pvc fish

[slabbandit]

Went and checked a bay off the river channel leading into the lake today. Lots of gar rolling and seen some shad flipping.

Used my GPS to locate 3 buckets full of PVC pipes about 5 ft. tall in 7 1/2 ft.water. I flipped my pink/chart. jig up ahead and felt it hit some of the PVC pipes. Got bit instantly and pulled up a beautiful 14 1/2 slab. It had about a 3 in. shad it it's gullet.

That's all I caught there but I think in all the excitement I let the boat get on top of the bed.

This is the first time I fished this PVC bed since it has had a little time to grow some algae. Been looking for a good place to put my J&J Habitat PVC bed. I think I'll add it to this spot!

We trolled a few Bandits around for a few minutes but didn't get anything else. Going to keep an eye on this area as the shad start to stack up in here this fall. I have caught a 2lb. 5oz. in here in the springtime.

Since the PVC bed is only in 7 1/2 foot of water I told my wife next time we'll anchor and cast slip cork rigs to it. Might not spook as many fish.

[Crappie Reaper]

I set out three PVC trees a week ago saturday. One of them is only in 8' of water in between one of my favorite stumps, and another tree. The stump, seems to have washed out around the bottom and might have exposed roots. Everytime I drop a line next to it, my jig goes down further when next to the stump, but, I have lost many fish/jigs there too. This stump usually is good for big fish of the day. I fish the PVC now as well, and there are smaller Crappie already hanging out at it. I catch as man smaller fish there, as most of the regular brush. I don't think it's had time to grow much algae. It could just be the stucture itself. By the way, this is located in a virtual forrest of standing timber that very few trees are harbouring fish. Which goes against the saying, that fish prefer "natural" cover over man made.

[slabbandit]

Hey Crappie Reaper, I was able to walk this area of the lake out during a huge drawdown several years back. I dropped my PVC buckets this year where I had found a long tapering point that ended where 2 creek channels split.

At the time I scouted it dry and with my depthfinder this year there was no other cover anywhere close by. I plan on adding several more PVC beds to this spot.

We also found another spot several hundred yards away that looked promising for placing either a short cane condo or more PVC. It is an 8 ft. deep channel going thru a narrow spot in the bay.

I don't know if the concrete block condo will work here or not because of the depth. Some of the cane limbs may float up to close to the surface.

[Crappie Reaper]

I am going to make a couple of stake beds to drop off near the area of where Fish seem to congregate, but not much brush in the area. It is only 8' deep when water level is normal. I found a spot off a bluff in 22' of water, within 25' of the bank. There is evidently a huge boulder that came off the bluff in years past and the top of it is about 5' below the surface when water level is normal. I think I am going to drop the next batch of PVC trees there. It is just another spot that produces many Crappie. If I had a GPS, I would stick some out on the flats in about 18' of water. I think the PVC structure works just fine so far.

Try triming the cane limbs to where they are only 7' tall. I have thought about creating a "floating" structure. Anchored at at least 3 points, and have a couple of jugs to suspend it. I am too cheap to just buy PVC and Caps. I scrounge everything but the ready mix.