Here’s a design for bamboo crappie condos that are easy and inexpensive to make and work real well if you can find an ample supply of bamboo. You can carry everything you need to build one in your boat and still be able to cruise to your drop zone. Two people can build one on the front deck of a boat and drop it in less than 10-minutes once you have all the materials ready and you’ve located the spot you want to drop it.
All you need to make one is two 8 x 8 x 16-inch cement blocks, about 3-feet of nylon rope and 20 to 30 nice bushy stalks of freshly cut bamboo 12 to 15-feet long.
We fold the front seat down and put a towel or piece of carpet on the back of the seat to protect it and set the blocks there with one on top of the other with the holes horizontal and at right angles and tie them together.
BLOCKS TIED TOGETHER AND READY FOR BAMBOO
With one person steadying the blocks and the other person getting the bamboo we cram the bamboo in both holes of each block from both directions.
STARTING TO INSERT THE BAMBOO
We line up the blocks on the boat at an angle so the bamboo is hanging off each side of the boat towards the back and out over the front – the ends of the longer pieces are usually in the water.
We put the bamboo through the holes so that about a third of the stalk is sticking out the other side and put as many in each hole as we can with about equal numbers from each side. We end up with a big cross about 20-feet across - depending on how long the bamboo is - with four big heads that will come up 5 or 6-feet off the bottom and some open space in between.
CONDO ASSEMBLED AND READY TO DROP
Once assemble we just pick it up by the bamboo near the blocks and walk it off the front of the boat and drop it.
CONDO DROPPED AND SLOWLY SINKING
We try to use bamboo that isn’t too big – 1-inch or less in diameter where we cut it – so we can get plenty of stalks in the holes and they aren’t too buoyant. It’s a good idea to have an extra block on the boat just in case it doesn’t sink. In that case just grab the butt end of a couple stalks and slide another block over them. If you have freshly cut bamboo with stalks that aren’t too big two blocks will sink it fine.
Lopping shears work real well to cut the bamboo and a chain saw works too. We try to cut it close to the ground and as straight as possible or the stobs can be hazardous. We put the bamboo in the boat with the butt ends facing the front so they travel well and we can pick them up easily to put them in the blocks.
Compared to wood, bamboo is much easier and lighter to work with, seems to attract fish faster, lasts much longer and it’s a lot easier to fish in and around without getting permanently hung up – jigs pull through it fairly easily most of the time. I think it also makes excellent cover for young crappie to feed and grow up in. Even after the leaves are gone there are a lot of small branches that provide tight cover but open enough for small fish.
If bamboo grows in your climate there’s probably some around that you can get for free. We’ve found several patches that have gotten too big or taken over and the property owners are real happy to let us take all we want – some are right on the water.
A little time and effort providing good cover in the right location can be very rewarding.