Thread: What do you build to attract Crappie ?

Originally Posted by BuckeyeCrappie

Unfortunately Ohio prohibits anglers from putting in any kind of structure. DNR says the do but I have yet to find any. KY here we come…

Getting caught doing that in Minn would lighten your pocket book also.

Cut a branch, drag it out and then zip tie, copper wire or sting tie a weight to it is what I do. Can use cinder blocks or rip rap rock to weigh down.

I saw AGFC working on a barge sinking pallets . They had 3 built into triangles . All I can say is good thing they had a barge and several young men to dump them . Driving in Stakebeds sure is easier for me.

Originally Posted by NIMROD

I saw AGFC working on a barge sinking pallets . They had 3 built into triangles . All I can say is good thing they had a barge and several young men to dump them . Driving in Stakebeds sure is easier for me.

we built them things years ago to put in a brand new pond with no water in it yet , they were stupid heavy oak pallets , fish liked them though , but not any better than the old live oak we drug back into that pond at the same time ....

Been making a few drops the last week or so. Using the sandbag and rocks along the bank method. First drop of the summer was Saturday, July 1. Cut some whiteoak that had recently fallen into the lake. Forgot to put floats on the tip and it ended up falling over and laying flat along the bottom after a week of being out. Cut a small 8" diameter hickory growing out from under the high water mark with some funky phototrophic grow to make it extra weird and bushy. As of Sunday, July 9th, it had lots of small life of questionable species. Next up was a small black oak sapling that was maybe 4-5" diameter and 10-12ft tall. Same results when checked the 9th.

Parents have a couple hazelnut bushes/shrubs that grow in clumps. They're about 12-14ft tall. I think the larger stems out for them occasionally to rejuvenate the shrubs and selectively let some of the sprouts take their place. Monday July 3rd (listing dates for my own memory and reference lol), I cut six larger stalks out. Sank them July 4th in 3 different brushpiles. They look great on the screen. I checked them Sunday July 9th and they had the same, small questionable forms of life on them. Not sure if theyre bream, small crappie or small spotted bass, but when you dropped a jig down, they'd come in droves out of the piles to investigate.

Got some more hazel nut I can cut, plus some mulberry that's disposable to me. Will make another run this weekend.

^^^^Four of those six are producing as of July 15. Two hazel nut piles, the hickory, and the oak sapling. One of the hazelnut piles has life all over it but still not sure what. Small fish run out to look at the jig. I'm fishing early though. I'm almost certain midday to afternoon they'd have more fish on them as sun and boat traffic increase.

Dropped the scope on the white oak limbs got gits and shiggles even though they're laying flat. No crappie, but it appeared that a catfish had taken up residence under them. Good for him. One less on one of my other piles lol.

Dropped another oak, sour wood, and ash tree July 15 before I started fishing. Got one pile in particular I'd like to add one more bunch to just because I know the area is holding fish well, and they're not very big piles. I dont like very big piles but due to the location, I want to make sure it's big enough to provide cover from the over abundance of blue cats, and mostly some more shade in whats otherwise acres upon acres of barren bottom.

Added three new piles with weekend. So this is sort of turning into a personal blog for me. Two large white oak limbs about 20ft long, and part of a mulberry top. Large white caps threw me a bit off course with some troubles trying to get it to sink, and ended up about 10ft shallower than I had intended, with the mulberry. Sack full of rocks/busted concrete ziptied to it, thinking green mulberry would as easily as green white oak since they're similar in green log weight/density. (62/63lbs per cubic foot vs 59lb with mulberry). I had a 2liter in one side of the forked tip and a gallon clorox in the other top. I ended up cutting the clorox bottle off and she slowly went down, to settle in 24-25ft of water rather than the 35 I had hoped to have it in.

Dropped the two white oak limbs near points coming out to the river channel. Water goes from target depth to 80ft+ in just a hundred feet or so, if that.

After that went back to fishing my previous weeks' drops. I dropped one on a rounded, but steep point the previous week. Sufficient weight to carry it to the bottom quickly. A quick side scan and little scope shining showed it was no where to be found in the immediate vicinity. Not sure what happened. Will spend some more time next outing trying to locate it again.

The two other brush piles from last week had fish on them. Was unable to catch fish off the one, but what appeared to be crappie would come off, check my jig, and turn and go back. I didnt waste a lot of time there, as I was within sight of another fellow fishermen that hadn't seen me yet. Off to the last one dropped the previous week. It was absolutely lit up light a Christmas tree. Caught spotted bass and a white perch off of it, but it also held a lot of what I thought to be crappie, deeper in, and under some of the brush. Similar reaction as last pile, no matter what jig or presentation I tried. Come up and look, maybe follow, and then ease back down into the pile.

After that I was off to fish the hazelnut piles from July 4th trip. First one I stopped at, that hadn't produced before, produced a crappie, and had what appeared to be a couple dozen more, but they were tight lipped. On to the others. Next one (best one last week) was covered, but nothing but spotted bass that would bite, though I felt confident what I saw in and under were crappie, they just wouldn't eat. Off to the next hazelnut pile. Caught several there plus some spotted bass (I HATE those things). Ended up catching a few decent fish. One a little over 13inches and another a shade over 14 inches. plus several nice eaters. All were released. Finally found something they seemed to like, sort of. Went back to the previous pile and ended up catching a couple more.

Never made it to the July 1st piles I put in. Between the jet skis, pleasure boats, and airplane....yes there are a couple airplanes the high society have that play on the lake and take off and land here, there, and yonder for seemingly no reason other than they can, I called it a day. I stayed probably an hour too long based on traffic on the lake and the ramp when I got back.

Will try to make a couple more drops this week and be done for the summer and start enjoying it. Maybe just taking one with me per trip from then on rather than loading the bat beyond recognition.

Believe it or not, this is after throwing a rope a cross it a few different ways and cinching it down lol

This is what it looked like untamed. Had to take the windshield off the boat.

Mulberry top

White oak limb

Other white oak limb

All these limbs/tops are 20ft+. ended up cutting the butt off the mulberry to just below the lowest branch union. I like how they lollipop in the water when sank.