Thread: Seeking suggestions for habitat structure

Hi All,

Have a 12'x30' slip in a community boat dock. Depth is 25' to 27' and is about 130' off of shore line. Turbid water year round.
Not really any limits as to what may be done. Wood, pvc, cedar all okay just need to leave room to get boat on a lift in and out.
Would you put some of all types material and submerge it from the surface to the bottom or what?
Besides getting hung up and losing hooks is there such a thing as too much structure?
Appreciate any comments.
Scott

I know a lot of dock owners at lake of the ozarks tie a piece of wire, 3-4' long, to the bottom of cedar trees and hang them upside down from the dock. You have to tie a concrete block to the top of the tree to keep it pointing toward the bottom. This is good because the tree is straight up and down so you can cover a good depth range depending on how deep the crappie are that day. If you can tie it to the bottom of the walkway somehow it would be nice so you can fish straight down against the edge of your slip and not get hung up, plus it will give you more room for the boat lift. If not tie it in the front corner.

I suspend my PVC trees from docks and it works good for me. but I believe that natural trees are better but they only last a few years.

Another cool thing about extending them down from your dock is that is makes it very easy to make a reef type structure - a line of structure that is over a sloping bottom is best. Make it as long as you can covering a range of depths and you can catch fish year round. I also believe fish that are cruising around will often follow a line of structure checking different depths for bait fish.
It is also one of the easiest ways to place structure that is known - the PVC sinks on it's on, so you just attach some galvanized wire into a drilled hole in the pipe, then hang it off your pier.
Some of the PVC trees have a belled end so that you can link them together without a coupling and make them as long as you need. They fit together so tightly, you don't even need glue and they even have that hole already drilled to attach your wire.

Thanks for the replies, I'm gonna use a combination of PVC, hardwood, and a few trees. I'll vary the depths and hopefully get some year round fishing action.
Scott

I prefer natural material for structure. Willow is my favorite but I use what I can get.