photos of my homemade habitat - 11/30/14 05:26 PM
update on the pond habitat. Hope to find lots of old artificial trees after Christmas.
Re: photos of my homemade habitat - 11/30/14 09:05 PM
Some things to keep in mind when adding structure.
Taller items, that go from the bottom to fairly close to the top give fish choices of depth/temperature. Vertical height is desirable.
If you are not going to use aeration, any structure below the thermocline when the water stratifies (and becomes low in oxygen) in the summer will be used little to none by the fish (but will be used in the winter of after pond turn over). With adequate aeration and breaking up the stratification this is not as much of an issue. A lot of your forage fish are going to be in shallow water a lot of the year.
Small structure (less than a foot tall) placed on the bottom is likely to get covered with muck and or FA and becoming of little value in a few years.
Just some thoughts. Lots of info and what other people have done in the structure archives. Structure cover archives
In my way of thinking, the Christmas tree you have laying horizontally would be much better placed vertically. Base end in bucket with a sack of quickcreet and some water to keep it from floating and in the vertical position. Placed at a depth where the top of the tree will be about a foot under water at full pool, or a little deeper if needed for boats. But that's just me. I could be wrong.
Taller items, that go from the bottom to fairly close to the top give fish choices of depth/temperature. Vertical height is desirable.
If you are not going to use aeration, any structure below the thermocline when the water stratifies (and becomes low in oxygen) in the summer will be used little to none by the fish (but will be used in the winter of after pond turn over). With adequate aeration and breaking up the stratification this is not as much of an issue. A lot of your forage fish are going to be in shallow water a lot of the year.
Small structure (less than a foot tall) placed on the bottom is likely to get covered with muck and or FA and becoming of little value in a few years.
Just some thoughts. Lots of info and what other people have done in the structure archives. Structure cover archives
In my way of thinking, the Christmas tree you have laying horizontally would be much better placed vertically. Base end in bucket with a sack of quickcreet and some water to keep it from floating and in the vertical position. Placed at a depth where the top of the tree will be about a foot under water at full pool, or a little deeper if needed for boats. But that's just me. I could be wrong.
Re: photos of my homemade habitat - 11/30/14 10:59 PM
Originally Posted By: snrub
In my way of thinking, the Christmas tree you have laying horizontally would be much better placed vertically. Base end in bucket with a sack of quickcreet and some water to keep it from floating and in the vertical position. Placed at a depth where the top of the tree will be about a foot under water at full pool, or a little deeper if needed for boats. But that's just me. I could be wrong.
Hey Snrub,
I finally got my last year christmas tree in the pond this summer after 3 attempts. I don't have a boat so I had to get it in from shore. Kept falling over and I had to keep fishing it out. I started to wade in and place it when the next day's newspaper headline went thru my mind.
MAN DROWNS IN FARM POND
For some unknown reason, a man waded into his pond yesterday carrying a bucket of cement with a christmas tree sticking out of it. He was trapped under the tree and....
Anyway, I finally got it in from shore but more at a 45 than vertical. I gotta get a boat!!
Re: photos of my homemade habitat - 11/30/14 11:21 PM
Yes, I don't want to be reading those headlines. A good time to have done that was before the pond filled.
Of course we don't always think of these things in time. Someone on here, don't remember who, had a pipe driven into the pond bottom. He tied a cable around the base end of the tree then via a boat dropped the cable over the pipe and the tree over the side of the boat. Then just add trees each year. They float to begin with, then sink eventually. Then just add more trees as needed. That looked like a great idea. Would have structure all the way to the bottom of the pond clear to the top. Would not be good if a person wanted the looks of clear open water, but if fish structure was the main goal, great.
I put my structure in before the pond filled. I had a bunch of concrete foundation from some turkey grow out barns we tore down. About 1'x2'x anywhere from 4 to 15' long (however long the chunks stayed together when the dozer pushed them out). I cribbed these up Lincoln Log style a couple layers, then deposited a cedar tree in the midst (vertical), then stacked more foundation blocks around the tree. Have a half dozen of these in the 3 acre pond in the deepest parts. I kept the concrete at least 3' below water full pool so any small boat would never hit it, and the trees tried to get the tips very close to the surface. A couple actually stick above the surface but the small branches will go away in a few years and no longer be visible.
This was before I started reading PBF. If doing it over, would do about the same but put some "fish highways" out to the deep water structure. Did a bunch of other type structure also, but these are the ones associated with Christmas trees. Had one really large Cedar that was way too tall, so sawed all the branches off one side so it would lay flat on the bottom of the pond, then put a couple of the concrete foundation blocks on top so it would not float. Still had to cut a few branches short so they would not be above water at full pool. I kind of went overboard on structure. If you want to loose a fishing lure, my pond is the place to be.
I think the fish like it though. Never heard any complaints yet. 
Re: photos of my homemade habitat - 11/30/14 11:42 PM
ewest does the pipe/x-mas tree thing.
Re: photos of my homemade habitat - 12/01/14 02:08 PM
I am going to use bottom aeriation. Except the assembly of homemade waterhose trees and tires the majority of the rest of the 3 tire assemblies are in only 5 foot water. The waterhose trees are to be in six foot water. That is near where we are going to put the pontoon boat for our dock.I am collecting wood pallets now. How high should I stack those and how deep for minnows and perch along the banks? Thanks for all your advise. I walked in the water the first time putting the duck in place. My boot stuck in the muck as you called it and I fell flatt on my face and ruined my camera.Glad no one was watching though it probably would look good on Americas funniest home videos!!!
Re: photos of my homemade habitat - 12/01/14 02:32 PM
Originally Posted By: snrub
...Someone on here, don't remember who, had a pipe driven into the pond bottom. He tied a cable around the base end of the tree then via a boat dropped the cable over the pipe and the tree over the side of the boat. Then just add trees each year. They float to begin with, then sink eventually. Then just add more trees as needed. That looked like a great idea. Would have structure all the way to the bottom of the pond clear to the top. Would not be good if a person wanted the looks of clear open water, but if fish structure was the main goal, great...
Pipe and T post thread
As esshup said, this originally came from ewest. I have been very happy with the posts, and have since added cedar limbs to add a little girth to the brush piles. My CNBG love them, and the LMB use these as ambush points.
Re: photos of my homemade habitat - 12/01/14 03:35 PM
Well done Flame ! Not sure that duck will do much for the fish