Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat PALLET QUESTION

So here I am in central Florida and have a man made lake that lacks weeds and really fits what can be a successful artificial structure lake.

With the information needed to create a pallet that covers design, crazy amount of brush, height, depth placement, etc.

I wonder how it is brought from the shore into the lake. Probably a dumb question. I do have a boat to drag it in and I know that it will weight upwards of 100 pounds when completed. Your advice will be greatly appreciated.

snorkel and swim fins work well,if gators are not around...

I found putting just enough weight to make them sink slow helps. That way you can move them around out in the water easily. Once they water log they are really heavy. You could drag out with you boat using rope. Slide the rope out when over the place you want them and they should sink slowly in place.

How big is you body of water?
Other houses on it or is in all in one property?

240 acres with homes side by side. I did put some 30 X 30 pallets in already that with 4, 5 pounds cinder blocks weighed in at almost 40 pounds.

My previous 30 X 30 square pallets were pretty much unsuccessful. After reading some of the articles and posts, I am planning on building a pallet/brush structure that has 30" of space between the bottom and the pallet for the fish to swim under. The height of the finished product will be over 5' and will have brush stuck in it at every direction and as much as possible.

My plan now is to have use 2- 30" pallets on both ends standing on end underneath the base giving 30" for fish to swim underneath. On top of this would be 36" X 48" pallet placed on top of the 30" pallets with a total of 6- 5 pound cinder blocks. One at each corner and 2 more in the center. On top will be 2- 36" X 48" pallets fastened on each end of the 48" width and stacked fastened together at the top to form a peak. After this is assembled brush would be stuffed into all of the slats in every direction possible and as much as possible. I am planning on securing this with many 36" tie wraps.

After this structure is created it will weigh in around 85 pounds and way to cumbersome to swim it in. Alligators are not an issue but the size of this finished structure will be heavy and pretty large in addition to having branches coming out in every direction. I guess that I will have to tow it out.

The cubes work well if you stuff brush inside.. Branches..etc..

Pictures, please, after you make it and before you sink it.

From what I got from that video of why fish cribs fail, one of the things was they did not have enough dense area for samll fish. Big fish like to eat small fish, and if there is no place to hold small fish, why would the big fish want to hang around?

That and vertical height was good.

That was an interesting video. Maybe not 100% applicable to smaller lakes and ponds, but good ideas anyway.

I too watched s video and read the article. I am going to try to stuff as much brush as I possibly can into it. Thanks for the help!

Feeling dumb right now. What video? I don't see a link.

My bad. Not a video and he may have referenced it in another thread instead of this one, but I believe this is the reference article (instead of video).

Why Fish Cribs work and why they fail

Most likely not everything would apply to ponds, but there is still a lot of good information on why fish may prefer certain types of artificial cover over others.

One of the key take-aways, in my opinion is this quote:

"Most people don’t understand that the secret ingredient that makes a crib design successful is not the frame or the exoskeleton, but the thick interior brush. If that’s not a central component from the start, or if it’s lost, cribs will stop attracting fish. The frame may stay intact and last for decades, but the brush deteriorates much more quickly. If there were some way to re-stock these cribs with interior brush, we could vastly extend their viability and lifetime."

That is correct, I read the referenced article and am going to build the pallet that follows those guidelines.

See the structure archive for lots of ideas and info on pallet and crib structures as well as others.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92463#Post92463

Thanks, snrub. I had read that article.

I'd think that if one could ensure the exact locations of cribs, periodically sinking limbs tightly bound by some hemp twine would work. As the twine rotted away, the bundle would splay out in somewhat vertical fashion.

If fine, dense artificial material is used in conjunction with the large woody structure, isn't the best of both achieved?
No reason to "add" anything.

Eric and I have spoke in great detail about "retrofitting" existing log cribs, prominent in our area. Adding fine artificial units inside the now barren frame, would re-establish these once prolific cribs.

Dropped from boats to divers, this could be a way to get the most out of taxpayer money already spent?

I agree and using /reusing/rehabbing existing structure sites is an excellent idea which I use every year.