Making use of boo canes

We're doing a large boo bucket build but have some leftover cane bases (1/2" to 2") from the larger canes we took down because our trees couldn't be taller than about 15'.

My question: Can we make use of these thicker, folliage-less bases?

I was thinking of strapping (poly rope or tie raps) these puppies together into a some sort of geometric form (think rhombus or double helix) and wanted to hear if folks thought we'd be able to sink these things. If so, how do we gauge the amount of weight? ...hard to do on the water. Also, we could easily drill a hole in the top of each chamber after the structure is built if it would help decrease the buoyancy.

Why not just make more buckets with just the short sections.
Nothing says that you have to have just the tops.
Short stalks should work in shallower water.

Flycaster

Hey Skiff, If you have a way you can drive them right into the lakebed. Might have to drill a hole in several chambers to keep them from shooting up like a missile if not in the mud well enough. I built a PVC driver and drove some cedar stobs in yesterday in 7 feet of water. Worked great!
Here are the plans that I got to build the driver from KrappieKrazy.

I cut a 5' piece of 3" schedule 40 PVC in half (30"). Then cut a piece of 3/4" plywood round to same diameter as outside of 3" PVC. Somehow cut a 45 degree angle on one side's edge. This is installed in the 3" to 1 1/2" reducer before gluing the pieces together to give some thing inside the PVC to tamp with. Next glue a female adapter into the reducer. This will allow a 5' handle with a male adapter to be screwed into the driver. Glue another female adapter on the other end of the handle and make another 5' handle the same way so the overall length of the two handles is 10 feet. Buy a cap that can be screwed onto the very end handle so air will be trapped in the handle section for floatation. The handles are 1 1/2" schedule 40 PVC.
I tried it first without drilling holes in the big 3" section but liked it a lot better after drilling about 20 -1/4 inch holes in it to release trapped air.

Push your stake into the mud and then tamp it about 3 times and she's in there! Good Luck!:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by flycaster

Why not just make more buckets with just the short sections.
Nothing says that you have to have just the tops.
Short stalks should work in shallower water.

Flycaster

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Thanks, Flycaster. Actually, the base canes leftover are longer than the tops we cut off--boo stand was 40' plus. We're considering doing just what you said, but wondered how efficient it would be putting these larger diamater canes in a 5 gal bucket. Woudn't be able to fit all that many.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slabbandit

Hey Skiff, If you have a way you can drive them right into the lakebed. Might have to drill a hole in several chambers to keep them from shooting up like a missile if not in the mud well enough. I built a PVC driver and drove some cedar stobs in yesterday in 7 feet of water. Worked great!
Here are the plans that I got to build the driver from KrappieKrazy.

I cut a 5' piece of 3" schedule 40 PVC in half (30"). Then cut a piece of 3/4" plywood round to same diameter as outside of 3" PVC. Somehow cut a 45 degree angle on one side's edge. This is installed in the 3" to 1 1/2" reducer before gluing the pieces together to give some thing inside the PVC to tamp with. Next glue a female adapter into the reducer. This will allow a 5' handle with a male adapter to be screwed into the driver. Glue another female adapter on the other end of the handle and make another 5' handle the same way so the overall length of the two handles is 10 feet. Buy a cap that can be screwed onto the very end handle so air will be trapped in the handle section for flotation. The handles are 1 1/2" schedule 40 PVC.
I tried it first without drilling holes in the big 3" section but liked it a lot better after drilling about 20 -1/4 inch holes in it to release trapped air.

Push your stake into the mud and then tamp it about 3 times and she's in there! Good Luck!:)

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Interesting, slabbandit. CrappieKrazy is local here so I may see if he wants to bring his invention down and give us a demonstration. Thanks.

Skiffless, I like slabbandits idea. I have been thinking about doing this but that's as far as I've gotten with this project. I was actually thinking that since the fish will be moving into shallow water soon we should get some guys on this project. There was a video about making these stake beds somewhere, I'll see if I can find it. Maybe we could build two of these drivers and get some guys out putting up some stobs. I'm down for it!

Here it is... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqU5JTkbOTo\

I might even have some extra pipe laying around to build one. I'll pass this video around to everyone in the group so everyone is on the same page.

Brad

By the way, Would it be necessary to run a piece of rebar through the bamboo poles to keep them from floating back up??

I make stick condos.... cut em 5 - 6 ft length and put em in concrete....
Dont know why you cant use boo instead of sticks....
Here are some I built......

http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/t..._Condos001.jpg

http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/t..._Condos003.jpg

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Originally Posted by CrappieTexan

I make stick condos.... cut em 5 - 6 ft length and put em in concrete....
Dont know why you cant use boo instead of sticks....
Here are some I built......

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Them are some purdy condos, CrappieTexan. Thanks for sharing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CrappieTexan

I make stick condos.... cut em 5 - 6 ft length and put em in concrete....
Dont know why you cant use boo instead of sticks....
Here are some I built......

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Them are some purdy condos, CrappieTexan. Thanks for sharing.

Look at them as your own special stake beds.

They'll WORK, bud. A fish never had an original thought in its life. Cover is cover. :)

aj

Hey WC, I know that they should drive in the mud nicely but I had one guy on here say be careful. If you don't get them in deep enough they can come back up like a submarine fired missle!:eek:
He said that you could take a piece of rebar and bust the centers out of the bamboo. I normally cut about 6 feet off of the bamboo that I have access to.
I am thinking about semi-sharpening a piece of 3/8 rebar and putting it in a 3 gallon bucket of Quik-Crete. Probably will have 3 1/2 to 4 feet sticking up. This way I can take the bamboo stalk and ram it down the rebar. Then simply switch ends and do it again. Should take care of a 6 foot piece.
I am going to do some bamboo condos soon and will try the stakedriver/bamboo thing with the leftover pieces without punching them out first...hope I don't turn around and catch one under the chin shooting back up. If any problems I will punch out the centers.

Well to the idea of structure. I too use bamboo because my front yard is full of it and it grows year round. The way I like to use it is this way. I first collect up several rotos from a local brake repair shops. Most of these rotos have 5 to 6 bolt hole made in it. I then select the tops of the canes that have the most smaller branches and leaves. Then I choose the lenght of anywhere from 5 to 8 foot. I then push the large end or bottom end of the cane through the bolt hole in the rotor. Once all of the holes are filled in with the bottom ends of the canes,I use zip ties or electrical ties on the bottom ends of the cane that is pushed through the rotors. I then cut a section of cotton seed cake off in the size that will go into the bottom or top side of the rotor. I tie the cotton seed cake up inside a old pair of nylon hose and then tie the hose to the rotor. The cotton seed cake will swell up and dissolve into the water and bring in the smaller bait fish that will call up the slabs.
Once I have arrived on the lake in the area that i want to drop the structure in at ,I use my front depth finders to pin point the loaction and drop a marker float. I use the trolling motor to get up ontop of the location and then I just grab the tops of the cane on one of the rotors and just lift it up,swing it out and over the marker and let it go to the bottom of the lake. I you have a good depth find you will see that the bamboo will bush out like small trees on the bottom. Then I mark the location on my rear gps depth finder for those times after dark or before day break when sight markings are hard to see. The flat rotors sinks quickly into the mud allowing the upper tops of the canes to push outward forming a bushy looking tree that will last about three years. This type of structure drops works well around boat docks and areas that are not in a direct current.
If you think about it you can build a forest in a few minute out on the lake with just a little work.

Well to the idea of structure. I too use bamboo because my front yard is full of it and it grows year round. The way I like to use it is this way. I first collect up several rotos from a local brake repair shops. Most of these rotos have 5 to 6 bolt hole made in it. I then select the tops of the canes that have the most smaller branches and leaves. Then I choose the lenght of anywhere from 5 to 8 foot. I then push the large end or bottom end of the cane through the bolt hole in the rotor. Once all of the holes are filled in with the bottom ends of the canes,I use zip ties or electrical ties on the bottom ends of the cane that is pushed through the rotors. I then cut a section of cotton seed cake off in the size that will go into the bottom or top side of the rotor. I tie the cotton seed cake up inside a old pair of nylon hose and then tie the hose to the rotor. The cotton seed cake will swell up and dissolve into the water and bring in the smaller bait fish that will call up the slabs.
Once I have arrived on the lake in the area that i want to drop the structure in at ,I use my front depth finders to pin point the loaction and drop a marker float. I use the trolling motor to get up ontop of the location and then I just grab the tops of the cane on one of the rotors and just lift it up,swing it out and over the marker and let it go to the bottom of the lake. I you have a good depth find you will see that the bamboo will bush out like small trees on the bottom. Then I mark the location on my rear gps depth finder for those times after dark or before day break when sight markings are hard to see. The flat rotors sinks quickly into the mud allowing the upper tops of the canes to push outward forming a bushy looking tree that will last about three years. This type of structure drops works well around boat docks and areas that are not in a direct current.
If you think about it you can build a forest in a few minute out on the lake with just a little work.