Christmass trees

Am i wasting my time dropping trees that i know are probably not gonna stand up?

Tie you some blocks and start dropping just because they dont stand up does not mean fish want come.

Thats what i wanted to here. We got 26 of them we gonna drop this weekend.

Bamboo is the way to go. Christmas trees by now are very dry and bouyant. Plus they seldom last more than a year. Bamboo has air chambers and will stand up for a year by themselves, but I've found that after 1 year, they will lay down. For that reason, I tie a 3 qt detergent bottle to the top of a bundle with 16ga copper wire and it stands up for a several years.

I cannot understand the pointless worry about whether or not the tree is standing or laying down. Do you really think it matters to a fish whether the cover they are near is 3feet tall or 6. The fact of the matter is that crappie will hold on virtually ANYTHING in their environment. I don't have bamboo within 200 miles of here and have absolutely no knowledge of it's existence. same with a fish. put it in the water where there is no other cover and it will be used. PERIOD. if it were legal to put cover in, in this state, I am quite positive what I would use. it wouldn't be bamboo and it wouldn't be pine and under no circumstances would it have bottles tied to it. you guys are putting way to much thought into this. if you put something in the water and it wasn't utilized by the fish,,,guess what, it wasn't in the right place. put in a 100 and if you get 10 good ones, then figure out why you think the fish were on them and make another 100 and hopefully you will get 20 that time. thats how you learn.

Vertical structure cast more shadows and the fish can move up and down them.

Been dropping structure for 30 years, height and size does matter. Especialy in deep water. For water less than 10' a tree on its side works. For 25-30' a 10' upright structure will hold fish on the sides as well as above on a warm day.

I tie a 2.5 gal plastic jug in the top of the tree.... keeps it upright.. works great and the crappie love it.........

Anything beats nothing. The lakes with shallow water under 10' average depth are best for short heigths. I use pallet stakebeds of which most are 2' or 3' tall .
Try removing the needles off the trees first, found they work quicker that way. The needles make them moss over here and harder to fish.

I think I have it figured out. I don't fish that deep, therefore it doesn't matter to me. I almost never fish more than 15 foot down, so something 6 feet tall is plenty.

Get some of the 1 gal throw away black buckets you get plants in from a green house. Buy a bag of Sackrete or Mortar mix $3.85 at Lowe's. Mix up and pour in bucket 3/4 full. Take 6" long wood screws and shove into mix about 1 and 1/2 inches deep. Take to lake and take your drill along and pre-drill a small hole in bottom of tree, then take bucket, screw and all and screw into bottom of tree and drop overboard. It will stand up when it gets to bottom

^^So basically you're just seperating weight from tree til you get to the spot....right?
That would def be helpful in some transport problems I have

Use what you have available I mostly agree with crappie10....and for petes sake people, quit putting "garbage" in our lakes...all this obsession with things being upright is silly...how bout using a bigger limb on its side? its branches will stick up...no need for all the bottles, tv antennas, styrofoam,etc.....try to keep it natural or at least just use pvc pipe...didn't mean to preach but just my thoughts

Christmas trees work really well. Expect to get about two years out of them tops. It mostly depends on what kind of tree. Cedars and pine last one year. Frasier Firs easily last two years. I drop them both standing up and laying down. I tie a concrete block to the bottom of the tree. Most of the time the trunk will fit down in the hole of the block. If I want them to stand up, I tie a two liter soda bottle to the top. I have never had any trouble. I have had really good success dropping three trees out in a triangle pattern within a few feet of each other.
As others have mentioned, bamboo is better for several reasons. I would use it if it was available to me.