Creating your own cover in a lake

[airborne_angler]

I know people have done this for years,I just would like to know whats involved and how productive it is.

I talked to a guy on the boat dock last night who said he had gone Scuba Diving in the lake I fish. He mentioned a certain area and said the bottom is totally deserted,Desolate,no weeds,just flat and it goes on like that for a way. He also mentioned in the area he swam,he didnt see any fish. I really dont know how far out he swam,but he made a general statement that the bottom is flat and just deserted in the places he explored. He spoke of the thermocline and how the temprature would get colder,thus being a good conditon for Trout to survive the summer months.

So I was thinking of getting a GPS,Some trees,logs,Stumps,Boulders and stuff and dropping them in a location out in what appears to be open water,marking it on a GPS  and giving it a couple of weeks and see what happens.

How successful does anyone think this idea would be? The only other cover this lake has that I know of is thick weeds along the shoreline which extend out about 25-30 feet . So thick that I get totally bogged down when I am going in my boat with the TMand not paying attention to where I am at.But if I can get some cover built up away from where the weeds are the,...Well it sounds neat to me. Now if only it were that easy...or is it?

[Randall]

Something to think about is that LM bass almost alway prefer weeds over other cover. I have some brush that I have put in some of the lakes with weeds I fish but it usually only produces well when we don't have many healthy weeds in the lake. In lakes without weedbeds brush etc. is usually much more productive. IMO brushpiles etc. are much better placed in areas that already have fish rather than areas with no fish. The reason being is that the brush will make the fish that are in the area easier to locate and easier to get to bite since they will concentrate or feed in and around the brushpile.

[Sam]

I have weighted Christmas trees with concrete blocks and put them in a pond.

Not easy; you will get wet; but it seems to work and provide some cover for all types of fish.

If I recall reading on this site a few years ago, I think someone said not to use pine trees.  I think they suggested Spruce trees as being the best.

So tgwo yeafs ago  I tied a very large Spruce Christmas tree with two concrete blocks  (used wire) and dumped it into my local pond, about 6 feet from shore.

Catch anything off of it?  Yes, mostly baby bass last year.  I have not fished it that often but when I throw my Senko or Zoom finesse worm at the tree I usually catch either a bass or I lose my bait in the tree.  Not big bass, but it seems the baby bass hide in the tree. So it does provide some cover.

I caught a three pound female near the tree last year so she may be using it as her home, too.

We have other submerged trees and brush piles all over Virginia's waters.  Some are marked while others are not.  I caught fish off a submerged brushpile in Kerr Lake (Buggs Island) and in one of the Chickahomony River creeks.

So yes, sink things that they can use as structure and cover in your pond.

But be very careful not to plant weeds or grass without your Department of Game and Inland Fisheries expertise.  You can easily have the grass take over a pond and then you will have a problem fishing the pond.

Let us know what you decide to do.

[jdw174]

I'm not sure how much good planting anything on a large, barren flat bottom would actually do.  If you can find some points or ledges and plant your brushpiles there I think you'd stand a much better chance of success.

[Jig Man]

If you have access to sycamore trees, they will sink without any weighs tied to them.

A guy on Bull Shoals lake has put lots of trees in and last year he put sycamores on flats like you described.  Within a month he was calling them his walleye hotels.  He caught over 100 keeper (18"+) walleye from them.  They were in about 40 fow.

[Hookemdown.]

I've heard a lot of people doing this.  BUT, check with your local game and fish first, you might even have to get a permit to do so.

[Gatorbassman]

I was talking to an old timmer the other day and he uses something that totally blew me away. He looks for those cheep plastic patio chairs that people are alway throwing away when they break. He also buys them when they go on sale in the fall. One brick and some rope will weight it down perfectly and a five or more of them in the right spot can be deadly for fishing.

[GeorgiaSpotSticker]

I use PVC Pipe.... Usually I can make a 6,7,8ft tall tree with several "branches" for free. Going around construction sites and offering to clean up all the left over or excess PVC... Sometime I have to buy the larger "trunk" of the tree... which is usally pretty cheap.

I use a 5 gal. bucket with cement to weigh it down.... It holds fish to say the least..... ;D

[Randall]

I was talking to an old timmer the other day and he uses something that totally blew me away. He looks for those cheep plastic patio chairs that people are alway throwing away when they break. He also buys them when they go on sale in the fall. One brick and some rope will weight it down perfectly and a five or more of them in the right spot can be deadly for fishing.

I have about ten chairs on my carport that almost went to the dump today I guess they will be in the lake by next weeek. ;D

[linesider7]

Lately, I've been thinking that this is a much more widely practiced part of bass fishing than I initially thought.  This thread seems to confirm that.  Maybe I need to start getting those lawn chairs together.

[cart7t]

Since you're lake has shallow water weed cover I'd first suggest finding out what depth your lake typically thermoclines in the summer.  Choose your cover of choice, the lawn chairs sound interesting, before sinking, attach a burlap sack full of dry dog food to the cover to start drawing the small fish in and then sink the cover in the thermocline depth.  Points associated with the weed beds would be a good first choice.  

I used to sink christmas trees at LOZ for several years using this method.

[GatorTom]

Lightly sanding the lawn chairs just to scuff them up a bit helps the algae adhere to the plastic and start growing quicker.  This is what brings in the bait fish.

[Matt Fly]

How many guys ever walk the shores or mark these little drainage ditches that lead into spawning flats when water conditions allows?

Finding these spots when water normally could be 8 ft is harder, but when water levels are down 5 ft such as on Fork for the past year, that leaves 3 ft which can be walked out in the water to better understand that ditch that holds tons of prespawn fish in the early spring, late winter.l

Matt

[Matt Fly]

Finding and learning a shallow gut, ditch, silted in creek channel, or what ever you call the highways that bass travel, not to mention that shad travel the same routes as a bass will that goes shallow to feed early morning and late evening/nites.

Lots of work goes into placing cover or structure into the lake.    I have a friend who fishs local, small trails only, not professionally, but certainly could if he wanted to do so.     Over 120,000, in 3 years for a weekend angler should make people realize the importance of knowing a bass travel routes to feed year around.

I always preach "know thy shad".   Truth be known, its more about knowing the lake better.

I can walk in shallow water and feel the ditch with my feet and I place a bouy on the small bends or brakes to mark the path.     I then place brush piles and sometimes I place pieces of cement foundation, boulder, more like rock I can manuever to drop into place.     Rock and old broken foundation will settle, and may cause a new ditch to be cut when run off occurs causing some errosion or a new ditch for future use.

Matt

[IdahoLunkerHunter]

I've heard a lot of people doing this. BUT, check with your local game and fish first, you might even have to get a permit to do so.

This would be a great idea. You need to check with your fish and game and if you have a army core of engineer (Lake Government regulated). You can get a permit, I know the fine in Idaho if you get caught dumping anything without a permit into the lake is $5,000. Check with law enforcements first.

[Matt Fly]

I wished I knew how to post multiple pictures.    

[Tpayneful]

Here is a tread from a couple of weeks ago with a similar topic:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1182348069/9#9

I catch fish off of my brush piles on a regular basis.  

[StandOut]

I know people have done this for years,I just would like to know whats involved and how productive it is.

I talked to a guy on the boat dock last night who said he had gone Scuba Diving in the lake I fish. He mentioned a certain area and said the bottom is totally deserted,Desolate,no weeds,just flat and it goes on like that for a way. He also mentioned in the area he swam,he didnt see any fish. I really dont know how far out he swam,but he made a general statement that the bottom is flat and just deserted in the places he explored. He spoke of the thermocline and how the temprature would get colder,thus being a good conditon for Trout to survive the summer months.

So I was thinking of getting a GPS,Some trees,logs,Stumps,Boulders and stuff and dropping them in a location out in what appears to be open water,marking it on a GPS  and giving it a couple of weeks and see what happens.

How successful does anyone think this idea would be? The only other cover this lake has that I know of is thick weeds along the shoreline which extend out about 25-30 feet . So thick that I get totally bogged down when I am going in my boat with the TMand not paying attention to where I am at.But if I can get some cover built up away from where the weeds are the,...Well it sounds neat to me. Now if only it were that easy...or is it?

Ok here it is

The absolute best cover to plant,, might get you in trouble with the wife, but who cares  :

Laundry baskets

take two plastic laundry baskets, fine some with the smallest holes, but any of them work, place a rock or brick  in one, take the other, flip it upside down and place on top of the first. "use plastic wire ties" and  tie them together. Chunk them where you want to make your honey hole.

Here is what happens, the fish chase the minnows inside, but the fish can't go inside, but the sure can see all those minnows in there, they just hang around on the outside, waiting for a minnow to come out.

I have seen one of these with a huge ball of minnows in it after just 24 hours, and dozens of crappie and bass on the outside of it with their mouths watering  

If you can find the tall plastic hampers built the same way, but have a lid,, these are even better, remember to wire tie the top on "after" inserting the rock.

If you want to "draw" minnows to your little hideaway .

Make a feeder from a 3 liter plastic drink bottle, and place near or even in your hamper, these feeders work as stand alones as well.

Easy to make,, take a 3 L, put 4 to 6 holes around a 1/4 inch below the cap where the bottle starts getting  big. Now place a single hole halfway down the side of the bottle (this is very important)

Fill the bottle with dry dog food ( you might need to experiment with which brand,, you want something that melts in water, but not too quickly)

Tie a short string to the neck of the bottle attach the other end to weight large enough to sink the bottle,, your bottle is going to be 1/2 full of air, so you need a good size weight.

When you put this is the water, air is going to go out the side hole and water come in the bottom holes, but only up to that side hole, everything above that hole stays dry because of the trapped air. the lower dog food starts to melt and leak out the 6 holes, as the level of food drops more "dry" dog food falls into the water replacing it. These can feed the fish up to a couple of weeks depending on the type dog food you are using