I still got my Christmas tree, and wanted to make a brush pile with it. So I was gonna get a cinder block, tie to bottom of tree, find a stump and drop tree down next to the stump. Maybe tie a rope on top of tree, loop around the stump, so bottom of tree and top of tree are next to the stump? Any tips on securing it, location (next to creek, a spot with many stumps etc...), depth?

Im a March thru June fisherman, never had a lot of success with crappie but I'm trying.

I have seen it done by, tying a cinder block to the bottom of the tree and a milk jug to the top to make stand upright. The key is make sure the tree is green. not dead. Drop it over and mark with GPS. Within 3 days, Catch Fish..

Green trees sink easy. Dead trees take more weight and deteriorate quick.

If that stump has produced crappie in the past , it is my experience that adding brush to
the site does not improve the fishing . We build our piles at locations where there is
no natural cover. It is hard to compete with natural cover, but put almost anything on
a barren flat , and it will hold fish if there are fish in the area.
" build it and they will come "

One tree is hard to find and fish, but it is a start. Our christmas tree pile are
usually 4 to 5 tree , depending on size.
good luck
MO

How tall is your tree? Try put it in the water so the top of the tree is around 10 ft deep when the water is at normal pool...

a few 5 gallon buckets, some bamboo or Pex tubing, and sacrete can make some pretty effective piles...if you want to go to the trouble to make some...Me, I tend to fish lakes with lots of trees, stumps, and or Corps brushpiles...first

If you are really interrested, Keith Speer has produced some youtube videos on the subject and you could just PM him...He is a good guy and willing to provide information to prospective brushpile makers...including making your own, different types and placement areas...Hope this information helps.

I've got a ton of 50lb chlorine buckets that I use to cement Christmas trees and cane in. I like to add 5 or so pieces of cane to the Christmas trees as well. Another thing I tried before the cement set up, was drill 4 holes into the bucket perpendicular to each other and stick 2 pieces of rebar in the bucket to form a T for better stability. It seems like I've got greater chance of the brush landing and continue standing in the vertical position. I'll tie a couple 1 gallon acid jugs to it as well to ensure that they'll stand upright. All of the brush that I have set out with rebar in the bucket are still standing vertical. I can see the jugs on my graph as well...

Now I've just thought of something though....
If I can see the jugs, on down imaging, that I've tied to the brush to keep it upright, why do I have trouble seeing my PVC brush piles? The jug is plastic and it it shows up perfect on my graph but I can barely see any PVC.

Pintail is right on. I use cross pieces of PVC so that they want fall over. I don't like just dropping them in the lake so I put PVC in the center and run it vertical. Put a hole in the top and run a line thru it, when it reaches bottom I let go of one end and pull the rope back out. May be over kill but I worry about it landing wrong.

How about something like this.

That`s really Kool Mike ! Did you make it?

Yeah, that was my first condo. It's somewhere on Lake Fork.

I think you are seeing the air in the jug on your down imaging. If the jug was full of water instead of air, it would be hard to spot on your graph.

that makes sense now.

I really enjoy building the PVC tops, mainly to to take up bets with my girlfriend on how many neighbors will stop ask "WTH is that?".

Hey Pintail, I have a couple of questions...do you rought up the pex with sandpaper/abrasive and why do you cap the 4in pvc? Just wondering...looks good to me...what is the total cost of that setup? Thanks in advance, for any info!

About 7 foot or 8 feet. Thanks for all the great tips!

The caps aren't needed, but they should help the pile show up on SI if they trap air inside! I've been known to build a couple every year but I put em all in my buddies private lakes! Some law folks are funny about pvc brush sunk in public water. Looks good BTW!

What is the Blue material and where do you get it?I`m interested in trying my hand @ making something like that!

Looks like Pex waterline to me Fishhbonz. It comes in red and blue.

IMO, I would just stick to building them out of natural brush . Cane, willow, etc. I have a couple 14' foot PVC brush piles out and they just don't produce as good as what natural brush does. You could build four 10' cane brush piles and spend 1/16 of the time you would spend building 1 pvc top.

Ver nice condo. check and see if black poly irrigation pipe is cheaper than water pipe. we got 500' for $45

What month is best month to place the new pile?

Bonz, I got that material at Home Depot

Yes, the black irrigation tubing is considerably cheaper than the red, white, or blue PEX water line.
1/2 x 500' roll of PEX is $113 which is 2-1/2 times more expensive than the black irrigation line.
That really nice one in the picture up above with the blue PEX probably has over 100' of the blue pipe in it.
The pex is way on sturdier no doubt about it, but for condos, the black irrigation stuff works just fine and it's a lot easier to cut.

Chainsaw, cinder blocks, a roll of wire & a good fluffy mesquite or willow tree close to the bank.

I spray the ends of the tubing with spray foam. I also sand them to help start the plankton.

In my own opinion PVC is very difficult to get a reading on. I made a brush pile out of PVC which was 3 times the size of yours and anchored it right next to a bridge column. I have a Hummin bird 999 and it would barely register on the graph. The only reason I knew something was down there was from my anchor weight and the fact that I just threw it out there. When I did a guide with SLADE he said PVC is very hard to read on a graph. I believe its because of several factors including material and shape. Consider it the stealth brush pile. Bamboo on the other hand shows up excellent on a graph.

You have to put a license plate on it, or a milk jug to hold air in it. Hence, that's why it has a cap on the top to trap air. The air also keeps it standing upright.

I generally know where my piles are by circling the mark. I usually add them to an existing hardwood structure. I can get close and find em on a few minutes casting. The easier they are to see on a screen the more likely you will be sharing.

Rook thats one cool lookn tree

Thanks Spinnerbait72, I sure hope the crappie think so. lol

nice

My tip.

Drop in Palestine and send me coordinates.


Looks good.

The man made pipes are close to perfectly round presenting only a minimum of surface to reflect directly back to the source. Most of the signal is reflected in other directions. Total surface area is less important on creating an image than the reflective surface being perpendicular to the TD. That is one basis of how stealth planes work, No flat surfaces perpendicular to the signal source.

The strongest signal reflector for sound or light is called an SMR ( square mirror reflector ) and looks like the insde corner of a box. It reflects everything inside the box directly back to the source. I have one on my kayak for going offshore. I look like a tanker on radar.

Finally got around to doing my first brush pile. Christmass tree in the middle, and I figured I'd beef it up a bit with some bamboo got growing around our neighborhood. Man now I had a little practice, I want to do another one all bamboo. Chrstmass tree about 8.5 ft hight, bamboo about 9 foot. Now I just need a good spot to drop it.

I've made several pvc brush pile similar to yours and after awhile it's hard to spot on downscan but my sonar picks it up fine. So as long you save it on your gps shouldn't have a problem fishing it. Just use your gps to get on it and throw your bouy out and use sonar and your be fine.

That's a good looking structure. Don't know how much weight you have in that bucket ...it may not be enough to sink or keep it in place. Just a thought ...

I bought a 50 lb bag of quickrete, and used about 40 lbs of it. It's pretty heavy should sink fine.

that is a nice looking BP...Bushy Cedar trees(lots of limbs) are fantastic, as well...even if they are dead...there was a guy that used to post on here...Keith at CreamcreekKennels...that made some really nice BP using some of the simplest and easily obtained materials...and another guy that did a good job at using available materials (found at the lake) is Shecrappiekilla (Kirk)...he always seemed to find the perfect locations to place them, as well....I say that because I got the privilege of fishing one/two of his placed piles a couple of years ago...and pulled some hogs off of those piles...so, just try to place them at good spots; it is a trial and error process at best, especially when you are just starting out the process...and don't forget to check out Keith Speers YouTube videos on the subject (he has quite a few) for some additional options....Remember that some piles hold fish better than others because the name of the game...Location, Location, Location...hope this information helps....

Looks good, Guy.

Now..about 4 more should make a very nice pile.

Good job..those should hold fish for some time.



Gman

Now..about 4 more should make a very nice pile.

Good job..those should hold fish for some time.



Gman