christmas trees in a pond?

[67MIke]

Is it good good to put the trees in a pond. I thought the acidity was bad, but still hear that's the cover many people are using here. The pond I fish doesn't have a lot of compared to the fishing pressure.

 

[Barlow]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

in my opinion anything is better than nothing .. the pine won't last as long as other species.<br /><br />one thing to remember is add wieght in the form of cinder blocks or large stones to keep it down and hold it.. there are a bunch of web sites and even fishing clubs to the DNR that can help assist in at least the planning and placement.<br /><br />if adding to open water - a pontoon boat is a good idea .. if adding to ice covered water set'em out wieghted and as is... <br /><br />wood shipping pallets are good options as well ... teathered together and stacked in piles with cinder blocks attatched..<br /><br />just a few ideas but the old trees work

 

[walleyehed]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

Any cedar raises the acidic level near the trees for about 2 weeks and fish will rarely use them before that time period is up, but man does the eco-system change after that.<br />In a pond that has very little inflow, 30% coverage in relation to surface acres would be max without causing problems with decomposition.<br />Mix some hardwoods in with them too.

 

[67MIke]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

Well it's about a 5-6 acre pond with a pretty good flow. The spillway is leeting out water and is fed by a decent flowing creek. Thanks guy's

 

[walleyehed]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

If you have that kind of continuous flow, 50% would not be a problem. The only issue to watch for is many small bluegill and/or Crappie. They over-populate VERY quickly with that type of cover.<br />To give you a good recommendation, tell me what species of fish are present.

 

[NathanY]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

I personally wait till all the green is off the trees and there are no needles left. Then I sink it. I would not hesitate to drop them. I agree with wallyhed the crappie and bream will overpopulate, but a large supply of flatheads and black bass will take care of that.

 

[KeltonKrew]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

Let them crappie get all around it, then go to town....Some good eatin' fish!

 

[walleyehed]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

I would lead into the problem that occures, but Nate covered it pretty well.<br />The best control for Crappie is allowing the larger bass to stay put, or being very selective of harvest rates for the first year after habitat enhancement..the second year, you can go from leaving the larger fish, and move to your own slot limit of leaving the 12-15" fish (Bass) in the pond to control small 'gills and crappie.<br />When we electrofish near Beaver lodges, the Bass boil up and so do the small bluegill, but 99.9% of the time, the Bass never exceed 15" telling us that size of Bass has a primary forage base of bluegill, but will eat Crappie if Bluegill are not present.<br />The absolute BEST control for Crappie is Saugeye...they do VERY well in small ponds and love small crappie, leaving room for the remaining crappie to attain a much greater size.

 

[67MIke]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

well, we have some channel cat, bass and a ton o'blue gill and some spotted cat. I have caught some nice fish outta the pond, but as I said, it's fished to heavy by the morons who keep anything they catch. It makes me fighting mad. Last year I saw some goobers loading the boat with any bass they caught. After I called the sheriff for the local fish police to come and check these dudes out ,,,,,,,,nothing sothere ya go. I may use some pallets too as mentioned - thanks Mike

 

[KeltonKrew]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

concrete culverts are good too.....

 

[NathanY]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

Also pvc pipe trees are good sources of cover, plus nearly undetectable by a fishfinder.

 

[walleyehed]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

Regaurdless of the habitat you add it will increase the "holding" capabilities of your pond providing a certain number of fish that are not accessable to everyone, increasing the odds of some of those Bass attaining a larger size "IF" the pond contains some larger bluegill as well.

 

[Barlow]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

"Balance Danielson.." it'll be tough to control what everybody else does/takes out .. but you can control what you do to better the water .. and you're starting off in a good direction.. trying is the first step.

 

[67MIke]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

Thanks for the help and info. We picked up about 15-20 pallets and are going to try and sink em this week.

 

[KCLOST]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

Try to sink the pallets so they rest somewhat above the bottom... Let the blocks raise up the stack of pallets somewhat...

 

[KRS]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

Just a question... if this isn't on your land, shouldn't you get permission first? The "other" guys keeping fish weren't breaking the law, but you might be!

 

[67MIke]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

Uh yeah, it is the whole "community's" pond, but it is fairly old and a lot of people know where it is. It's hard to get a warden in to look into it as it's semi private and we are in between lake Guntersville and smith lake. I'm trying to help out the fishing as much as I can.

 

[trav68]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

Mike, - i had to register to post this, but if you try it it will be worth it - I have a place on a lake - the crappie fishing has never been that great - here is how we fixed it.<br /><br />Take a good sturdy pallet and nail 4 "legs" - about 3 ft high, on it - then add a board on the top of each 2 legs - making a square on each end - then add a board in the middle of the legs that have a board on top - making kind of a ladder on each side of the pallet - (hope you are still with me) - brace the ladder legs to the pallet with scraps - you should now have a pallet - with right and left "ladders" - braced back to the pallet at 45% - still with me?<br /><br />Next go and cut with a machette young hardwoods - swwetgum is good - we used 15 foot or so trees - 2-3 inch at the base, a pickup load, full, tied down - will make 2 - a nail gun is good here - we took 2 cement blocks and put on the pallet - place trees into the blocks - and over the top and lower rails - nailgun into place - put a short couple in the center srtaight up - check water depth.<br /><br />We ended up with an upside down many legged spider looking thing that was 30 or so foot long - maybe 8 wide at the ends - and our water and center trees 10-12 high.<br /><br />my theory is that christmas trees get bogged up with silt - then settle to the bottom - this setup will give structure for many years<br /><br />the fishing was alot better last summer - we put it in in the spring - this march will start year 2<br /><br />long post - hope this helps - not to hard to build and i think will last a while

 

[TwoWatt]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

Good first post trav Another crappie fisherman on the board is always a good thing. <br />I have the book "Slab Crappie Secrets" and your structure is exactly how they say to build it. (well, not quite that big though, they only used one pallet and the "legs" were only 1-3 feet) <br /><br />My question is.......... can you do this on a public lake? Is it legal? I have one lake I always go to, I'd love to place one in about 12 feet of water in a place I know would hold fish.... just don't want any hassles from "the man"

 

[walleyehed]

Re: christmas trees in a pond?

Check with your local Wildlife and parks commission. They can tell ya what is and isn't..most times they OK it.<br />If you guys are attempting Crappie recruitment, be advised you may need to get your hands on some saugeye for control of small crappie as they over-populate quick, especialy where you don't have large predetor bass in many numbers (3-5lbs)<br />trav68, any way you can email a scetch or picture of that structure???<br />ktsander@st-tel.net<br />Thanks!