Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat It's that time of year...Christmas Trees N-2 Pond?

Anyone planning on dropping Christmas trees into their pond this weekend or next week? I may give it a try and was wondering if there was a "best way" to do it? I assume Christmas trees float, so an anchor of some sort will be needed. Are half-size cinder-blocks what most folks use? Do you mostly drop it in and anchor it vertically? Or do some anchor both ends so it lays flat on the bottom? Any tried and true methods/tips appreciated?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfry55-F-lM

I'm ready!

Mark I've done the bucket and concrete thing and had good results. Now, I'm trying to put them out horizontally because I want them in shallower water. Most of the upright trees haven't produced as well for me, so I'll try more lay downs.

I've probably got 40 plastic Folgers cans, and that's what I'll use to weight them down. I just tie a loop of rope, then leave half the loop under the concrete, then tie the center of the tree to that loop. It's basically the same method as tying them to cider blocks, I just have the cans available.

Have you or anyone else tried keeping an occasional tree wrapped up when placing in the pond? Seems like that would give them a tighter cover for small fry. That is if their wraps stay on for any amount of time.

FNC, I haven't because I want as much surface area as I can get out of each tree.

Once the needles fall off, I think the bare trees will be perfect for what I'm after.

wow it sure looks like it.
you're about to be Santa to lots of little fishies.
will this be you this afternoon?

Nah, I'll probably put them out week after next. I ordered Momma some waders, and I've tried to convince her I'm scared of the water.

We almost got divorced last time I got her to help me move fish feeders in January, so waders seemed like a prudent investment.

That's very thoughtful of you.

There's actually an article in our local newspaper today, entitled:

"Indiana DNR: Better options for Christmas trees than fish habitat"

In it, they quote a DNR official as saying : "Fish attractors tend to bring fish and fishermen together. They provide cover, but don't necessarily grow more fish."

The article goes on to advise a better use for your old tree would be taking it to a recycling center, tossing it into the backyard for a bird shelter, running it through a wood chipper for mulch, or cutting it for firewood....

REALLY????

Thanks Dave, I like to believe chivalry ain't dead.

I wire mine up to a concrete block using SS picture-hanging wire. It takes 2 blocks to sink a dried tree. Toss it on top of the ice if you have any and let it sink in-place. No ice, just shove it out with a long pole or drop it over in a Jon boat.

Took down 21 today have 30 more to go. From the structure archive. There are other methods as well.

From the Hands On Structure presentation during PB III.

A method of adding structure to a pond with water. This is an adaptation of the Ray Scott method from the Great Small Waters video. It can be done using xmas trees , buckets of limbs , pallets , or pvc structures. It involves driving a post into the pond bottom and using it to mark and hold the structure items. Using a boat (if unsteady you can use an A-frame ladder to drive the post) to drive the post ( using a shovel or fence post driver or hammer or ax) . After the post is in place tie the xmas trees to the post with small trot line string. Think about how you want the trees to hang in combination. Top up or down , horizontal . vertical and at what depth for each. You can also tie several trees together in squares to triangles (tree tops to bottoms to form and even structure). Then tie and place it over the post. Note after a year or so you can cut the string and allow them to fall to the bottom and tie on new ones. This will form a pile or cone of trees from bottom to top.

Post and trees



Tied to the post



Set to feed over



After they sink



Xmas trees work well for BG cover from predation.






A typical Ray Scott rendition of a pond with this method (pickle bucket method) and ridges , cuts and standing timber etc.

Eric when u posted the pics before, it really got me thinking. I'll post mine as soon as I try it, but the concept is a very good one to me.

Not too many BTU's in a Christmas Tree. You would generate more just by cutting it up and stoking the fire

Just a silly question here.

Are the trees you are sinking in the pond treated with any Fire/Flame Retardant Chemicals?

Just wondering about the nut's and bolt's involved in this nowadays. NFPA has a bunch of crazy codes involving Christmas Trees.

No clue. Most of the NFPA stuff on Christmas trees is just the standard safety suggestion type stuff. I'm sure if they did, it would be plastered all over the labels, and they would cost 3 times as much.

I have been picking up a few discarded trees from friends and that I see on the curb. I have been using old brake rotors for weight since I had quite a few lying around. I took a 36" long heavy duty black zip tie and looped it around the trunk and through the lug holes several times about 1/3 the way from the bottom of the tree. This will anchor the tree horizontally along the bottom which is what I am wanting for shallow cover. With them being shallow, I can see when all the branches are gone and pull the trunk and rotor to reuse the rotor.

I have placed 5 so far and am looking for a few more. Would it be better to spread them out throughout the pond (roughly 1.5 acre with lots of shore line) or have them clustered in one or two groups?

I would think clustering. I tend to try to find a shallow area that has access to deeper water, and is close to my CNBG spawning area. To me, that's a triple play.

I also put them out in areas I feed. I've noticed that some of my fish will move into an area just before feeding, then move out of that area once the foods all gone. I'll position my feeders this year to the areas that they naturally roam. Kind of like home delivery.

That sounds great. I will be moving a few this weekend. I have a 3-4' deep cut that goes around one side of my island that dumps out to deeper water on each end. I was thinking of creating an 'L' or 'H' shape stretching to the deeper water, kind of the highway idea.

That sounds good.

I got lazy and didn't do the Christmas trees last week... partly because the weather was in the 20's-30's and party because I couldn't get up off the holiday sofa.

However yesterday we dropped a nice size cedar tree into the pond and will continue that trend as time and weather permit.

We have a huge supply of cedar trees on the property.

ATV Cedar Tree Tow

Fish will be Happy, Happy, Happy! I got to get started myself.

Mark, did the one cinder block keep the cedar down?

Much easier to put them in the boat (not drag them through the water)and dump them out at the spot picked.

I have 50+ to put out. Put out about 10 yesterday. Going to tie some in groups on their side and put a post through the middle for shad spawning structure. Will put them where the water flows into the lake (2 locations).

Yes we just used one this time, it sank like a rock. It was a learning experience though and we will have a better "system" next time.

ewest....Yes we learned that the hard way. In a "spur of the moment plan" we first tried the dragging method and the rope got tangled. So we ended up going out in a very shaky jon boat and pulling the cedar tree back out of the water and into the back of the jon boat with no motor, just a paddle! It was a mess...lol. We have a better plan using a small fiberglass boat next time...we'll see if that works better.



ewest...can you explain this "post for shad spawning" a bit?

Ok. TShad like to spawn over cover in the back of inlets/streams (where water comes into a lake). In ours there is not enough cover/structure in those locations. Last year I cut a bunch of woody brush and made piles where water comes in (2 big piles). That helped but is not enough. So I have tied together xmas trees ( 3 top to bottom) to make triangles. They are flat (1 xmas tree wide - 3 feet ) when on their side. I will put them over a post driven into the lake bottom to sink and form a spawning mat. I will take a pic and post later.