Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Horizontal vs Vertical (big bass)?

I've always thought large diameter horizontal cover is best for holding bigger bass. But, as I plan a project I'm wondering the value of vehicle habitat. What says you experts; is vertical (post) type cover going to hold bass?

I have no clue which is optimal?

When the bass are biting, I have thrown behind standing timber and caught a nice fish. Farther up the shore, thrown to a washed up tree (horizontal), and caught a nice fish. Then dragged a lure past a deadhead (branches on the bottom, trunk up at the surface on an angle) and caught a nice fish.

I think LMB are pretty sneaky opportunists and will take whatever you will give them. However, I have never fished intensively managed ponds with lots of planned structure such that you could run an actual "experiment". So I am definitely a rank amateur.

Hopefully, this turns into an enlightening thread! If there is a "best" way to do this work, might as well try to get as close as we can to the standard.

I prefer horizontal with a lot of branches. In my uneducated opinion, I think more fish could orient on it. No matter which; I could get hung up on it.

I'm no expert, but I think it depends on the time of the year, water temperature, and generally the overall depth of the pond/body of water.

Lol, I'll get hung up on either type too!

I think I now have a plan!

Here's a drawing of my idea. Vertical post rows surrounded with cedar trees. Big enough lanes between to cast through the middle. Holes cut at different depths in the cedars. Posts trimmed to no branches stick out into the casting lanes, but horizontal cover between posts.

Plan looks good, catscratch!

It appears that those are all things you can install with your normal water level?

If that cover is all well marked, you might leave some of it just short of the surface. Running a top-water lure (or very shallow running lure) over heavy cover sometimes gets some explosive hits and is very easy to do for small children. (I know a few adults that also enjoy that type of fishing action. )


P.S. Have you fished around your concrete culverts yet?

Yes, I can install (and will) at normal water level. I plan to install the posts by pounding them in, the cedars by dropping them in. The posts will likely stick out of the water with the cedars completely submerged.

I have fished the culverts (thanks for asking). No fish from them yet. I'll keep trying though!!!

Use both vertical and horizontal cover/structure! See the following for info. Use vertical cover in deep water so that all of the pond is productive not just the shoreline.

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

Here is what Ray Scott did with his famous LMB lake. Note both types of cover and locations.




One bit of info to address your question;
"Underwater diving studies have shown that artificial habitat of which the fish prefer most, stands a minimum of 1/2 the water depth, with 2/3 or more being much better. Objects standing from bottom to surface were utilized most by the largest number of fish, bugs and creatures."

Nice!
Thank you!!!

How do you plan to pound the posts into the pond basin?

For the trees with branches, I've found in one pond that it takes about 2-3 years for a tree to reduce to the trunk and a few of the bigger branch stubs. That's for Christmas trees.

I plan to cut them long. Put a sharp point on one end. Take them out on the mini-pontoon. Trim them to appropriate lengths depending on water depth. Then either sledge hammer them in or use a fence post pounder.

The cedar trees I've put in several yrs ago have diminished quite a bit, but still hold fish. I did this thing were I let the cedars dry some then burned them. I have no proof but I think they are lasting longer than the one's I didn't burn. Should probably do a side by side test sometime to see if there is an actual difference, or if it's in my head.

For the vertical posts I'll either use Osage Orange (hedge) or Locust. Neither will rot. I've got fence posts that are likely over 100yrs old with no rot even under ground.

I asked about how you planned to get the posts in because I hadn't heard of any easy way to do it.

A long, long time ago, ewest talked about how he set up an A-frame ladder in the water that he could then get on to pound some sign-post type things into the pond basin. I remember that because I was never able to do it from a boat.

Ya, I'm not sure it will work. I'll give it a try though and let you guys know. What kind of problem did you run into while trying it from the boat?

Keeping the boat steady was my main issue. The second you try and apply any force to the post, the boat moves away quickly.

If you could have two anchor points with some tension on the lines, it may be steady enough to work.

I hope you find a way to do it.

Need a boat with Power Poles or Talons for that sort of job.

Do it when the pond is frozen. You can get up on a step ladder then!

Tried a different way to make vertical cover today. 3 holes, 3 lengths of rebar, and a cinder block. Very easy to assemble on a boat and makes for a stable tree. So much easier than what I was doing with wire and quickcrete.

I have seen yards with cars up on blocks.

I have seen yards with scraggly dead trees.

Now I have finally seen a yard with a scraggly dead tree up on a block!

I bet your wife was happy when that project made it into the pond.


P.S. How are you holding the tree inside the concrete block?

The rebar goes through holes I drill through the tree. Acts as a stop for the block.


I just started this project yesterday. The yard only has 1 scraggly old tree in it for now... many will follow! The wife has no clue what's coming!

I like the look of that structure, catscratch.

I could be wrong, but I think that structure will disintegrate to just the main stalk in (2) years or so. Just something to be aware of as you put in the labor/effort.

I assume it will rot pretty quickly. This particular tree died in a fire 2yrs ago. It was a prototype to test this idea because it was easy and I have a bunch of them that need to be dealt with. I'll likely start using Hedge (Osage Orange) soon which won't rot out for a long time. I'm ok with replacing structures though, and this method is cheap.

Word.

"In for a penny, in for a pound."

When you switch to trimmed Osage Orange trunks, I think the bass would like it if you made one of your rebar pieces a little longer and added a second tree. You would get double the vertical structure for only a little bit more material and labor.

You could even cast between the two trunks and any self-respecting bass holding in the structure would be pretty much obligated to hit your lure!

I might try that FishinRod! The rebar comes in 10' sticks. I could run one through 2 trees, then use 5' stick for the crosses on both trees.