Printable View
Plan to put some brush piles in local lake. At what depth would be good for year around fishing? If that is possible and I'm hoping that can be done. Cedar trees are available on property that we own. I believe these trees should last for several years. Right or wrong what do you think? Hope to put them out soon.Any help is appreciated.
Cedar seems to last pretty good
Hardwood would be better IMHO .... as it would last longer. Cedar piles seem to last 3yrs tops around here, and they're not real good fish holding spots until the year after put in.
A year around fishing spot can be tricky if the lake is drawn down very much during the Winter. 15ft deep is the norm for most of the brushpiles put out by the KDFWR ... but even they've gone to using pallet stacks, PVC, and various other materials for many of their habitat projects. Now, they do use a lot of Cedar trees that they've collected during the Christmas season, and they do make some large piles with them .... but, those deteriorate pretty quickly and in some waters can get so gummed up with mosses that they're pretty useless thru the Summer to Fall stretch.
If the lake gets a thermocline .... you'll want some part of the tops of your piles to be above the depth it usually occurs, so that fish can suspend above it when the thermocline is present, and still key in on it and get down in it when there is no thermocline.
All depends on depth . Best Cedars are trunk diameters over 10'' and have red heart wood . Smaller ones rot out fast . The red heart wood will last many years . Best to remove anything smaller in diameter than your finger . Make it big so fish can access and you can fish without staying hung . I read once where a biologist suggested 10'' spacing between limbs to give fish access more than just outside . One guy I know suggested splitting bigger Cedar trees and lay them down with one side of tree with limbs sticking up .
Never really thought about spacingQuote:
Originally Posted by NIMROD
Thank you for the information. Some cedars here are 12" diameter and filled out fully. Have to cut them up to get in boat.It's worth the work if good fishing is there.
That is a big cedar
INDEED !!Quote:
Originally Posted by DockShootinJack
Slow Poke .... if your "property" is ON the lake, I'd cut the tree(s) and leave them lying until they started turning brown and the needles are falling off. Then drag the tree down into the water and tie it to the boat on a long rope. I'd have a roll of bailing wire and as many concrete blocks or sand bags or 5gal buckets full of sand or rocks as the boat can safely carry. Then slowly motor out to where you want to drop the tree and lash it with the wire and bags or buckets. Just use enough wire so that the "weights" on either side of the tree will hit bottom before the larger branches do. And only put the weights on the lower trunk half of the tree, not in the top half, so that the tree will be at a \ angle. This way you won't have the tree laying on the bottom & crushing one side into the bottom. With it leaning like that, it allows fish to get under it, around it, in it, or suspend above it ... as conditions demand.
Also, a large tree trunk like that, and leaning like that, even after the small branches are long gone will still provide shaded hiding places. Crappie like horizontal cover & vertical cover, at different times & under different conditions ... so a angled piece of cover will be a compromise & may offer them the type of cover that covers a larger time frame &/or conditions.
If the tree is just TOO large to do it that way .... cut it in half and sink them vertically, if possible. And I wouldn't sink them together, but sink the top shallow & the trunk half deep. Just be sure that the shallow piece doesn't get exposed to the air if the lake is drawn down. You want at least 5fow over the top limbs of the tree top and 10-15fow over the trunk end of the tree.
I'd also suggest you fish the tree, or individual halves, with light weight weedless jigheads (1/32oz or 1/16oz) ... whether using plastics or minners !!
I have had some cedar out for 2 years. Finally catch fish around it. The wood is holding up good. The reason I know is the branches are out of the water at present. Shallow pile @ 8FO.
I dried the branches out for a year and then burnt the needles off and also fine little twig sprouts off the limbs before I put the stuff in the water.
The charing from burning probably will help it last longer