Death Star Question

[skiptomylu]

I remember this being talked about on this board and even what was used for the middle piece. However my memory has failed me as to what it was so can anyone clue me in as to what that was?

Thanks

[CrappiePappy]

http://www.crappie.com/gr8vb3/attach...ntid=303&stc=1

They are O-No Hang Fish Habitat spheres ( See - http://www.grizzlyjig.com/ )

One of our members said they looked like "death stars" from Star Wars ... and the nickname has stuck. ...........cp

[skiptomylu]

http://www.crappie.com/gr8vb3/attach...ntid=303&stc=1

They are O-No Hang Fish Habitat spheres ( See - http://www.grizzlyjig.com/ )

One of our members said they looked like "death stars" from Star Wars ... and the nickname has stuck. ...........cp

Thanks, but what is that middle sphere called, and what is it's real purpose other than the condo.

[Billbob]

no use but to hold fish

[CrappiePappy]

What was it "originally" used for - and then adapted to use as a hub for the PVC pipes ?? It wasn't ......... read this, and you will understand --

(The following is excerpted from an article written by Outdoors Editor Steve Vantrese and published in The Paducah Sun )

Some of the more discriminating fish nowadays are opting for modular habitat over "stick-built" structures.
They can do that increasingly as the word spreads about O-No Hang Fish Attractors and the Kentucky enterprise that shares its innovative portable fish "cover" with receptive anglers.
"It's something I've always known we've needed," said sporting goods businessman Bill Homra, one of four partners who are in cahoots on the production and marketing of the PVC plastic fish attractor.
The O-No Hang attractor — looking a little like a starburst or a fallen telecommunications satellite — consists of a 6-inch-in-diameter PVC ball core into which 26 half-inch PVC pipe "legs" plug - no other hardware needed.
Easily assembled with the 2-foot, 6-inch legs bristling, the attractor is a self-standing orb with a 5-foot, 6-inch diameter with lots of room to accommodate crappie, bass and other game fish among its splayed extremities.
The creative part, the center sphere, was patented through efforts of Homra's son-in-law, an angler and lawyer who is in on the piscatorial partnership.
"Larry Harper and his buddy Steve Larkins (both of Clinton) are our real crappie fishing experts, and they came up with the idea (and) the model for the attractor," Homra said.
Tested for three years on Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley in a wide range of conditions, the design and prototype attractors proved to be winners.
Its advantages are that the design is light (about six pounds) and easy to transport and place, the attractor doesn't have to be anchored to stand and function, it draws fish in the same manner as traditional wooden attractors, natural brush and stumps, and it is not "snaggy."
"You can wrap a line around one and jiggle it — and it will come right off," Harper said. "You can fish right down in them, and you won't hang up. The hook just won't stick in the PVC."
And, yes, by virtue of being PVC plastic, the attractor is enduring. Unlike natural brush piles that are weighted and sunk as attractors, the O-No Hang's bristling cover doesn't rot away and vanish in only a couple of seasons.
"It doesn't deteriorate," Homra said. "We've already sold two batches to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources for use on state-owned lakes, and one of the reasons they've gone to this attractor is that they won't have to redo them later. They'll hold fish year after year."
Harper said the state is using the O-No Hang attractors with a novel twist in one or more state lakes to the east — fitting the inside sphere hubs with high flotation foam and suspending the leggy attractors off the lake bottom on ropes.
"They're getting the attractors to float by roping them off the bottom 15 feet deep in 30 feet of water," Harper said. "By putting several attractors in a line, they're able to build an artificial 'ridge' that people will be able to catch fish off of.".
The bite of the O-No Hang attractor is that it retails for $29.95 in a package with center sphere and pre-cut legs. That's fairly more than a natural brush pile might cost, even if one figures in the cost of a concrete block or two and anchor line for the traditional attractor. But it's less expensive than at least one other manufactured fish attractor on the market.
The PVC attractor begins to pay for itself, however, as soon as the fisherman is able to enjoy its fish-clustering appeal without the subsurface hook hangs that are far more common with natural brush. And it begins to seem more cost effective when the angler can return to the same spot season after season and the attractor retains its shape, bulk and fish-holding appeal. "This just works better than wood because it doesn't go away, and you can fish all in and around it and not get hung up," Harper said.
"I've put these attractors out and caught fish out of them the same day," he said. "I've seen algae growth start covering the PVC in two weeks."
Harper said he has used the PVC starbursts extensively for Kentucky-Barkley crappie fishing, and he finds that they work to attract fish "just like any other brush pile." They prove superior, however, by allowing full-contact fishing without snags and lasting season after season, he said.
Harper recommends using a relatively light anchor — perhaps a brick-sized weight on very heavy monofilament line — when placing an O-No Hang attractor on a slope.
For regular production of fish on prime structural spots, Harper suggests linking three O-No Hang attractors into a triangle using common half-inch PVC joints.
"One attractor might hold six or eight crappie, but put three together out there and you have what is like a whole tree under water," Harper said. "It will hold a lot of fish, and with three together, you don't have to anchor them. They'll stay in place on their own."
Harper said all sorts of game fish relate to the PVC attractors just as they do to wood cover. "A bass fisherman could put the PVC attractors on choice ridges off shore in deep water and win tournaments off them," he said.
"We eventually want to offer just the sphere where people can provide their own (PVC) pipe and be able to make them more cheaply," Harper said. "As it is, anybody can buy PVC for the legs more cheaply than we can buy it, cut it into lengths and package it together with the hub."
As with any fish attractor, the O-No Hang contraption should go along structural bottom depth changes, especially along migration and travel routes of fish. "Just putting it in the lake is no good. You've got to place it in a travel area, a big ledge or creek channel along which fish are going to move," Harper said. "Once the attractor is out there, you can fish it with pole and line or casting up and down. You can fish over and around it, then all the way to the bottom down in it until you find where the fish are on any given day. You can fish the whole thing without getting hung up, not just around the edges."

WHEW - long article ... but, it explains things better than anything else I've found about these "death star" / "startburst" thingys .......... cp

[skiptomylu]

What was it "originally" used for - and then adapted to use as a hub for the PVC pipes ?? It wasn't ......... read this, and you will understand --



WHEW - long article ... but, it explains things better than anything else I've found about these "death star" / "startburst" thingys .......... cp

Wow thanks a load. I will have to give these a try soon!!!

[Cane Pole]

After a couple of years, mine came apart at the center. They look like crab legs now (1/2 a sphere with pvc legs sticking out). Screw them together. Just saying.

[jaxsprat]

Some folks have gotten old bowling balls,,drilled a bunch of holes in them and used them as the center piece with regular pvc pipe as the sticks- work just fine.............

[Billbob]

b balls or socker balls

[skiptomylu]

Had a customer send me one that he used the float from a toilet bowl. He just used silicone to glue it together and hey it cost a lot less than one of the store bought ones. I will have to see if I have a picture of it.

I think it may have had stubs glued to the ball and then the PVC pipe just sticks in there, I will have to check.

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