Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat $15 Bucket Structure

No problem -- Good luck with that one... With the pond full, I don't suspect it will be easy without the right equipment.

With the water down, we were able to get ours done with a 4-wheeler, chainsaw, shovel, and 3 determined men

Fantastic!

I sunk 10 of these recently in our pond (stocked with bait in April last year and bass/catfish in fall).

Our pond has most of the cover that the pond builder put down in 7+ feet of water, and some of it was not put down with much thought for how you'd fish it from a bank...

I put a 5' 1/2" PVC pipe in the middle of the bucket and left it about 2-3" out of the water at a "full" pond level (we have a rip rap spillway and our pond really doesn't drain much, so it's pretty constant level with our pump).

2 buckets I set in the "hump" that's in the middle of our pond on the right (it's 7' deep now; I used 10' of pipe on those and cut after I got them set). That took some skill to hit on a windy day considering I dropped all these from my kayak. I got a bucket on either side of where that log comes into the hump (so I could mark the log as well).

The rest I set either in the corners of the pond, a half cast from our dock, or to where they're a reference to our upside down tree stumps (which are a PAIN to fish if you don't know EXACTLY where they are).

Looks good. I used quite a bit of old surplus black tubing like that screwed and attached to pallets and various wooden structure in a similar fashion.

I also used some upside down and sideways tree stumps in my pond. They just look like perfect habitat for RES. Since I have not been an angler up to this point, I can already tell that the cover and habitat I put in place has been much more oriented towards the benefit of the fish rather than the angler. It is good you are taking the angler needs into consideration.

I may regret that I did not at some point in the future.

Cool pictures. Thanks. I hope to get some underwater photos this summer of fish around the artificial and natural habitat I put in my pond. It will be a trick though, as my visibility with algae bloom is maybe 18-24" at best. Will be a challenge.

I had the privilege to scuba dive a wreck that was purposely sunk off the coast of Puerto Morelos, Mexico (old Cutter turned Mexican ferry turned artificial reef). I first started diving it about six months after sinking, then dove it once or twice a year for about the next seven years. The first thing that colonized it was red stringy algae about six inches long. The sunken ship looked like a reddish green giant Chia pet. Somewhere I have photos of it including the insides and one of the two 10 cylinder Cooper Bessemer engines (still could read the nameplate information on the engines when it was first sunk). It was really interesting watching it over the years as different groups of critters colonized it. After the algae came the critters that lived on it, then the hard corals and sponges. Big rays in the surrounding sand and once smaller fish were there, baracuda and large snapper hung around. Really cool watching the (purposely sunk as an artificial reef) wreck "grow up" over the years.

I would suspect fresh water artificial habitat would follow a similar pattern only on a much advanced time line.

We fish Norfork Lake down in Arkansas fairly regularly...they have some really cool structure to dive. A school bus, a Cat dozer, a wide variety of things. When the water is down just a bit you can see the bus over the side of the boat.

For those sinking the bucket itself, you could always use lime instead of crete.

I have a couple sections of 8" PVC sewer pipe that I plan to perforate and add tentacles to. Should provide nice access inside for bait fish.