Those Bradford Pear tree limbs make excellent crappie beds!
Moose brought this to my rememberance - talking about dogwoods
blooming and referencing the spring crappie activities to it - Have any
of you noticed Bradford pears? My wife's got a bunch of 'em in the yard,
and they seem to bloom a little earlier than the dogwoods. I'm not real
keen on fishing the spawn, but it seems to be a pretty good indicator, least
in my neck of the woods. Tried for years to get a store-bought dogwood
to live in the yard with no luck, but those Bradfords really like it, at least
till they get big and a windstorm takes them out. First one she put out
went last Fall, took two trips with a 16' trailer to haul off the branches,
and drug the trunk off with the tractor. BIG!
Shoals Area Crappie Association
OK, so I got like a dozen big crappie beds just waiting for the
"perfect storm" then :D I put the last one in a gully in the pasture
Shoals Area Crappie Association
We had a pretty good windstorm here last year that took out a huge Bradford Pear tree in front of a church near Lake Greeson. It had three main limbs that would barely fit one at a time on a 16-foot utility trailer. A friend of mine hauled them to the lake and we drug them out to the nearest crappie bed that needed refreshing. We caught some nice crappe there before the lake got too low to fish there but by next Spring we should be loading up on them.
Hey J, We have a 1/2 mile stretch in the town where I live, that is lined with Bradfords. You are right about their blooming about the same time that crappie get fired up in the spring. I'm like you though. Don't hardly wet a hook that time of the year.
Hey Jerry. If they ever decided to cut them down, I'll let you know. I don't need but about 20 of them. Every time I drive by the trees, I think about how good they would look in about 20 foot of water....LOL
Last edited by Tommy; 08-18-2005 at 02:35 AM.
Hold My beer and watch this sheeet!!!
2 years ago the water was clear enough for me to watch the crappies moving onto their beds in the back of the cove next to my backyard. On that same day the dogwood in the front yard opened it's blooms. The bradford pear I have blossoms earlier than the dogwood. The dogwoods blooming is a good rule of thumb but I think it's better to trust your electronics
One taste of the bait
is worth the pain of the hook
clubeclectia.blogspot.com
agreed kunes. the bradfords bloom a good bit earlier than the dogwoods around here. time the dogwoods bloom, the bradfords are leafed out. years ago we used the dogwood blooming as an indicator that the white bass are running down at cedar creek. now that we're fishing year round for crappie, the dog wood bloom only means to me that the lakes are fillin up with the "bloomer watchers"
listen with your eyes---its the only way to beleive what you hear...
Dogwoods need the cover of other trees if left alone inthe sun they cant handle it.
A huge 150 year old + oak tree finally gave up the ghost and came down in my yard. I have a big yard and it didn't hurt anything when it came down. I have a ton of oak brush to make crappie brush piles out of and will have plenty left over to make rabbit brush piles too (for my beagles).
We have dogwoods in our yard, both wild and commercial ones. The crappie move in about the time they are blooming but like it was said, I catch crappie daily all summer long.
As for pears, our seckle pear tree fruit is just about ripe. These are sometimes called "sugar pears" they are so sweet. We have Bartlet pears also. They bloom as nice as any pear tree and bear good eating fruit in the Fall.
There is a new variety of pear that looks almost identical to the Bradford that withstands a good deal more windstorm than the old variety.
I do not recall what they call it but I have one in the front yard that has been in some pretty severe wind storms and has not shed a single branch.
It is about 6 inches in diameter.
Joe
QUOTE=J White]Moose brought this to my rememberance - talking about dogwoods
blooming and referencing the spring crappie activities to it - Have any
of you noticed Bradford pears? My wife's got a bunch of 'em in the yard,
and they seem to bloom a little earlier than the dogwoods. I'm not real
keen on fishing the spawn, but it seems to be a pretty good indicator, least
in my neck of the woods. Tried for years to get a store-bought dogwood
to live in the yard with no luck, but those Bradfords really like it, at least
till they get big and a windstorm takes them out. First one she put out
went last Fall, took two trips with a 16' trailer to haul off the branches,
and drug the trunk off with the tractor. BIG![/QUOTE]