now this guy is a forward thinker!!!!!!!!!!

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/f ... hp?t=62411

LOL !!!! Just likes a StickHunter ........ Thay be eatin' cheese .... while I be eatin' .... Meat !!!!!

Querston is ............ When you wants to go !!!!!!!!

That looks like a great idea. I have smoked cheese on my BGE but had to use ice to keep the temp down. I'm going with this guys idea.
By the way Brooks I'm ready to go crappie fishing anytime now. All ice here except the river and its flooded out. Since Christmas I have been scrounging Christmas trees out of the ditches for crappie beds.

Randy

Randy, there's a lake at the end of my road that holds some huge crappie. They also have a collection for Christmas trees for the apartment dwellers that can't dispose of the trees in the dumpster.
We run down and load a boat or two full and make some fine crappie holes. It's like they want use to use them.

Its amazing how much weight it takes to sink a big ol Christmas tree. I know I have to make a couple of trips to the rip rap pile to get enough weight to sink some of those crappie magnets. This year I plan to bait some of those piles with cottonseed meal in a bag. Crappie are yummy and worth the work.
Randy

Ugh, I just can't imagine eating one of those "nasty catfish". NOT!!!!

I have friends up in Yankeeland who would not touch one. They really believe they are nasty.

You should see how many crappie I catch in hoop nets. I will take a pic this spring when the net is full of slab crappie and one big flathead with a bulging belly.
Sandy I have seen where guys use the willow and cane for crappie attractors. The down side to willow would be the beavers gnawing on them. I am gonna get some out early spring. The Christmas trees are easy to get. Just drive around and find them in the ditches after Christmas.
As far as catfish being sleezy...I have heard this a million times. People find out I net fish and they ask, where do you go. I say the river and they cringe. Then I ask them where does your drinking water come from???? The river. I have educated more people on fish in the Ohio than I care to mention.
I always end the conversation with ...if you drink the water and you believe the fish are scummy what are you doing to save the water and fish?
I then tell them that not only am I taking good eating fish out of the river I am also taking out a ton of trash too. Just look at my gill nets after a week in the water. When I pick the trash out of my nets I get a 55 gal barrel full of trash from one net.

Randy

Randy,
I'd very much like to see some of those net pictures of slab crappie and op. It might make me become a midnight net fisherman.

Why are you worried about beavers and the willows? If you sink them deep enough especially to keep crappie on them in the summer, it should be a non issue. I understand you wanting to use Christmas trees due to availability. However, we've proven the Christmas trees generally aren't good until they've been in the water close to a year. The reason being the sap that leaches from them and changing the PH of the water around them. Also, they are much harder to fish than willows. Meaning the willows aren't as dense and you won't hang up as much. Also, when you sink the willows you do it when they are green and full of bugs. The green from the leaves provides shade and a place for the crappie to hide and the bugs provide food for the baitfish that attract the crappie. I need to find you some articles on line about this. These guides have it down to a science now with sinking brush.

I was just messing with THA about the catfish. I'll take some OP belly any day blackened or on the grill. Fried it's almost, ALMOST , as good as crappie!

I hear ya Dawg! I am all ears when it comes to crappie structure. I have a large state owned property covered with deep lakes and have fished them for my entire life. I have found that if you sink structure during the week when no one is around you can catch some really nice crappie.
In regards to hoop nets and crappie....I bait my nets with cottonseed meal to attract bait fish aka redear,bluegill,crappie and small drum. The flatheads will pile into the hoops for the live fish. I have a couple of locations I catch alot of ops around big rock piles/debris. I set the nets up river from the rocks and bait with cottonseed meal. Of course here in Indiana you have to release all game fish when running nets which I do. When I use only cottonseed meal the crappie/bass just pile in the nets. Some times as many as 100+ in one day check. I also noticed that the river minnows will use the hoop nets to hide in out of the current which I'm sure has alot to do with whats after them.
When I use cheese or other baits I will not catch any game fish.
My thoughts are to drop some bags of cottonseed meal in and around the crappie structure and lay some slabs on ice.
I am ready willing and able to learn more about catching crappie. I know you jack hammer them. Learn me up.

Randy

We fish shallow docks and stumps until after the spawn and then the fish drop off on to beaver huts and brushpiles in the deeper water. We line the trees on the edge of the channel and troll over top of them. Sand Man is right about the trees getting better after a year or so. We just add new trees every year to keep it primo.

Randy, what's you average size flathead and blues run over there?

Kook I found meal at the Farm Co-op near my home. I have now found cottonseed pellets at another farm store. I use fine mesh bags and double them with the meal and or add some cheese. The pellets are gonna be the ticket. They will do good in a single fine mesh bag. 8-10 dollars for fifty pounds.
Mud depends on the time of year kinda like where your at. The spring is the best and catch piles and piles of channels and flatheads. I throw the blues back in the water. My customers prefer channels and ops. As I do.
In the fall I will save a couple thirty pound blues for raccoon trapping bait. I catch alot of flatheads in late summer and fall using meal to bait the bait.
We have alot of the bamboo cane[duckblind stuff] in my backyard. I plan to use a bunch of it as soon as the ice is off getting ready for spring. I had never thought about the christmas trees and the sap but it makes alot of sense. I can say that the older piles were way more productive than the new of the year. Wow learned something there. At my old home I tore a couple truck loads of shrubbery out and placed them in 8' of water just in from a ledge to deep water and filled my freezer for many years off of them. I lost permission to that lake and cry about it every spring.
Its single digit temp here today and going to be in the fifties in a day or two. I'm soooooooooooo happy.
Randy

Randy

im definitely not a crappie expert, but a guy told me a while back that sweet gum trees are the absolute best for attracting crappie. Any of y'all heard that??

The area that I live in used to be nicknamed "sweet gum nation". We got plenty of them.

I ran into Wally Marshall last summer at BPS and he suggested tomato stakes held by concrete in five gallon buckets.

Also, them crappie condo's look like they'd last a long time

I'm looking for the pics right now! I have been scrounging around for pallets, buckets and sticks to make up some attractors like hiz mentioned. I'm looking foreward to seeing your pics Sand. Bomb we are in a severe windstorm right now as I type. Should be plenty of gum limbs and tops laying around after it passes.

Randy

Finally found the pictures Randy. Here is what we do and why we do it:

1) Use green willows and sweet gums. These two trees have proven to not change the PH of the water, provide tons of shade, attract baitfish, are pliable enough you don't stay hung up in the brush, and last a pretty good while. Also, the willows will continue to live in the water when you sink them. I've seen them stay green for close to 2 months after we have sank a pile if you water is clear enough for them to get some sunshine on them.
2) We try to find a hump, ledge, drop off, etc next to a creek with a sharp drop off from say 10-15' to 30' fairly quickly. We do this because crappie use creek channels like we do highways to move back and forth from spawning areas to deep water. You also want a pretty sharp drop where you have a range of depth to put the brush pile in so no matter where the thermal climate the fish want to be in you are in the depth of the thermal with your brush pile. IN other words where they can move up and down with the depth they want to be in given the current water conditions.
3) We use a 20'+ bare deck pontoon boat to sink the brush. We try to find trees around 20'-25'. We generally use a 6'-8' piece of pipe and use 5 trees spaced out the length of the pipe with the trunks tied to the pipe. We put 1 gallon jug tied to the top of the tree where you push the pile off the pontoon boat it will float vertical. If you don't have pipe, you can use concrete blocks as you will see in the pictures. ALso, if you don't have a pontoon to do 5 trees at a time you can sink them one at a time but it makes it much harder to build a pile where you don't have voids in the pile and the fish are focusing on just one part of the pile. Another reason we use the sweet gums is they are heavier than the willows and help sink them. Also, the willows rot much quicker than the sweet gums and the gums help hold the integrity of the pile.

Here are some pictures:
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/5615/img2575be6.jpg

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/9938/img2576ig0.jpg

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/8275/img2577lt5.jpg

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/7453/img2578oj9.jpg

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/5373/img2580ui8.jpg

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/6003/img2581kb8.jpg

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/8030/img2582bo4.jpg


The man made structures are proven to work, but I've noticed they don't hold the number of fish these piles do nor they afford you the range of water depths. You have to sink lots of them and find where the fish are in the water depth of the lake to know which ones to fish. With these piles, you just move up or down with your bait. I've been told the cane piles work just as well. I've never sank any as I've always had willows and gun readily available. Hopefully that answers a few of your questions.

Sorry, but I can embed the pictures.