Making new cover for fish in a retention pond?

[Fishnngolfn]

I am looking to sink an old fake christmas tree or something that will provide some cover for the bass in my neighborhood's larger retention pond. Any suggestions (other than the Christmas tree) on what to put in the water and how to anchor it down? I plan on doing this in the weeeee hours of the morning so I am the only one who will know where it is.

[doc]

If you use a tree, weight the bottom, and use a empty 2 or 3 liter bottle tied to the top when you sink it to make it fall weight down and top up. Heard about that somewhere, mabye lowrider.

[Fishnngolfn]

Will old (dead) small trees that I removed from my back yard work? I have two trees about 10 to 12 feet tall that are pretty much dead. I am going to dig them up sometime in the next couple of weeks. Should I just lay these on their sides near the bank or sink them as well?

[carolina-rig-01]

i know of a few guys who have done this and it works. take an old 5 gallon bucket, pour it full of concrete with a couple feet of pvc pipe sticking up out of the middle of the bucket. then with a handful of T-fittings and such along with some more pipe you can make your own pvc trees. your baits won't get hung as bad on the plastic pipe. if you know someone who is a contractor, plumber, or maybe someone who has recently remodeled or built a house they will probably give you plenty scraps of pipe.

[Jim80]

If you are gonna lay it in from the bank i would remove some of the branches from the part in the water , and you should sink one as well nothing wrong with giving them one more area to hide

[lowrider]

yep it was me. use a bag of gravel to weigh the bottom that way it'll be there. the empty jugs up top do not need to be at the surface, just high enough to float the top of the tree. the crappie guys i saw doing it were using willow trees. even after the leaves are gone all those little branches stay to give the cover you want.

[MississippiBoy]

Originally Posted by Fishnngolfn

Will old (dead) small trees that I removed from my back yard work? I have two trees about 10 to 12 feet tall that are pretty much dead. I am going to dig them up sometime in the next couple of weeks. Should I just lay these on their sides near the bank or sink them as well?

If you're trying to keep it a secret, sink 'em. If you put them close to the bank, somebody's bound to find them.

Is there much other cover available already? If you can, find a spot that's fairly bare of cover and put them there.

[Fishnngolfn]

I am not exactly sure how deep it is. I think it is around 6 to 8 feet at the deepest part which is in the middle. It is bowl shaped if I remember correctly. It was bone dry last year from the drought we had. It is fairly clear except after heavy rains. I can see grass or weeds growing from the bottom just about everywhere. The grass or weeds look like they are about 2 to 3 feet tall. There are a few cattails and tall clumps of grass that grow up out of the water and I can catch small bass near those fairly easily. Some contractors working on the houses nearby have caught some 2 to 3 pounders running spinners just over the top of the grass/weeds. I don't want to work the entire lake looking for the 2 to 3 pounders that are in there now since my wife gives me limited time to fish. I figured I could create some artificial cover in a few secret spots and those 2 to 3 pounders will be 4 to 5 next year and near MY cover. That way I can go straight to those spots and the chances of me catching a hawg go up.

[Fishnngolfn]

Here is a picture of the two ponds in my neighborhood.

Fishnngolfn's neighborhood retention ponds

[Bmuskin]

Good looking water, but not much shade or cover around the edges for sure. I remember when they made a pond close to my house a couple of years ago. They tied brush together and weighted and sunk it. I have even heard of old tires but I do not know if this is legal or how it impacts water. Anything the can hide in under and ambush prey would work I know of 1 pond back home that had an old car in it and was always a good spot for bass. I am sure that would be kind of toxic though. Old culvert would work dandy.

[Fishnngolfn]

What about something like this? You can buy a package of 3 spheres for $32 and then just buy 1/2" diameter pvc from Lowes or Home Depot. I think I would be less likely to get hung up on something like this as opposed to a sinking a fake tree.

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by Fishnngolfn

What about something like this? You can buy a package of 3 spheres for $32 and then just buy 1/2" diameter pvc from Lowes or Home Depot. I think I would be less likely to get hung up on something like this as opposed to a sinking a fake tree.

i still would go with the pvc tree in the bucket full of concrete because once that bucket full of concrete settles to the bottom it won't get drug off or drift away very easy.

[Fishnngolfn]

That porcipine looking thing would get weighted down too. It would have to or else I would be stuck trying to figure out where it drifted off to.

Right now I am going to just try sinking a fake christmas tree since all it will cost me is a bucket, concrete, and some wire.

[WTL]

If you buy the PVC from a store, get the type used for drains and not pressurized plumbing. Its much cheaper,.

I still would just go with trees. But thats me. Use cinder blocks to weight them down, or concrete if you want to take the time.

[Fishnngolfn]

With the construction of the houses going on right near the ponds, I imagine I can get concrete or cinder blocks without any problems. And no, I am not going to steal them. I have talked with the contractor on numerous occasions. I maybe able to swing some old pvc pipe scraps and make something.

[Bmuskin]

If they have any old window well inserts those would be awesome. Like a garage for hawgs.