This question comes up often on this forum. The answer is as clear as mud. The laws state that you must gain a permit. There is no clear cut way to gain that permit though.

In the past it has been up to the property managers of each lake, they were the sole and final word on whether they would allow it or not. They required that you mark on a map of the lake for them where you are putting the structure.

From personal experience, crappie must be able to swim through the structure pretty well for the best piles to work. Christmas trees only last a year or two before they totally rot out. I have tried PVC in the bucket several times with only very limited success. The best structures seem to be made of wood. My suggestion would be to use sycamore, they seem to work the best. It does not hurt to thin down some of the smaller branches. Crappie seem to like to swim in and out and around the structure.


Be prepared though, all the structures take a pretty long time before they get good. PVC structures seem to take the longest though. How they work is when algae, moss, etc. grow on your structure, it attracts the baitfish because they feed on the growth on the structure, and in turn the baitfish attract the crappie. Once you have baitfish, the crappie will seem to stay.

PVC does not allow quick growth of algae. Stake beds seem to take the second longest. For some reason, Sycamore seems to grow algae the quickest, and in turn attract crappie the fastest. I have started catching crappie on Sycamore as soon as 3-4 weeks after it is put out. The larger fish on structure can take awhile though, even up to a year or more. This is from personal experience.

I hope this helps! Just keep in mind that you always want your structure to only come up to about half the volume of water you are putting it in. In other words, if you are going to put the structure in 10' of water, the structure should be about 5' tall.

Good luck!

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Jim Raymer
Crappieking1