Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Building structures

Hey guys,
I'm gonna build some pvc and plastic structures tonight. I got a bunch of 1'"thick wall gas line and a bunch of 1/2". Only thing is I'm kinda running some ideas through my head of how to make a good base so they stand up. I was thinking of maybe making some forms up out of 2x4's and maybe make a 15"x15" concrete base so they sit good, also would use less concrete than 5 gallon bucket

You don't have to fill up the bucket with concrete.....

Tell me what you guys think.. Wish i knew how to ad them to the thread instead of external link.. Anyways thought id make more but they sure do eat up the tubing.. Ill have to get more monday we have dumpsters full..

How's this.

Yeah buddy there we go.... Thanks alot..

Also i just cut the buckets in half that should work.. I got 3 porcupines coming anyday now aswell..

That pic makes me glad I never did drugs.

Which one!

far out.....man

Very nice.

thank you, Also just got my pvc porcupines in the mail yesterday (ebay $10)

Porcupines for $10?! Wow! Does the seller have more? Link?

if he had more i would have bought them all. i kinda got lucky it was the day before the auction ended.. no one was bidding..

How much was shipping? That had to have been a pile of cash!

What was the listing under or a keyword or two? So some of us may be able to get a good deal, or know what to look for.

Shipping was 7.50. Total was $17. I put in fish habitat or fish structure. Then I went trough and put in stuff like spawning, bill dance porcupines, also I found a floating fish light bid .99$ won that it was $9 shipping so $10 brand new in box..

Round 2 of structure building will begin Friday evening. Cold beverages will be served.. Pics to come. I'm going with the same basic concept anyone see any problems with the style I made?? I kinda don't like the loops over the top, could snag hooks but can't be as bad as a Christmas tree..

Hey Guys.
Made 4 more. Got 6 total now.. Also i have 3 porcupines aswell. I think all of these grouped togethter are gonnna make a nice little underwater forrest. Tell me what you think..

I like.

Looks good. Be sure to keep in mind that a forest needs to encompass 3 dimensions ( length , width and height/depth ).

Those look great. We did something similar...

I will have six of these grouped with 3 porcupines on top. Should be about 25' long 12' wide 6' tall. I guess I'll call it a mini Forrest

Bluegillerkiller,

Where did you get all the materials to build these?

Was it all new or some used etc.

Seems like some nice ideas here but new PVC is a little pricey around here.

Thanks

I got the tubing out of a dumpster. I've got $20 in concrete, about $50 in the porcupines. The buckets were left over from when I built my house.. All the tubing was leftover from huge rolls or used.

So what type of tubing is it then, if it was in rolls?

Gas line.

what size

1" and 1/2"

Sinking all these this weekend or tonight.. What's you guys suggestions on best locations.. Also I have some standing dead trees about 30-50' tall I'm thinking about cutting down and putting in the pond any thoughts on this...

2-6' is the general depth suggestion.

Thanks I was thinking around 6'..

Should one consider putting anything in the deepest part of their pond?

I think ours is around 10-12 feet at max depth and just wondered what if anything should be placed in that area?

I was thinking of making a couple bundles for out in deep water during the winter. I figured what the heck can't possibly hurt anything. What about thoughts on trees anyone have experience with this?

e-bay artifial fish structure

e-bay Bill Dance Porcupine

Well we all know that LMB love logs and trees are natural in lakes.

But they are also a pain to get hung up in and they eventually rot.

Now I have trees in mine but they were either left there after they made the pond or fell in once it filled with water.

I say it is better than nothing but you have the others you plan to sink.

IMO it will not hurt anything, and is ultimately up to you to decide.

I would like to hear some other downsides to adding trees.

So when placing these should they be fully submerged or leave some sticking out of the water?

MRHELLO, what would be the point of leaving them sticking out of the water?

To help locate them.

I just thought some may be sticking out of the water if placed in only 2'.

Incidentally maybe, but not on purpose. Fish can't use structure if it's not underwater. Shade I suppose….

So would it be safe to say that the top of the structure should be at least 2 feet deep?

Yes, taking into account water fluctuation. Place structure where you know the fish will be. More often than not, BG and LMB types are in that 2-6' range. Obviously, under certain circumstances, bugs falling on the surface, warmer water being deeper, etc., they will be at different depths, but the 2-6' scale is typically suggested.

That is probably why I can not catch the BG or LMB if they are in those depths.

As the GSF are on the top and get first dibs on all that falls in the water.

I was gonna go with about 6' depth leaving about 2 1/2' of water on top of my structure incase of drought. My lake has exactly no cover. Only cover is primrose and a floating Xmas tree someone threw in there years ago. Eventually I would like to make about 6-8 of these plastic structure areas in 4-6 of water then 5 or 6 in deep water along with putting in some dead trees in a couple coves. One thing I've never been able to find where the fish are spawning or making beds I have a good idea bit it's on the deepest side of te lake on a hard slope any thoughts on this?

You should cover all depths (fish go deep in winter , late fall and spring) on the best locations. See the archive on fish and structure.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92463#Post92463

Well didn't get anything accomplished this weekend, my wides uncle had a strike Friday then they found cancer on his lung and 2 cancerous tumors on his brain, then Saturday had too trench in all my gutter tiles (2000') didn't get done with that until dark last night. Although Friday I did get out in the boat and get some depth measurements, I'm on the shallow end of the pond ranging from 2-6' I was amazed at how clear my water is in the shallow I could see bottom clearly at 3' then started to lose sight about 4' seen lots a fish and found some bedding areas but I don't think their that productive being on the side that gets most of te runoff. Got most of my depths read on the shallow end going to start on the deep end tonight. Looks like my end being so shallow I'm going to have to come up with some different structure ideas any thoughts.?

I like the structure you have built yourself better than the porcupine structure. I have placed a lot of the porcupine structures and have not ever caught a fish off of one. They have been in the water for about seven months.

Thanks,
After putting a couple porcupines together i realized they arent actually that much cover, although they are better than nothing. And when i made mine i was thinking i had deeper water on my end of the lake it only averages from 2-4'. Now i know so im gonna make some low profile structures next.. I still have not got to measure the depth on the the other side of the pond. Ill get that probably friday night and for sure get these structures sunk this weekend.. My mom seen these and said jeez those are gonna look god awful around your pond. I said mom they go under water, like i would actually landscape my pond with these..?

Finally got these sunk this weekend.. I was kinda surprised how much area I was ale to cover with these. I spread them out in kinds a zig zag tree line formation in 6-7' of water it covered an area of about 20' wide by 60'-75' long. I offset them by about 5' and spread them about 5-6' apart also in this adventure I found that my pond has some hollow out big tree stumps I found 3 close to bank not sure if there is more but they looked like good structure. Still have to add the porcupines in the same general area in all I should have about 30x100' of nice cover in 6-8' of water. I will be building a bunch more of these for sure. I dropped them off the boat they sunk perfectly then I used the paddle to smash the base down into the mud as far as possible.. I think I am going to add some dead trees by just laying them over in some of the coves and keeping the base up close to bank to kinda anchor.. I have a bunch of standing dead hickory trees that are almost barkless and unbleached that should work pretty good.. Well just wanted to give an update on this thanks for the help guys..

Built 3 more last night to sink this weekend..

Hello, I am a new user on here. just found this web site while trying to build structure for my ne pond I dug in August and am very happy with all the info on here. I made some of the porcupine structures out of bowling balls and 1/2 inch eletrical conduit. they turned out great. I found the idea from a post from 2006 that was on here. will try to post pics later tonight. very happy with them at 4 to 6 bucks a peice! i made 6 of them in 4 hours.

Assume you saw this

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92463#Post92463

ewest, thank you for that link that is awesome. I just dug my pond in august and have no structure what so ever and wanted to put structure in it that will last forever. going down to my cabin this weekend where the pond is at will try to get picks placing the structure I have already made. Thanks again!

We made it too page 3. I have 2 Christmas tree farms within miles of my house. Every year they have giant stacks of cut trees sitting around after the season. I'm gonna see if I can get my hands on them this year..

Be creative. Xmas trees can be incorporated in many ways and for different purposes. I use between 50 and 100 every year.

Ewest you got any pics of your pond on here I'd like to check it out and here the details on it, if you don't mind?

Lots of pics here. I will search out a few.

Here is some stuff on xmas tree structure (pics one of our ponds)

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.

Here is the link to the renovation of one pond which has some pics.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=116388&page=1

Lookin good.. Real good. I sunk 3 more structures today. I've got a nice big area now maybe 30x100 of PVC trees all within feet of each other. Gonna add 3 porcupine structures this week. I might make 5-10 more similar structures to what I made and sink around the same area. Then 10 for deep water then on to Christmas trees..

I just started building cover for my pond and was very suprised to see how quickly fish will surround it. I put out some pipe one day last week in the morning, went back out that afternoon, and literally caught seven bass in a row off of the pipe. Building habitat has kind of become an obsession and i'm suprised to find myself looking all over for different things to make or throw in the pond. One thing I havn't seen on here that works well is large plastic flower pots that I get from a local nursery. They usually have hundreds of used ones laying around that they throw away. You can zip tie about six of them together from the bottom and they make a nice little piece of cover. Also, been having fun with black corregated pipe.

I just trenches in a bunch of septic tile. After I was done I still have about 4-5 tons of pea gravel. I quess you guys know where this is going. My wife says what are you gonna do with all that extra rock.... Throw it in the pond duh. She doesn't know I actually ordered about 5 tons extra just so I could do this lol..