In the winter of 2019, I suspended to a depth of 20 ft a small cedar tree in the slip where I keep my boat. Within a few days, and thereafter for several months, I could catch Crappie almost at will using a small jig with plastic tail and Crappie nibbles. In late fall of 2020, the Crappie seemed to disappear. I continued to try from time to time up until the Big Freeze with zero success. Some good sized limbs broke off a Cedar tree in my back yard, so I decided to replace my old brush with the new Cedar limbs.

I tried the new setup after about 5 days, and the Crappie are there. Coincidence? Water is warming, spring is blooming. Maybe that's why the Crappie are back at my suspended tree. I don't know, but I'm sure going to renew my tree whenever the Crappie stop biting.

Side note: Zebra mussels latched on to the rope I used to suspend the tree, and I cut my hands in several places making the switch--stayed painful for a long time. Next time I will bring appropriate tools.

I always prefer fresh over old. Especially, if the tree has leaves.

We replace the trees in our slip every year if possible.

I have brush piles (cedar trees) that are 15 years old still producing crappie.