ceder trees

[tim]

Does cedar trees have that souring process that other trees goes through. Our corp here loaned some of us there boat for putting out brush and a local lake has got a new load of them. How long will it take for the fish to move in.

[Darryl Morris]

Hey Tim - to the best of my knowledge all hardwoods and pines will sour, some more than others. But, at any rate, cedar makes for really good, dense cover for both panfish and baitfish. Don't work too hard. The fish should find it rather quickly and will use it as long at it suits them for the conditions. Depending on how much it might sour and how long it takes for the moss and/or algae to take hold, they'll get back on it. Pick some really good spots and appropriate depths (end of points with deeper water on three sides, bottom and top of primary and secondary creek channels on or near inside bends, etc.) and they should be productive for you for several years.

[NIMROD]

We've never done as good with Cedar ,lots of small fish and stayed hung. Oak works good but some such as Willow Oaks are to many small limbs and sour bad. We perfer Persimmon , they have few limbs and not as much time soured. I've caught slabs same week as Persimmons sunk. I have over 100 tops in Nimrod made of everything. PVC , Oak , Bamboo , Persimmon,and various other trees. The persimmon and older Oak tops(over 1 year old as Oak sours bad) produce more slabs for me.
Good luck p.s. Did you dry the cedar out and knock off the needles? That seems to help and prevent moss'n over as bad.:D

[John Brower]

I'v been told by conservation dept guys that it makes a
difference if the cedar is green or not. if it is green it will
take longer for fish to utilize the trees,

John B.

[slabbandit]

I have found that I have a preference for the more open types of cover such as large oak limbs or persimmon trees. The only way I would use cedar would be to find one that is leaning over and void of all needles. These trees are usually 4 to 6 inches across the trunk. Before I use them I think that I would trim all the limbs back until the ends of all the limbs are no smaller than a quarter. This will make all the limbs a little more open and also hold the trunk up off the bottom.

I have a cedar tree such as this located and may try to sink it soon. Tomorrow NIMROD and I are planning on sinking several brushpiles. May have a few pics to post tomorrow.

Whatever type of natural brush you choose to use always try to support it up off the bottom a little by tying it tight to the top of your buckets or have a couple of the stronger limbs on the bottom. This will keep the weights from smashing the bottom limbs down flat. This allows the crappie to use all the structure.

[Darryl Morris]

Sometimes dense cover is necessary for the protection of smaller baitfish and fry which also attracts crappie and increases recruitment. With bamboo the small branches seem to last a good deal longer than wood and when using an extra lightwire hook you can pull out of it easily if you get hung up. With wood the small stuff will rot away in short order leaving it less dense anyway.

You make a good point Slabbandit about getting your brushpile up off the bottom. The rule of thumb we like to use is build your pile so that it consumes half the water column you're sinking it in (ie: in 24' of water, an 8-12' tall brushpile is perfect).

[tim]

The corp were the ones putting in the cedar trees here, i marked about 45 different piles. I have been putting out bamboo condos in the same lake and wouldnt you know it they put some of the cedar piles on two of my bamboo spots. I have put out about 30 different condos in the last two weeks. I thought that i would mark their piles and try them sometime.

[TapOut64]

Could someone explain what you mean by a tree souring? I've never caught a crappie near a pine tree, any idea why?

[tim]

Went today and fished about 8 of the piles caught fish in two of them, didnt have any keepers caught about 12 i couldnt believe the fish were in them already. The fish were in about 6-8 foot of water.

[Darryl Morris]

Could someone explain what you mean by a tree souring? I've never caught a crappie near a pine tree, any idea why?

Hey there TAP -- When you sink live organic material in the water it will begin to decompose. The decomposition process adds gases to the water most of which are not oxygen, thus not attractive and offensive to the fish -- souring. Once the decomposition process slows when moss/algae (oxygen emitters) begin to grow on the brushpile the fish will return and be attracted to it not only for natural covered protection but also because it's comfortable to them -- kinda like us standing in the air conditioning in deep summer, so to speak. A well established brushpile for panfish is much like bass being attracted to grassy or mossy areas that emit oxygen. And, algae in its microscopic stage is called plankton -- http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plankton -- which is the food source for baitfish and fry. Attract the prey, catch the predator. Build a condo along the underwater highway and offer free room service.