Sinking artificial tree for crappie

Leave ornaments on to make it more festive

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Leave ornaments on to make it more festive

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I wouldn't do that. The crappie will take the place of the ornaments. I see a lot of brush piles on LS. They are usually decorated.

You need to make sure the tree doesn't come apart. Might have to run a sheet metal screw where the sections come together where they attach in the trunk.

Then, you want it to float upside down. Tie a cinder block to the top and a crab trap float to base and throw it over board.

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Then, you want it to float upside down

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Yes

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I have tried trees and pvc. The trees were far more productive than the pvc.

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I have found PVC to only attract fish in water that is otherwise devoid of any cover at all. There were some PVC type ones in a private lake I fish, they occasionally held fish. I sank 3 Christmas trees at three varying depths and those became the hot spots and nothing hung around the pre-existing PVC structures anymore.

One of my best spots in a local lake is a bunch of PVC. The lake is loaded with timber, tops and hydrilla.

We used drop a lot of PVC and could typically pull a few off. There are some areas on the lake where an incredible amount of trees have been dropped and they seem to produce more. You can sit on top of some of the tree piles for hours and catch fish. Never had that experience with the pvc.

There’s a bunch of the PVC ones exposed where I was duck hunting this weekend. The PVC reefs just looked sterile to me. The brush piles others built nearby out of trees looked way better in my opinion, but I’m not a fish.

Cinder block is the most efficient cost effective anchor for crappie condos. They will beat your boat up though. You can get them for $1 a piece on marketplace around me occasionally.


I suspect an artificial tree will work but I also would bet it becomes a blob of algae in less than a year without much attraction for fish because its just a blob of algae. Normal dead christmas trees will become such a blob in about a year and a half on most lakes. They are too thick to allow good water flow and simply grow over with algae. Its noticeable on live scope....just a cone shaped blob of something devoid of life. Small hardwood trees cut green and sunk are the best and easiest in my experience. Longest lasting is cane in my experience and they also attract fish like crazy for years and years. The only reason I say small hardwood trees are easier is because you can tie a concrete block to a 10 foot tall sweetgum tree and put half a pool noodle in the top of it and its easy to dump over the side and will hold fish for years....cane has to be tied together and concrete poured and its just a whole thing.

I build bass condos out of sawmil slabs. Basically a multi-layered pallet about 2-3 feet tall and and about 4 feet square to a side. They are a BITCH to deploy but I put them on main lake points in 10-20 feet of water, weighted down with a concrete block...and bass LOVE them. Catfish also. You live scope those things and they are always loaded up with fish....when there is some current there are always feeding fish on them.