I am no expert on artificial fish attractors, but perhaps the reason why cedar works so well is the thickness of it? If you could build an artificial fish attractor using different size PVC pipes, different sizes down to pipes that are as small as pencils in diameter. Angle them so that it would be difficult to snag up on? I think the big difference between most artificial fist attractors as opposed to cedar trees is the thickness, so by using many small PVC pipes, you can create that thickness crappies would like but the PVC would lead to less snags...
