Ok Guys...Need A Little More Advice!

[gabowman]

I have been making the bamboo condos so today I spent time on the lake looking for potential spots to drop them into. I have the kind in 5 gal. buckets and the longest reeds are around 15 feet tilting out sideways with about 12 footers and less throughout the rest of the bucket.
One place I marked is in a shallow cove (more like a concaved shoreline behind a point) in the main body of the lake I plan on dropping one in. The water drops off from the bank to 20 feet of water and follows that contour until it suddenly drops off another 10 foot or so. It should do good although since I didnt see ANY structure on the bottom I didnt mark but one or two fish either. I'm good on this one.
Another I'll drop next to a sign in 20 foot of water. I'll be able to tie up to the sign and fish this one. It's on the side of the main body of the lake of one of the larger creeks. Around 10 yards farther out it starts dropping to to 40 feet or more.
Here's what I need to know from you guys with experience setting out these condos: I went back up into a cove I've always wanted to put cover in. It's probably 400 yds. deep or more. Going up the middle of this cove the water is as deep as 40 feet. There looks to be a lot of humps, stumps, clutter on the graph. The bottom is eratic the first 100-150 yards or so. From there the bottom gradually climbs up and flattens out to 30 feet deep. This depth changes quick about 20 yards from the banks on both sides and remains 30 feet deep in the middle of the cove. All the clkutter has now gone from the graph too. Would you take a condo that far back into a cove for winter/summer fishing or stay nearer the mouth or does it really matter? Also, do you recommend dropping into the deep water along the dropoff 50 feet from the banks or get in the middle of the channel which is probably 20-25 yards wide? The cove is probably 60-75 yards wide from start to end. (BTW, near the bank on one side right at the dropoff from the bank to 30 feet deep I did see what looked like alot of fish stacked up on the graph while using the fish symbols and not the arches since this was my first time ever using a depth finder. This was about a hundred yards from the mouth of the cove.
Just one more thing....I hit the gold mine getting permission cutting reeds today! Looks like EVERY ONE of them are from 12-15 feet tall and right in their yard. They are very bushy with smaller stalks. If I can keep this place for cutting reeds I'll never give out of 'em, no matter how many I cut.The load I got today took me all of 15 minutes to get by myself. Looks like I'm gonna make a few more next week after I get the 4 I already have out tomorrow evening and Monday evening. How many condos you guys have out and do you catch fish from all of them?
Hope I aint boring you guys but I would just hate dropping condos into unproductive water when you guys already have done all the trial-and-error for me. :D I appreciate your input too.
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[Crappie Reaper]

Not boring at all. I would keep the first ones you drop off near the deeper points. If you are dropping a 12' tall condo, drop it in about 18' of water. If you are dropping a 15', try 20' of water. Once you have some of the points covered, then work the interior of the coves towards the sides and the steeper drop offs. You might spread them out so that you can fish different ones on windy days depending on what direction the wind is blowing. You can set yourself up to catch some nice fish on any day the wind is rough, because you have some condos set out that will be easier to fish in the wind. Jerry and Darryl have so many condos out on two different lakes that they can fish either lake on any given day and be able to keep their clients on the fish, while also keeping the wind somewhat at bay. Good luck!