Substituing willow for bamboo

[oneshot61]

I was wondering how willow would work in the crappie condos. I have access to willow saplings that are between 3 and 15 ft tall and 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. Has anyone tried using willow and what was the results?

[CrappieTexan]

I fished with a guy that used willow.... but the only problem he said was he had to add new willow each year.....but he caught lots of crappie around them.... so go far it.....:rolleyes:

[crappiecrazy]

A friend put out some "willow fish attactors", they had fish on them quick but did not last long.

[pstone]

Go for it. Fish like willows when the water gets up, should be the same if you sink em!

[CrappiePappy]

I was wondering how willow would work in the crappie condos. I have access to willow saplings that are between 3 and 15 ft tall and 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. Has anyone tried using willow and what was the results?

I have a suggestion, based on a report from Terry Oldham, of Texas .... and the owner/custom jig maker of Oldham's Lures. He once told me about using Willow trees for cover, and made this observation :
The Crappie would hold "over top of" the Willows, but rarely down in or under them. This led to placing them in deep water, according to how tall they were, so that they would be deep enough to not rot away so fast ... and still have the tops shallow enough to draw Crappie most all year, and be shallow enough to allow them to be reachable by casting/jigging.

I would consider using the taller ones first, the 10-15ft tall ones ... and placing them in 20-25ft of water. This should put a majority of the tree into the sub-thermocline water ... allowing it to last awhile longer ... yet still have the tops above the thermocline layer, and deep enough to draw fish - shallow enough to easily fish above it.
Let the small ones grow, and use them to replace or replenish your spots.

If you are considering dropping these Willows in Taylorsville Lake ... I've got a spot in mind, that would be perfect for 2 or 3 of the 10-15ft trees
I'd even be more than happy to help drop them, if you need a hand. Or I can just PM you, and tell you where I think would be a good place to drop a test condo or two.

Oh Yeah .... Welcome to Crappie.com !!

... luck2ya ... cp

[WhitePerchJerker]

I read an article about using Willow for brush piles that was interesting. I am sorry I did not save the article. It said that willow produced some sort of insect almost immediately when submerged. I do not know if it was fact. I have used Willow for years with very good results. Once I placed a brush pile in a lake and two hours later my brother-in-law wanted to go back and try the pile, so we did. Much to my surprised, we caught 36 White Perch off that brush.

[pstone]

I've done that with cedar. If you drop it where fish are looking for places to hide, it can condense them awful quick. Especially in the spring time!

I read an article about using Willow for brush piles that was interesting. I am sorry I did not save the article. It said that willow produced some sort of insect almost immediately when submerged. I do not know if it was fact. I have used Willow for years with very good results. Once I placed a brush pile in a lake and two hours later my brother-in-law wanted to go back and try the pile, so we did. Much to my surprised, we caught 36 White Perch off that brush.

[oneshot61]

Thanks for all the info guys. I didn't know how long willow would last. I saw that willow the other day and throught how much it looked like bamboo. This will probably be a project after work slows down later this fall. Crappiepappy, i will PM when I am thinking about putting them out. This a great forum and really helpful. Goodluck to you all and God Bless.

[blairarnold]

I have read a couple of crappie articles in some slick Texas hunting and fishing magazines. Both featured a husband and wife guiding team and another guide that they worked with a good bit. They do all their brushpiles with willow and are absolutely sold on it.