Oooo boy, what a perfectly miserable day to work at the pondsite. The only reason we went is cuz the temp is in the mid 50's; tuff to beat for a midwest Christmas. The downside; man, it was mooshy wet and drizzly all day. Yeah, I know...quit complaining.
OK, I took Ted Lea's generous advice and added center support legs on the cribs. I cut in a tee, added a new 1" PVC vert, and terminated it into a 1.375" dia. recess into the top of a 2 x 6 treated support pad. I toe-nailed a 3" stainless screw thru the PVC into the 2 x 6 to hold it on.

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After that little wrestling match, we perservered as the rain started to pick up and I moved on to the next experiment. (time to complain again) 3:1 slope + clay + rain = ski to get down and walk 50 steps to ascend...sux.
OK, the new experiment...
Either you guys are gonna laugh or applaud; I kinda hope for both. Since I placed these cribs in an area where there really isn't much atmosphere to promote spawning, I felt they needed a little help. After reading the above posts on the advantage of linking spawning zones with fingerling protection zones, the Brettski engineering firm went to work. I wanted to provide some areas for sand or pea gravel or something near these cribs, but the slope is not conducive. Soooo.....I decided to create a slope (or lack thereof) that will work.
So I'm flippin' thru my favorite Sunday paper sales ad...Menards. Just before the little Chicago snowstorm a couple of weeks ago, they had snow saucers on sale. You know, the plastic round sleds that replaced the garbage can lids that we used as kids on the snow hill. Hmmmm...this is very interesting. If I can put them up on legs to be level, I can set up custom spawning huts and open a resort.
Next stop: Menards. 9 snow saucers and 3 lengths of 2" x 10' PVC pipe. OK, off to the dollar store. I need some kind of foot pad to prevent the PVC legs from driving into the clay bank over time. Yep, found 'em. Little plastic salad bowls, about 7" dia x 2.5" deep. 4 for a buck; bought 28 of 'em. A quick stop at work for 3/4" dia rebar leg pins, 24" long with a little 3" hook at the top. I put a 1" dia forstner bit to work, pre-fabbing the holes in the saucers and the bowl-feet. I put the saucer on the workbench and tried to locate the ideal location for a tripod support system that will help bear the load as it spread out within the saucer. After making a committment, I measured and drilled out three equally spaced 1" holes in one saucer. It was used as a pattern for the rest of 'em since they fit and stack perfectly within each other. I put the same 1" hole dead center of each bowl-foot. Final stop, the slippery slope.
I set up the laser, shot elevations, and flagged each of the nine spawning bowl locations. I will put 3 rows of 3; one row at each side of the two cribs and one row right down the middle between them. Each row will will have 3 spawning bowls, one at 3' deep, one at 5', and one at 7' from normal pool.

I packed the inside of each bowl with the sloppy clay, inverted 'em and strategically located each one in a triangle, holding a a snow saucer (with predrilled holes) over the bowls as a pattern. Then I stepped on each bowl, mooshing it firmly into the sloppy clay bank AND quasi-leveling it with my foot pressure. Then, I measured and cut the 2" PVC tubing to length. I found that making the highest leg (center, top-uphill) at 4" works with the bottom 2 legs at 7" tall. Slip the rebar pin thru the saucer, thru the PVC leg, thru the hole in the bowl-foot, and pound 'er in. They work out to be purty derned level.
I only got the three lowest bowls installed before the misery overcame me and we packed it in for the day (pardon this next perspective pic; raindrops on the lense)

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So....now that we are done laughing, what say the experts? Am I OK with the varying depths noted above? They really work well with the depths of the cribs. Now...the big question. What would you put inside the saucers? I am contemplating a bed of 50/50 sand and pea gravel. It can't be TOO heavy; I am guessing that a layer of about 2.5" - 3" deep (at the center of the saucer) will stretch out to the edges and cover about 80% of the spawning bowl. Any other thoughts or ideas?