Bucket Beds

[Jerry Blake]

Been collecting buckets for a while and Darryl and I finally got a chance to put them in the lake today to make a stump field about 50' x 75' in a protected cove. We'll find out next spring how well they work here. Our water is real clear especially on the part of the lake we made our stump field so we placed them so they will be in 10 to 12-feet of water when the lake comes back up to summer pool, which will be before the spawn.

When bucket beds were discussed on here a while back someone asked about getting buckets apart that were stuck together. I had several that were stuck real good - a couple with paint - but I found a good way to get them apart - if you have an air compressor.

I just drilled about a 3/16th-inch hole on the side, close to the bottom of the bottom bucket and used the spray nozzle on my air compressor, which has a rubber tip - to inject air into the bottom bucket and they came right apart. Found out the hard way though not to put the hole in the bottom of the bucket because it can knock the spray nozzle into your hand if the buckets pop apart real fast - like when they are stuck together with paint.

I drilled a couple holes in the bottom of each bucket with a 5/8-inch paddle bit so the water could get in and let the bucket sink. We couldn’t find a good gravel bed anywhere close so we filled them about 1/3 full of clay/dirt/rocks from the bank.

When we put them in the water we let some water run over the top by putting them in at an angle but just enough so they would still float with a couple inches sticking out of the water. That way we could get the next bucket in the water before the previous one sank so we could line them up spaced out about every 5-feet or so. They would float real level and in a short time they would fill the rest of the way up with water and go straight to the bottom standing up.

Hopefully by spawning time in about 4-months they will be covered with algae and slime and the crappie will think there are about 50 new stumps in that cove to spawn around.

[Brandon Jennings]

Jerry I must have missed the post earlier on the bucket beds, but it seems like a great idea. I just might have to try this on Red River here in Central Louisiana. Approximately how many buckets did it take to cover your area?

[Jerry Blake]

I think we had about 47 buckets. Russ Bailey did a show with Richard Williams on putting out bucket beds. I did a search using "Bucket Beds" and found the thread:

http://www.crappie.com/gr8vb3/showth...ht=Bucket+Beds