Fishing Condos

[jfraley]

I have placed a few condos in about 20' of water. They are bambo style and are about 7' to 10' tall. The times I have been back to fish them, the water has been realy muddy and the wind has been out of control.

Question: Do you guys anchor around your condos or troll thru them. Do they hold fish year around? I was thinking that it might be a good idea to put them in different areas for different times of the year. Any suggestions?

[David Waters]

yes, most definatley.

when putting out condos, here are things I like to think about.

am I adding to an existing pile or putting out something where nothing exists at the moment.

Do a lot of people fish in this area and will the condos be easily found?

windy conditions-put piles out where you are able to fish in different wind directions. In other words, no matter the wind, you have condos or brushpiles to fish.

water depth-put condos in different depths for different stages of spawn. Our lakes fluctuate highly. Between Feb and May, the water levels change up to 20 feet sometimes. Plus, I want piles and condos out in deep water for staging both before and after spawn, summertime trolling, ect ect.

Specific placements- there are some places I want a huge pile of stuff to hold lots of fish so I can just tightline over them for a long period of time. There are some piles or condos I place in a row along a dropoff or something like a ditch or flat so that I can troll faster with jigs and crankbaits.

I do a lot of adding to existing brushpiles. I don't really want a bunch of condos around a place I already catch a good number of fish off of. For instance, I have a buddy who added a lot of extra structure in the area around a good brush pile. What we found is while all the piles held some fish, the existing brush pile wasn't quite a good as it use to be. It took us longer because it spreaded the fish out a little. Another thing is don't pile up a lot of brush or condos (a big pile) in an area that might be in the wind all the time; unless that is the reason you want it there. So that nobody will fish it except you. Sorry for the ramble

hope this helps