Reel Weeds - Structure on a String

Has anyone used LaDredge Outdoors Reel Weeds? Structure on a String? Camera Cable Structure? Designed essentially around an ice fishing system, Reel Weeds has really taken hold across the ice fishing belt. However, I'd be willing to bet they would work during the open water season too (Minnesota has regulations against using various types of structure out of a boat, dock, etc, but its allowed--via a gray line--during the winter months).

Basically what it consists of is a series of artificial weeds, made with a very durable material, with the intent of drawing (and keeping) in panfish and other gamefish in your area. Yes, the concept is dull (of course its supposed to draw them in) but after about 10 different prototypes the boys at Reel Weeds have designed quite the ice fishing set-up. Now I think its time to take it one-step further and begin enticing open water panfish too.

I helped prototype some of the original models, and let me tell you, they work under the ice! Not many guide trips go by when I don't drop down a series of Reel Weeds to give my clients an extra swing at the ball.

I would love to spend more time in the southern regions of the U.S. and tinker with some of the available artificial structures. I would have myself some cool cribs and sanctuaries :)

But until I make the trips, I'll have to settle for my Reel Weeds under the ice!

Matt,
This may sound like a dumb question but do you pick them up when you are done fishing? I've been watching a video on these and they look great but I don't think they would hold up to the current here on KY Lake especially in the spring when the lake is up and down so much. We get a lot of trash in the water and I've had crappie beds with 200 lbs of concrete get wiped out by trees and such. If you put them in the shallows where there's not so much current, they will wind up in somebody's prop.
By the way, do they show up good on a depthfinder with them being plastic or whatever? No matter what, I still think they look great and may give a few a try.

Hey Sixfin, How many stakebeds did you guys eventually put out? I'm trying to do the same thing on the lake we fish. Where did you find most of your concrete test cylinders?

Thanks,
Dave

In Minnesota you have to take them out when you are done fishing. They are only allowed because they are considered "portable structure." It's illegal to leave them in overnight or to leave them unattended. I generally set them up right after I get the fish houses set and then take them out when we move.

They will show up on a depthfinder, however, for ice fishing you can generally distinguish between the Reel Weeds and your surroundings, especially with the high-quality 3-color flashers available on the market...

Thanks for the info Matt. You guys are the true die hard crappie fisherman. Anybody that will set on a frozen lake to catch a good mess has my utmost respect.

Slabbandit,
We had been setting 40 beds a year but we have scaled back to 20 a year now. We're all getting older and our kids are getting older and more active in school stuff so its hard for everybody to get together to put stuff out. As far as test cylinders, we would go to the concrete plants and engineering firms around here. The engineering firms were the ones who were doing the test on the concrete for contractors and they always had more than they would have to test. Also try your highway department or concrete block manufactorers, any body that works with concrete on a large scale. I've also went up to peoples house where I would see them in their yard. They where using them for edging for their driveway and flower beds and I asked them if they wanted to get rid of them. They said they did but didn't know what to do with them. I told them no problem, I will take care of it. So, always keep your eyes open.

Thanks Sixfin, I know where about 20 are sitting right now at a house across from my sisters. What are the dimensions of the lumber or stakes that you made that worked best?:)

slab,
We have tried different sizes but what works best for us is a 4' x 8' bed. Any bigger and they get hard to handle and it takes more weight to sink'em. One man can put out a 4 x 8 by himself but that is about the limit one man would want to take on. With two it's no problem. Also, 4 x 8 lumber is easier to work with and you don't have any waste. Most sawmills are able to get you 8' lumber but we had a problem trying to find 10' boards. We have even put them out as big a 6' x 12' but we dang near sunk the boat. Our stakes are from 40" to 48" tall on a regular bed and 2' tall on our shallow beds. We've tried them up to 7' tall but they didn't seem to produce as well. I know there are guys on here that do build them that tall but again, this size has been more consistent for us. we place the stakes every foot on the board so you have a total of five stakes per board. We put the boards 16" apart when we put the bed together for a total of seven boards per bed. The stakes are 1" x 2" (oak and poplar) we get from a local pallet building company. They are culls that they don't use but they work out perfect for us. After it is built we put 7 to 8 concrete cylinders on them to sink them. We tried 6 weights but the beds wouldn't sink all the way and we had to run and get more weights to get them to go down. By then it had drifteded off of the spot. Oh well, lesson learned! If you need a picture, let me know and I will try to post one on here tonight. As a matter of fact I think I have already posted one before so you can do a search on my posts. Hope this helps.

Sorry Matt, didn't mean to hi-jack your thread. Just trying to help.

Here's the thread that has the picture on it.

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/crapp...oooo-good.html


I don't know if this will work as a link or not. If not just copy and paste it in the address bar.

Thanks for the great info! I was wondering what type of fasteners you guys liked to use?

slab,
We put the 4' uprights on with 2" staples. We got the idea from the place we get the uprights. They use them to build pallets with. I know its hard to believe but those big staple have more holding power than screws or nails. We tested all three and the staples proved stronger by far. And they don't split the wood. We were having to predrill them to keep them from splitting but not now. We bought some big pnuematic staplers and it is so easy now. As far as putting the runners on the 8' boards, we use a pnuematic framing nailer. We tried galvanized screws but they kept breaking when trying to screwing them in. The screws are so thin that they would sometimes break while going down the lake to drop the bed. Hope this helps. If you have anymore questions, please feel free to ask.

Thanks Sixfin, You've been a big help!:)

Glad I could help!