I have been thinking about this and here is what I come up with, use chicken wire to mold into a basket and put in rocks, forms easy enough and provides a way to tie to wood so I think it will work. I am cheap and get the wood and rocks off the bank so it needs to be simple and easy. I have tried tying rocks on and some always fall off. Anyone have a better way?
I'm afraid the chicken wire will rust apart pretty quick. Maybe some of the orange highway department fencing/barrier instead?
Ask your grocer to save "Onion Sacks" for you. These are large mesh sacks that onions and other produce come in.
Throw a few in the boat, pull up to a gravel bank, fill the sacks and tie them to your brush. Been doing this for years, works great..
1. Try old Onion sacks or woven plastic feed sacks (fill with rocks).
2. Go around where old buildings are being torn down and sometimes you can get free concrete blocks.
3. Get plastic buckets with lids from loggers/ heavy equipment operators that use lots of hydrolic oil ( be sure to wash clean) or from bakeries that use lots of ingrediants. May need to punch holes to allow water inside.
4. Buy busted bags of concrete at building supply for salvage price, usually 1.00 a bag. Pour tub or form full of rocks and enough concrete to hold together.
Hey polebender, I would definately not use chicken wire as it would be a jig eater if you drug across them. This is also the reason that I don't use nylon rope. Have you ever had a hook get in you're anchor rope?
What we found that works for us is to use 5 gal. buckets with lids and stripped down electrical house wiring. Just strip the outer sheath off of normal12/2 and you'll have 2 or 3 separate wires to tie the brush and buckets together. No need to strip the black and white off the 2 inside wires but don't use a braided wire as I like these individual strands to be of solid copper.
We fill the buckets up with rocks and they are plenty heavy! Drill a hole for the wire to enter and exit the bucket near the top and replace the lid before sinking. I prefer 2 buckets per top but one may work if the tree is not to dry or large.;):)
All good suggestions, I did not think about getting hung in chicken wire. I like the onion bag idea but wouldn't you get hund in it too. 5 gal. buckets seem hard to come by in the numbers I would need but if I can get them I would use them. Thanks guys I will keep think on it and see what I can get easy.
5 gal. buckets are easy to get in large numbers, if you can find a bakery/deli/cafeteria or a painter. They throw away hundreds of them a year, if not thousands. I went to a garage sale once at a painters house and he had hundreds stacked around his house for sale. Also, sheetrockers would have buckets too.
5 gal buckets -go to your large grocery stores, chain stores that sell lots of cakes, frosting cremes come in them & they just throw them away, my store goes thru about at least 10 buckets 5 gal plus about 25 3 gal buckets every week doing sheet cakes. Endless supply......
I prefer blocks but if i'm out i'll look around on the bank until i find a rock that has some sort of a notch in it so the nylon tape (stuff they pull fiber optics with) can be cinched down and wont slip off,i don't know what your lakes offer in the way of rocks but there's plenty to choose from around here.
I now use the big concrete Blocks because they are cheap and so easy to tie on but before I used rip-rap rocks and I used the plastic netting with the 1 inch holes that you can get from Lowes or Wal-mart. I really never lost jigs to the netting because I trimmed it very close and I figure the jigs would shake off the plastic.
Get sand bags like the municipals use to prevent flooding. Pull up to the bank fill it with sand you dont even need rock.Light wait takes acouple seconds to fill one wire it closed with galavanized or alunimum wire and youre good to go.
Feed sacks work great. I get mine from farmers and horse ranchers.
18 volt dewalt on the hammer drill setting will easily drill sandstone picked up on the bank. Use scrap electrical wire or other means to tie to structure.
If you have a dog or know some one who does. Purina is using nylon reinforced bags. They look like they would work. I am going to test one when the weather gets above freezing.
ALL or ANY of the above ... whichever is easiest/cheapest to come by, and then use weedless jigheads :eek: :p --- then you won't have to worry so much about hanging up in the brush OR whatever weight system you use ;)
... cp :cool:
I wish I had read this years ago...Quote:
Originally Posted by Quicksilver1958
For buckets you can call swimming pool service companies they will usually have a bunch of 5 gal chlorine buckets and lids
Any of your fast food places have tons of 5 gallon buckets.Thier pickles come in them. I get all i can use from Burger King,McDonalds,Sonic ect.ect.:D
I have had good luck with rocks. Takes a little experience getting to know what size rock it takes to sink what. I use rock I find around the shore line of our local lake. Sometimes I have even used cord or ski rope found around the shore line. I prefer rope about the size of clothes line, and made of nylon. String , small rope or cotton just wont hold up and will most likely break. I have sunk cedar and water oaks this way; find a couple of good size rocks with some edge features that wont let the rope slip off once tied, rope has to be long enough to tie a rock on each end and the rope lap over the brush, works better with two people but I have done it alone. Haveing one rock at the side of the boat, brush in water and along side the boat, toss the rock tied on the other end of the rope to the outside of the brush and drop the rock at the boat into the water simultaneously. Done right it will suck the brush right down.
Here's what I do, I get 5 or 6 plastic walmart bags. Put all the bags together and tape the handles together with duct tape. Then place the rocks in the reinforced bag ( smooth rocks are best). Tie the handles off with a rope and attach bag with rocks to your favorite tree for sinking.
I've got it down to cinder blocks/coaxial cable/brush and fallen trees,
I load the blocks an wire in the boat, an bring my wood saw, beach the boat near my drop location, and get to work cutting,
you never have to worry about the looks at the ramp, lol
have a great day
steve
This thread sure has some great ideas for holding down structure. Really like the onion sack thing. Quit farming about 5 years ago and kept my rolls of nylon twine from the round baler. Works well to tie rocks onto the structure. Make sure you tie the rock before you tie it to the structure. That nylon will last longer that your structure will. I always wrap the twine as if I am wrapping a Xmas present...seems like it is more secure. Also, I have some left over electric fence wire...harder to work with than the nylon twine but you can tie the rocks really tight to the structure (feels like it is part of the tree). We always make an attempt to secure the weight and not let it dangle...makes for a solid brush pile if you have the right weight.