Thread: Crappie Structure

10 ft of 3" pvc sch 40 @ $10.58, 11 joints 10' 1/2 pvc@ $1.56= $17.00 plus deck screws, bout 1 1/2 hour to build.
5 ft tall, 10 ft long, 4 ft wide. around $ 30.00 for materials- think I'd rather have a bunch of these than the porcupines

Can't you cap the thin ends of PVC, and fill with sand,eliminating the need for cement blocks?

I built some like these and the pvc by itself will sink, but just to make it a little more stable/secure, I capped the end and added about 8 lbs of pea gravel.

Hey DMAN, you better weight those things down goood...Another Katrina or Rita and those will be long gone from where you placed them. I would weight them down with several blocks tied and ropes...there's alot of surface area there...

Guys after i put mine out in spring they had already moved into the shallows. Caught some in the post spawn in 6ft of water. I had built some with 3ft. arms (6ft 6inches total height) some with 2ft arms, some 4ft . And some with 5 ft. arms. Well this is July 12 and buy chance the last porcupine condo we had after salting several depths, I decided to put one on a point just at the mouth of my favorite cove. Decided to put it in deeper water. Ended up we put it in 14ft of water on the inside side of the point near the old creek channel. And let me tell you this was the best move of them all. In the last 25 days, fishing about once every 5 days we have caught about 650 crappie off that one condo. Since the lake has been dropping with this dry weather it sits in 121/2 ft of water right now. The patter is always the same locate and anchor the boat directly over the condo. Then drop a minnow down through the structure to the bottom and real up one turn. Then slowly and I mean slowly raise and lover the bait about 8 inches and they will take it very lightly. Now these are not bragging fish, 7-9 inches and one every now and then about 10, but we have caught as many crappie this summer than we did during the spawn. Yes this is Lake Thunderbird east of Norman. And Jbusbv the fishing is good. Now I don't claim to be real smart, so I will say that the idea for where to put it was good, but exact location was just by chance. I will try to duplicate this pattern with three more condos this summer. Hope this answers some of your questions, and sorry I didn't post earlier, I didn't check back on this forum until now. Great Ideas for sturture building posted above, might try some.

dmann436
How long do you think the deck screws will last under water?
Pete

of dmann's condos ... but I think they'd tend to fall over on their sides (unless concrete blocks were 'creted to the bottom of the vertical "legs"). For purposes of transporting - wouldn't it be better to leave all the parts "un-connected" (and lying flat on the floor of the boat) until on the water ? Then, using PVC glue (rather than screws), construct the condo (on boat or shore) and drop it at a preconceived location (close by) ?? And, having end caps for the center PVC pipe ... and a large bag of sand ... would help weigh down the construction. Or else have the concrete blocks already concreted to several of the legs ... but not connected (glued/screwed) to the main pipe, until the "on the water" construction.

I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here ... not disrespecting anyone's methods. I'd have to transport "my" condos, by 17ft alum boat, for about 1.5hrs by road ... to reach the waters I'd want to put them in. So, my thinking is ... not advertising to the whole angling community, by keeping as low a profile, with the condos, as possible. And, also, for the safety factor of not having to haul the pre-fab'd condos, by highway. And that's not to mention having enough room, in the boat, for two anglers - condos - fishing gear ... and still be able to drive the boat to the drop destination. (I would construct/drop condo ... then fish my usual places, on that trip, and come back to the condo on a follow-up trip).
I'm still learning ..... and appreciate all the info being provided by our wonderful membership ..... Thanks !! ............ cp

together on site, one at a time and then put them in the water. They get way too big to transport if you are using 5' arms.