Building Bamboo Crappie Condos

[Jerry Blake]

We’ve discovered that bamboo is an excellent material for building crappie condos (fish attractors). It lasts for years and will hold crappie year around when properly constructed and placed in a good location. They cost less than $3 each (for the QuickCrete) if you can get buckets for free from a painter or drywaller.

After building quite a few we’ve come up with a system that works well.

We’re using freshly cut bamboo that is about 12 to 15-feet tall or only the top 12 to 15-feet of taller bamboo but you could use other lengths to make the condos the height you want. The bushier the better and we leave the branches and leaves on. We don’t use any bamboo larger than about 1¼-inch in diameter at the butt end because larger ones take up too much room in the bucket and are too buoyant.

We cut the bamboo with a chain saw a couple inches below a “knuckle” (to secure them in the concrete) and carry it to the lake in the boat by placing the butt ends towards the front and packing the tops down in the back and securing them in the boat with a couple ropes.

I can carry enough bamboo for three condos and still get in to motor to our building spot. It is much easier to transport the parts than the completed condos so if possible you want a building area close to where you are going to sink them.

We put about a dozen stalks in a 5-gallon plastic bucket with 60-pounds of Quickcrete. We start with about 3-inches of water in the bottom of the bucket and stir in about 1/3 of the QuickCrete before adding the other 2/3. We make the Quickcrete a little soupy and make sure it’s stirred up all the way to the bottom of the bucket so we can get the bamboo down all the way down.

The biggest problem we’ve had is keeping the condos standing up until the QuickCrete sets, especially if there is any wind. To stabilize them we have four 3-foot pieces of 3/8-inch rebar driven in the ground around the buckets to just below the rim with a rope tied around the bucket AND to each rebar so they can’t spread.

We have these setup near some big trees for additional support and we start with two stout bamboo stalks placed in the bucket at an angle so the butt is at the bottom edge of the bucket and against the rim on the opposite side. We put one on each side of our support tree and secure them to the tree with a bungee cord about 6-feet off the ground, which is about halfway up the stalk.

We then add more of the bigger stalks at an angle like the first ones around the bucket and then put the rest at different angles with a few of the shorter ones standing straight up.

Since we’ve been doing it this way we haven’t had any problem with them tipping over. On land they are quite top heavy but in the water the bamboo is buoyant so it keeps the condos standing straight up. I don’t know how long the bamboo will remain buoyant but some bamboo condos put in Lake Greeson almost 2-years ago on a steep bank are still standing straight up and still holding crappie. I suspect that by the time the bamboo gets waterlogged the bucket has pretty well settled into the muck on the bottom.

We let the concrete set over night – longer in cool weather - before sinking the condos. When we are ready to sink them we remove the bungee from the support tree and lift the buckets out of the rebar and leave the rebar in the ground for the next batch.

If you are taking the materials to a building area by boat it is easiest and less messy to handle the QuickCrete by putting it in the buckets first. It only takes little bit of moisture and the QuickCrete bags come apart, which makes a big mess in the boat.

Of course you’ll need an extra bucket or two to get started – it’s real hard to get the QuickCrete stirred all the way to the bottom if it is in the bucket when you add the water. For stirring up the QuickCrete we use a small garden rake with a long handle – works real well and takes less than a minute.

We put the condos in the boat so the bucket is in the bottom and they lean out over the sides or back because it’s real hard to keep them standing up while motoring, even going slowly. I can carry three condos at a time in my 21-foot boat – two in front and one in back.

Once over the drop zone we just lift the bucket over the side and drop it. Don’t have to worry about dropping them straight because they go down like a parachute with the bucket at the bottom.

This is what they look like on a graph -

Coming Over:

Over:

Coming Off:

We're placing the condos in 20 to 35-feet of water so we can fish them year around. On points we are dropping them in a row at different depths down the ridge of the point. On sloping banks we are putting them in sort of a triangle at different depths and far enough apart so we can make the rounds fishing each of them without disturbing fish on the other ones.

We've caught fish on our bamboo condos in less than a week and they don't seem to go through the "souring" stage like hardwoods with leaves on them do. We are also planning to place some in the deepest part of the channel in the mouths of coves and at different depths going into the coves.

Even after the leaves fall off the branches provide a lot of cover.

They are easier to get a jig un-hung from than wood too.

Once set up it only takes a couple hours to cut, haul and build three condos and just a few minutes to drop them if you don’t have to motor very far.

This type of crappie condo has been very productive for catching fish and it also provides cover for small crappie to hide in and grow.

[Moose1am]

First off really good write up Jerry. Even Nat will like that one.

The pictures really help to explain what you are writting about. Now I fully understand how you use the trees to keep the bamboo in place while the concrete sets up.

My only question is how did you manage to get three pictures in the post. I suspect that when you put a few lines of text inbetween each picture it will let you post more pictures that actually show up on the post as real pictures other than links to the pictures.

I am surprised by the large spread that these bamboo's shoots create. I am sure that the leaves and shoots give plenty of new habitat for those little critters that feeds the food chain.

[Jerry Blake]

Thanks Moose:

The pictures are just links - they are actually hosted on my website. I just click on the yellow box with the mountains in it above where you type and paste the URL for the picture in the box that pops up. Then to center them I highlight that text and click on the "Align Center" tab at the top - it's the 5th tab over in the tool bar that has the "Bold", "Italicize" and "Underline" tabs.

[FalconSmitty]

moose they seem to be the best thing I have ever used. They can be cut for any depth of water. They produce great short term. I caught 30+ yesterday on one I dropped just last week. I caught 2 at a time on a doudle minnow set up 3 times. This one was 16' tall in 24' of water. they look like a big school of shad on the depth finder. Impressive looking from above. If you fish vertical if a jig hangs you can just let in back down and off the limb. I catch several with the leaves stuck on the hook and gills. Kinda funny. If the DNR doesn't shut me down I will have them all over the 3 lakes I fish.

[Mike Simpson]

Jerry,
The condos look great! I can think of some really good places for those on my home lake, now if I can just find some bamboo.....

Thanks for sharing the good, detailed information!

Mike

[labill]

Thanks Moose:

The pictures are just links - they are actually hosted on my website. I just click on the yellow box with the mountains in it above where you type and enter the URL for the picture in the box that pops up. Then to center them I highlight that text and click on the "Align Center" tab at the top - it's the 5th tab over in the tool bar that has the "Bold", "Italicize" and "Underline" tabs.

Now I see how you've been posting the larger sized photos. If a man doesn't have a website, how can he host his pics on the web? I'm so proud of the Kodak camera I bought I wanted to show off how sharp the photos are, but as you know, the other method restricts you to only 146.5 kb.. not a very good size for photo quality. Earthlink offers 2 free sites with a subscription to their ISP, I may have to learn how to build a website...lol!! I have to laugh at that one. I'm not that computer savvy.

Nice presentation, Jerry.

[FalconSmitty]

Bill store your pics on Photobucket it is free

Now I see how you've been posting the larger sized photos. If a man doesn't have a website, how can he host his pics on the web? I'm so proud of the Kodak camera I bought I wanted to show off how sharp the photos are, but as you know, the other method restricts you to only 146.5 kb.. not a very good size for photo quality. Earthlink offers 2 free sites with a subscription to their ISP, I may have to learn how to build a website...lol!! I have to laugh at that one. I'm not that computer savvy.

[labill]

Bill store your pics on Photobucket it is free

Thanks for the tip. I've just finished registering. Now I'll see if I can get the photos there....I'm going to like this! Thanks again........

[Jerry Blake]

Hey Bill:

That's what I was going to suggest - use one of the free sites for hosting your pics. On the other hand if you ever decide to have your own website it's really not hard and I would be happy to help you if I can.

I'm not really "that computer savvy" either but I learned on my own and got most of what I needed free off the internet.

[Jerry Blake]

OK, question now is - are these instructions ready to be turned into an article? If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears (well eyes, I guess). Otherwise, ED, I guess it's ready to roll!