Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat any structure ideas for steep sides?

Hi guys, I'm jazzed on all of the pvc trees and tire structures. My problem in my 1/3 acre pond in Cali. is that the sides of my pond are at about a 40 degrees and a 20 foot depth at one end and 12-15 at the other end.other than an 8 square foot patch of tulies that grew in a silt patch , and a 10 square foot section of sand all i have is moss rock (about 200,000 lbs.) around the border covered by about 1.5 feet of water. A small ledge was built to hold the rock.The kicker is that my pond is lined so the sides are slick and every thing slides to the bottom and i must be careful of sharp edges.Other than a rope tied to shore (ugly) do you guys have any ideas for structure that wont end up in the deep blue? Thanks! Kevin

cali guy,
presumably, you have bumped into the PVC Trees thread . Take a step outside the box with me...
What if you did the same thing I did with the 4" dia pipe trunk, but don't cut the 10' length in half. Make the tree 10' feet tall and populate the branches on the top half. This would be perfect in your 12- 15' depths. The issue would be keeping it upright. OK, a little further outside the box. You do a cluster of 3 of them, setting the 5 gal buckets on the bottom in a triangle pattern. Leave the top 2 "limbs" off of all 3 trees. Put on a PFD, get in the water, and slip a full 10' long PVC limb from one tree-top to the next, connecting the triangle of trees from the top. You may want to use heavier pipe (1" dia +) for these top connectors because they will create the framework that allows the trees to "lean" against each other without falling over.

It is the water that needs structure not the bottom. What does that mean? When thinking about fish attractors you have to think like fish do - you have to think about the water area in 3-D. Under most circumstances you want the items to cover the water column from at most 3 to 12 feet in depth.

In a 1/3 acre pond other than the shore items you need at most 3 pieces of structure. So make 3 of Brettski's PVC trees but have the main pipe 12 to 15 feet long but only put cross pieces in the top 8 feet. Set them on the bottom , one in each of in the deepest areas. They will not slide if there is no deeper place to go. That will give you 3 deep areas to fish.

Floating pallets work good for structure in my pond. Sometimes, I'll lash 5 or 6 pallets together in a box shape, and tie plastic bottles into the top pallat so it will float, but still go down a few feet in depth.

well, once again as soon as you get out of the box it is quite simple. thanks for the great ideas. I'm going to start building next weekend! I had no clue that fish dont care how deep it is ,just how deep the structure is. One more question ; I have an airation windmill and the stone is in the deepest part of the pond.Do the fish like or dislike the bubbles if they passed through the structure? Also does a floating dock count as structure and would it help to attach pvc trees to the underside of the dock? And is this structure for the bass , bluegill , or minnows or all of the above. Sorry, that was actually three questions, I shouldn't have been in express line... Kevin

I strongly suspect that the bubbles would not bother the fish in any way. I would just want to make sure that all of the bubbles are able to pass through whatever type of structure you use and not accumulate underneath it.

The floating dock is considered structure and fish will relate to it and use it for shade as well. I think PVC attached to the underside of the dock is a great idea. Panfish will relate to it and larger fish may use it as an ambush point...so the answer is all of the above.

Great ! Thanks for the info Bruce & Co. , I'll let you know how it works out...Thanks, Kevin

Check out these:
Pull off the caps, put gravel in the bottom (or attach an anchor) and expanding foam in the top. Works like a charm.


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