Pvc or natural

[JimmyZ]

I have never built or placed condos. I was wondering which is better. I have a hard time driving by big limbs with a lot of branches on it and not thinking about how many crappie could be enjoying it. I want to put some sort of structure off of a floating dock. I have some cylinder blocks to sink brush with. Is pvc better for some reason? Thanks for any info.

[NIMROD]

I've had better results with hardwoods . The PVC is going to last for ever and may be illegal. The wood lasts a few years at best. The best cover for good size crappie needs to be thin enough to pass 8'' wide boards into. The thick cedars tend to moss over or be full of dinks. They are also a pain to fish with hanging up so much. A Persimmion tree is best ,it does'nt have a lot of small limbs. Tie several small ones together.Tie into bundles with copper wire on each end. Weight down both ends of bundle. Drop these around channel drops or around your dock. This is just my opinion and what works best where I fish.:D

[Allen42]

All I have ever put in before now was trees, and sweetgum is one of the best we have used, also Holly trees work good,, I too dont care for cedar trees... never tried persimmon tree but i see why they would be good ..

I am now collecting PVC & have enough for several good condos & plan on putting em out soon, the biggest advantage i can see is , once in place , if anchored good & nobody hooks it with an anchor , you SHOULD be able to catch fish on it for EVER !!! , With wood you always have to add to it and sometimes when you add fresh wood to it, it isnt as good as it once was BUT sometimes it is better ,,,,

[CrappiePappy]

I have never built or placed condos. I was wondering which is better. I have a hard time driving by big limbs with a lot of branches on it and not thinking about how many crappie could be enjoying it. I want to put some sort of structure off of a floating dock. I have some cylinder blocks to sink brush with. Is pvc better for some reason? Thanks for any info.

The big difference is that PVC won't deteriorate. Another good reason to use PVC is that it's very hard to hang up on. But, technically .... any cover is better than no cover. All you're doing is providing a hiding place for the fish, a shade producing ambush spot, a hiding place for baitfish, and a place for algae to grow (some baitfish eat algae).

Things to consider:
cheapest available materials - tools on-hand
size of condo vs depth of water
variations in water depth during the year
swimming/diving activity from dock
placing structure on lake bottom vs hanging structure from dock
placement of structure - under dock, beside dock, or out away from dock
legality of putting any materials in the lake

You could put out "both", and see which one produces better.

There's lots of ways to construct "fish attractors" .... even a 5gal bucket 1/3full of rocks is a makeshift "stump". Add PVC pipes or various lengths of wood "stakes", and you've got a stump with branches.

Just some of my thoughts on the matter ..... any questions about them, feel free to PM me or reply here ....... luck2ya ... cp

[sac-a-lait]

Pappy's number 1 item listed above is the KEY....COST...What is each condo going to cost? at 10 a condo you have to be crazy going out there and placing them. SOme people pay more than that...20, 30 bucks PER condo.

Me...most cost are almost fixed except for the cost on the amount of cement I'm gonna use.

Here's how I break mine down.

Cement...$1-$4 per 80 pound bag. Now the price can be as low as a dollar based upon some advice someone gave on here about buying the ripped bags of cement. The ripped bags usually won't be full, but for a buck it's stupid to pass up. A full, un-ripped, new bag is about $3.50 at Home Depot or $4 at Lowes.

MOLDS....I have 10, $2 dish pans I use OVER and OVER and OVER as the base to form the structure.

STRUCTURE (PVC or WOOD)....I used PVC. I bought a GIANT pile of damaged pipe in all different sizes, mostly 3" or smaller, in 20 foot sections for $100. I mean it's thousands and thousands of feet of pipe. It took 3 men an hour to load it all. So my cost per condo came in at less than 25 cents for the pipe, which is undeard of and I place 9-12 pvc arms in each mold.

So I build mine for about 2 bucks each if they get 40 pounds of cement in them that was purchased at $3.50 a bag. If I can get ripped bags, then the price goes down.

So, for me, cost is the main factor to consider.

[crappiefarmer]

If you have to purchase and can't find used material to use. Then use tops and limbs and sink them. When you find a pile that produces really well then spend the money on the pvc and make the spot permanent. Drop the pvc condos in after the brush rots away or when what you feel is the brushpiles last year of productivity ( and you'll be able to tell by your catch rate declining) giving the pvc some time for algae growth and for the last few limbs to rot away so the hang ups become fewer and fewer. This way you won't waste your pvc on a bad spot. CF

[NIMROD]

We cut small trees , use scrap pieces of wire , and used concrete blocks. The wire is short pieces of electrical wire , peel off outsie coating .(3 wires in most ). Look where they are tearing down old buildings and salvage old concrete blocks. Costs are time and transportation of materials.:D

[exit 84]

How long does it normally take for the condo's to start holding fish?