home made structure

[spinnerbaitking]

does anyone out there place man made structures of any type in there home waters? one lake i been trying to fish is painfully without structure at least none i can identify no heavy weed beds smooth gradual sloping bottom oval lake without any real points or humps. was wondering if a few hideing places for fish might allow me to target them a little better. any hints or ideas? anything to watch out for that would be damageing to the habitat.

[Worm_King]

Snag,

Earlier this month someone else asked the same question. His idea was to form structures with PVC pipe. Don't know how that will fly on the lake your talking about. I'd imagine you could accidently plant some lillypads or something ???

[Infisherman1]

Dump a christmas tree in the pond somewhere next time. Or throw out some chopped down timber or something like that.

[mblk181]

On a bowl of a lake like you have that was probably made by the glaciers, you may try the following.....troll a depth around the lake...that is to say, start with 8 foot and with a fishfinder stay at the 8 foot level as you go....if that doesn't work, try the 9 foot line or the 7. Â*Had a friend on a lake in Michigan similar in shape to yours and he had great success with the 8 foot level.

While trolling slowly you may be able to pick out certain subtle features on the fish finder that may hold bass....little dips, a few rocks, weedpatches, etc.

[spinnerbaitking]

thanks so in a lack of structure you think they chose a certain depth to hang out in, or at least more than the random scattering over the rest of the lake. do lilly pads do well in very hot sunny weather? winter time here is a joke maybe a couple light frosts two years ago while i was deployed there was a 2 inch snow storm. had the whole place "snowed in" haha they didnt know what to think from what i hear. only lasted a day.

[singerloo]

chain up a bunch of timber, put something heavy on both ends, and sink it into the lake...
that will be a fish-magnet


seaphantom

[nicholastown]

sinking your own structure can be very effective. What type of structure you sink, and where you sink it, is very important. A lot of people like to sink their old christmas trees. This will work, but it takes a long time for fish to relate to these types of trees, and they rot very quickly. If you are going to sink trees, or wood, then stick with hardwoods. These trees will last forever, and attract fish very quickly. Other options are PVC. This can act as a very effective attractant when knuckled together and sunk. Now, where you sink it is just as important as what you sink. Just going out to the middle of the lake and dropping some tree limbs isn't going to be near as effective as if you strategically place your structure. Place your structure in places that would already attract fish. This may be a point, dropoff, hump, or an irregular structure. It may be something as simple as a 1ft difference in depth. Also, before putting anything in a public lake, check with your local laws to make sure its legal. I know that it is illegal to dump anything into a public lake in Ms. If it is legal, then I suggest doing it at night, or when there is little boat traffic on the lake. That way you will be the only person to know where your structure is. Good fishing.

[mblk181]

Mtbassman is right on......positioning the brush is important. Also be sure to cut your brush before the fall and winter.....it sinks better with the sap in the branches. Still need some weight, but not nearly as much.

[Ben_Dover]

Try and compete against someone in a tournament who lives near the lake and has fished it along time it is very hard. The structure they have placed in the lake allows them to catch 5 or 6 lbers on a regular basis so if you have structure in key spots your odds are a whole lot greater. Needless to say I will be a busy man this winter.

[Rob Mak]

my buddy tore down an old block building there is a new rock pile in badin. took us most of 6 nights to do it and a pontoon boat. but i have a nice large rock pile in 15 feet of water 3 times the size of my boat.i have it locked in to my gps and there is proff i can catch good bass from there.

zooker

[spinnerbaitking]

cool . i think this could be a good trick to zero me in on a few more and larger bass in this lake. would be hard to load elephant butte(the only tournament lake) though an awful lot of f&g and park guys around there not to mention everyone in this side of texas and new mexico hanging out there hmmmm damn bass tempting me to be bad.... hmmm oak tree out back could use trimming....think i hear the chainsaw calling. lol

[bassfisher14]

[quote author=snag-a-matic link=board=news;num=1090937358;start=0#4 date=07/28/04 at 00:46:02]do lilly pads do well in very hot sunny weather? [/quote]

Lilly pads love wide open sun, and hot weather.

At least the ones I have always seen do.

[macgyver]

[quote author=bassbooger link=board=news;num=1090937358;start=0#11 date=07/28/04 at 23:18:12]

Lilly pads love wide open sun, and hot weather. Â*

At least the ones I have always seen do.[/quote]

They will do fine, however if the point is to make YOUR OWN honey hole, everyone and their brother will be fishing the pads, may not be any fish left for you

Lizards

[spinnerbaitking]

you guys know any place to get lilly pads? only ones i have seen are the itty bitty fish aqaurium type. i have a cove that would be perfect since the entracnce is blocked by several large rocks anything wider than a canoe or that draws more water depth than a pontoon boat cant get in, but i go in around the back side of lake and hike in. none of the local lakes have pads... is there any negative impact to introduceing pads to a lake without them?

[bassfisher14]

You might want to check the local laws on introducing any aquatic plants to a lake. Â*Lillies will not hurt a lake, they will actually help it out. Â*There are some states that do not allow any extra plants introduced into the lakes.

If you can introduce them, then if you want to spend the money, get you some form any ofthe pond supply stores. Â*You might want to look on the net for some too.

[spidey04]

We Used to take pallets, and run 2 foot boards one on each corner and one on each side, and then 1 or 2 in the middle and sink them with a cement block or two in the middle or even on the sticks themselves. It makes for great structure, just make sure that you sink it with the boards standing up and not down. LOL>
Hard to fish that way. I have also noticed lately (I don't recomend It) that there are quite a few tires in the lakes around here, and I don't think they just Floated out there. LOL> I would imagine they would make good cover for Brim, or crappies. But not sure about bass.

TRY THE AQUATIC PLANT DEPOT IN FLORIDA.I GOT SOME REALLY GOOD GRASSES FROM 'EM LAST YEAR FOR A SMALL POND I BUILT, AND THEY SALE A FEW AMPHIBIANS TOO.

[fool4bassin]

christmas trees dont last long juts so you know

[fredhatch]

Introducing non native water plants can be a tricky one. They may have an adverse effect on the ecosystem. In Fl they are using PVC primarily. The few I have seen are locked together in squares and stacked w/ seperators in between. You figure four or five high w/ a 6-12" gap in between them can cover a pretty large depth. May not work immediately, but figure w/ the warmer weather here the silt and grasses will hook to them and start a whole new little ecosystem. 8)

[Bassin_Dude]

i know this guys that put a christmas tree out the christmas before last, and last i checked(about 4 week ago) the tree was still holding up great. i even pulled a few 3-4lb bass off of it.

[fool4bassin]

i heard that christmas trees rit alot faster then any other guess what i heard was wrong

[Bassin_Dude]

it really depends on where you put the tree. if you put it somewhere with lots of current, or boat traffic(even if the tree is deeper then the motor prop), then the tree will go faster. the best areas to put on is in a small but relatively deep cove, or back water area. somewhere away from the rest of the structure.

[jglassguy]

As part of our clubs affliation with BASS we had to do enviromental improvement jobs on roads and lakes, as well as hold several kast for kids contests.
One year we gathered up about 300 xmas trees and tied blocks to them and let the rangers take them out in john boats to sink near a homemade break wall.
Man o man did that ever work out!..holds crappies at Hueston Woods like crazy
So I get the bright idea of doing the same at the pond.
They all worked and held fish, but heres some things I discovered
one is that it takes a good size wieght to sink them and hold them down, esp anchor the block with wire.
once I did get the trees covered however, the moss found them and parts werent as appealing to the bass, it looked just like a lump of slime.
The other experience I had was taking a huge brush pile and I finally got it to sink with plenty of blocks, but what happened later was a huge wind storm that winter moved the brush about 100 feet, and it took some time for me to figure and find it.
I talked to guides on the big lakes and they tell me its almost impossible to keep brush piles year after year, they get moved by current n wind, so they end up putting them out about every year.
The best thing ya can do to any dock or lake or pond is give it cover, downed willow trees is what i use at the pond, and most lakes have all kinds of fallen trees due to erosion

[Bassin_Dude]

i know alot of people put there cut up trees into lakes from the hurricanes, they would cut the tree into sections, and drop them into the water. some people also use cinder blocks and chain them together to make structure. for the christmas trees, i heard sticking the trunk thru a few cinder blocks and chaining them up sinks them just fine.

[jglassguy]

cheese n crackers , I could tell you some of the most f*ked up home made structure has to be
those hillbillys that live off the creeks on the Ohio River.
I came up to one homemade pt. that was made up of tow motor wheels..all about a foot in diameter... i bet there was over 1000 of them.
I've seen barrels in the water, folding chairs, plywood,
skids, a safe, bargs that are sunk or half of them are in water,
but all in all they do hold fish, its not enviromentallly correct and its polution, plus its easier to get hung up on..esp steel post and cables