# Fish structure



## davycrockett (Apr 9, 2005)

A buddy of mine has a pond about 10 acres in size. We fish it pretty reguarly and want to improve the habitat. Being a borrow pond where the state dug it for the dirt the pond is void of any real structure or habitat. Before the pond filled up(7 years ago?) we dumped a bunch of old tractor and combine tires in and drug some oak tops in that had been leftover after cutting the firewood. I'm guessing the tires aren't doing any good as my buddy's dad shoved them all to the bottom of the pond with the loader. They would have been more benificial on the sides of the pond . We would like to add more cover but don't want to do it every few years when the trees rot away. I looked into the Pocupine Attractor endorsed by Bill Dance www.porcupinefishattractor.com and they look like a slick idea. Problem is with the size of the pond we would have several hundreds of dollars wrapped up in them in no time. I was trying to come up with a less expensive way of constucting non-wood structure. Anyone ever use these? I would like to come up with something under a $100 if possible.


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## Curly (May 15, 2006)

Its a little late now but, i always see christmas trees tied to cinder blocks sitting on top of the ice after christmas (ofcourse). I want to do the same thing you are doing to a buddy of mines pond.Thats all i got, good luck.


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## hunt for bass (Oct 5, 2004)

Make your own using pvc (plastic water pipe). Its really cheap and easy to put together with some pvc glue. use a cinder block and just make into any design you would like.


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## Fishman (Apr 5, 2004)

Plastic pallets, if you can find someone willing to let them go  I know ya don't want wood, but wood pallets are hard to beat for the price (generally free)


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

DIY Bill Dance knock off for around $5 each. Used a bowling ball (free from the local alley, gave me about a dozen and said they had more) and 1.5" PVC. I drilled holes a couple of inches deep using a Slugger bit and glued 2' pieces of PVC (cut with those purpose-built ratcheting snips) and glued using Gorilla Glue. Ends up around 5' tall. You may want to sand the PVC to give the algae a better surface to adhere to.


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## hunt for bass (Oct 5, 2004)

Nice great idea with the bowling ball.


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## Fishman (Apr 5, 2004)

Nicely done PondFin!


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## 1st shirt (Jan 11, 2008)

Another idea I read about once is to set some pieces of PVC pipe into a container of cement. I think a coffee can would work. Then take some small plastic water bottles and attach the caps to the PVC with screws, then screw the bottles onto the caps. If you want you can cut the bottoms out of the bottles too. You can make them as tall as you want so they are easy to see, and the article said the plastic bottles grow algy really fast to attract the bait fish. I haven't tried it yet, but want to some day if I can ever find the time. Should be fairly cheap to do too.


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

I can't take too much credit. A guy named Chip Rowland from Northern Ohio posted the idea on another forum, they were dubbed Sputnik fish attractors. I did it a little different than he but they've held up well even after getting stuck in the clay and tangled in the seine. They're pretty much snag proof. 

Bass seem to like structure that is more dense and bushy but I have pulled a few off of the Sputnicks, maybe because I don't have any bushy stuff. It would be nice to find a cheap durable bushy alternative. Seems like there would be a source online for the PVC tree branches with leaves they use for home decor trees...cheap. I bet they'd work great stuck in a coffee can with cement. 

I built some teepees out of pallets by sewing together with aluminum fence wire. They ended up flat and scattered for some reason. They pallets are oak and are still solid even after 3 1/2 years now. If I use them in the future I'll probably just stack them up. They are snag magnets though.


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

I used old concrete and limestone and dumped them in my pond making 2 nice rock piles in 2 down to about 6 ft of water and just last week, sank 4 -10 ft cedar trees with nylon ties and cinder blocks, *( my pond is being managed for lots of bait fish and trophy crappies so that why I opted for cedar over the pvc spiny doo-hickeys)

Salmonid


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## Fishman (Apr 5, 2004)

Glad to hear ya got some structure in there, seeing any fish in the shallows yet?


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

the rains have kept it pure chocolate, but it is now about a few inches of visability with more rain on the way. Planted grass has barely poked through the surface of all the topsoil. All I have seen was a bunch of dead minnows and shiners about a week after stocking them, maybe a dozen of each so I dont think its a big deal. The herons have been hanging around so maybe they found some as well.

Salmonid


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

The toads are mating at my place right now. They're easy pickings for the herons and that may be attracting them. 

This morning I saw a nice LM swim with it's back halfway out of the water and grab a toad out of water just a few inches deep. It was like watching a killer whale snatch a seal on the Discovery channel!


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## Fishman (Apr 5, 2004)

Was wondering what was mating so early. Was treating a pond yesterday and saw a bunch of eggs. The masses were rather large, way to big for peepers, must of been toads.


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

The frogs layed their eggs about two weeks ago. They are mostly round globs. The toads leave strings of eggs. It was like a toad orgy at my place last night right before dark. Hundreds of them, some of the big females even had two or three males on them. My male lab feels obligated to remove them from the pond and put them on the bank. He's done this every year since he was a pup. We've never noticed any ill effects to the dog other than he foams at the mouth and he shakes his head after each "rescue" due to their defense mechanism. The toads _usually_ survive too.


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