but I was looking thru an old Bill Dance Crappie book, I got from Wal- Mart a long time ago, and saw his illustration of what a stake bed was. Since I wasn`t short of the materials used to make such I thought I`d give it a shot.This is just a prototype so don`t be too hard on me I plan to get better and welcome your advice.

just a suggestion , rip the vertical member , then cross cut them in half.
each stake will be half as wide, half as tall, but you will have 4x the number.

the ones I have seen , the stakes are quite close together,.


MO

Is that a pallet? That ought to work. I agree there should be more stakes. Drop a couple in Bardwell for me and I'll rate it for you!

One thing I can say for sure.... they won't come if you don't build it and drop it!
That type of wood might not last as long, but it will work for sure. Just make sure you have enough weight.

I think it looks great as is . I have seen some with a lot of sticks that a bigger crappie could not navigate thru . Try it. And post a report how it produces every month or so

Looks cool and should work. Is that wood treated?

Horace, a few of those placed together will work great. I'd suggest placing whatever weight you use on the inside bottom so the unit sets flat. If you put the weight underneath it, it will tilt to one side and may fall over. Screw 2 to 4 of those together and you've got a good crappie habitat. Or place them as close together on the bottom as possible. I'd add a couple 4" pieces of PVC horizontally for some shade.

Thanks for all the comments and advice guys!I intend to get better at this and make a few more and drop them in different spots on the Lake and see what happens.

Looks good, may I suggest a 12- 14 inch upright in the middle for shade, cover when they prefer a bigger vertical structure.

Believe it or not, that's pretty much what every stakebed in the state of Tennessee looks like. Kentucky lake is full of them.

Fishbonz, i am not an expert...but it would seem to me, that you want the spread between the slats close enough that a 30 lb or larger flathead could not swim through and catch crappie themselves (they need a safe haven too) as well as a place to lurk/rest/hunt from...

We did some similar to this but filled in with limbs off of a Cedar Tree. Worked REALLY WELL. Bamboo would work as well.

Now there`s an idea

Build it and they will come......
End of story.

I want to drop some kind of structure in the lake I fish. Is it considered dumping in a lake? Do i need to hide it? Do it at dark?