goes into making piles, but no amount of fish is worth grown men arguing or being mad over. If I put some out and someone finds it, which I know will happen, especially with today’s electronics. I won’t be mad. I just like catching fish and keeping some to eat every now and then. I don’t keep every measuring crappie I catch. If I’ve got plenty in the freezer, I will keep a mess for some older folks in know that can no longer fish, but other than that I’ll throw them back.

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Originally Posted by FurFlyin

You're right, they don't last long. I put some out 2 years ago and there's hardly anything left of the pile. The best thing about Christmas trees is that they don't cost anything, they don't take any real work to get ready and they're easy to sink. I'm gonna start putting out Christmas trees in new spots and only adding "good" structure after that spot shows to hold fish. I sunk some stuff that took an hour apiece to build and haven't caught a fish off them. If I had saved them til I made sure the spot was good with Christmas trees first, then I'd have some long lasting stuff in my best spots.

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I think that's smart. Alot of mine don't produce so I add to the good ones

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Originally Posted by FurFlyin

The trees I have dumped sank well with one block. I used that twisted nylon rope to tie my trees to the blocks and several of them came loose soon after sinking them. I tied a square knot in the rope but they came undone somehow. I'm going to go to a poultry farm supply store and buy a whole roll of 1/8 cable and aluminum swedges to use this year. I have a pair of the swedge crimpers. I'm going to drill a hole through the trees and fasten them to the blocks.

Did you get those trees at a Lowe's or Marvins type store?

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Then tell me where you put them out or better yet we will go fishing and Ill mark them on my GPS

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Originally Posted by footballcoach

Then tell me where you put them out or better yet we will go fishing and Ill mark them on my GPS

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Alaska.

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Originally Posted by FurFlyin

Alaska.

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Might as well be. no more fishing than I've been able to do lately

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Originally Posted by footballcoach

Might as well be. no more fishing than I've been able to do lately

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You better be nice to him Coach you know he’s one of them LIVE SCOPE guy’s I here they can catch fish in a dried up pond [emoji23]


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Originally Posted by Javelin 180

You better be nice to him Coach you know he’s one of them LIVE SCOPE guy’s I here they can catch fish in a dried up pond [emoji23]


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Yeah us poor folks hve to catch them the old way. Can't afford that new fangled stuff.