help with brush piles

[stoddard73]

Wanted to know if anyone had any tips on sinking trees for crappie. I have never fished for crappie and have 12-14 5 foot xmas trees to create structure. I will be fishing in NW alabama(tn river). Any ideas/tips would be a lot of help. Thanks

[Micropterus salmoides]

Your best bet for getting the most information is to go to the "Crappie cover and Lake Structure" forum on this site.
Otherwise I would say........hmm, set 'em in crete in a bucket and drop 'em in a creek mouth or bow in the river. Just make sure they're weighted good to be stable in ur river current. Best I can do for ya, G'luck.

Adam

[jafacman]

Micro is right. Very Very heavy buckets of concrete (80lbs) Also clip out a few branches in the middle of the tree to allow room for the fish to enter the center freely to get out of the sunlight. Fish will stay along the bottom and middle of the habitat more than the top. Xmas trees are great if they are thinned, they are to compacted for the fish to enter otherwise and wont hold near the amount of fish it is capable of. Place them in groups of 3 or more for the best results.

[BigKyd]

You are going to want them vertical whatever you do. If they lay on their side you will never find them on your sonar due to the needles getting weighed down with silt causing the tree to lay flat and blend with the bottom.

[tnjeff]

Wanted to know if anyone had any tips on sinking trees for crappie. I have never fished for crappie and have 12-14 5 foot xmas trees to create structure. I will be fishing in NW alabama(tn river). Any ideas/tips would be a lot of help. Thanks

I have heard that you can burn the needles off and it makes it a little easy to sink and fish.

[blairarnold]

I have heard that you can burn the needles off and it makes it a little easy to sink and fish.

I tried that once, and it burned nearly all the limbs off as well as the needles. If I do it again, I think I'll just cut enough limbs off to create some openings.

[crappieseeker]

The only idea I have is when you sink them and start catching fish is to take me with you to help you catch a few more. Good luck with your plan and I hope you catch lots of fish

[kincade]

I've done this many a time. It's best if you cut some branches off so fish can swim through, needles need to be taken off. I usually burn them off but have a hose ready to put out the flames. So you dont overburn. I tie cinderblocks to them with rope. It will be easier to do this in the boat than to pour concrete and lug them around. Although i do pour concrete on occasion.

[Yates]

set it on fire burn out the small stuff... don't burn it up... it will work better if you burn it frist......

[wannabe fisherman]

hate to be a wet blanket, but if this is public water make sure you check for regulations before putting anything in the water. Most lakes around here (KY) are COE and you need a permit for the lake you want to use. If you get caught without one, well not sure what they do, but it won't be good.