Fish cover for dock

Over the past 4 years I have put out a bunch of differrent PVC structures under my dock and none of the work very well. I scraped them for algea growth too.
I had a different dock before that and had lots of brush under it an always caught a lot of crappie. I did the PVC stuff to help from the young uns and inexperienced from staying hung up.
So my questions to the guys that have docks or rent slips and always have crappie is this.
Does PVC really work that well or should I just stick with wood?

Just ask Mr. Paty or anyone else from "The OFFICE" at pier 121 how PVC works for them.

I have done my share of sinking and fishing both types in slips and on the main lake. It has been my experience that natural brush is always better. Not to say to can’t catch fish off PVC because you can and I do. PVC is just more inconstistent. Some times it’s loaded sometimes it empty. Brush consistently holds more and bigger fish on the average. This is just my experience.

Willows and bamboo with green leaves still attached. Or other natural wood with leaves. They just work and draw in fish. You have to drop it soon after construction or the leaves will brown or fall off and they don't work as well.

Bamboo, get it in the water as soon as you can after cutting it!

I have a boathouse and have used bamboo zip tied in cinder blocks for years works Great.

What "fishin'aholic2" said.

I fish both on EM. Brush seems to be a lot better than PVC when fishing for crappie.

How long do the leaves stay on bamboo after sinking?

Probably 3 weeks but dropping immediately will keep the small limbs intact for a long time.

Your basically creating a habitat (ecosystem) for Shad to live in. The crappie remain near the brush and pick them off one by one. The Shad feed on the plankton growing on the limbs.

Bamboo is the best if you can get it. It is easy to sink and holds fish well. You also rarely hang up. The only problem is that it doesn’t last long and you need to refresh each year for best results. I have sunk bamboo and have went back and caught nice fish off it in 2 hours. Pretty crazy really.

Willow is a good second choice if you don't have bamboo...

Believe it or not I have been driving all over our little town and there is no Bamboo anywhere. I guess it will be willows.

I believe you, bamboo is not a west Texas thang...I have used a lot of material, and some last longer than others. But willow grows around most lakes I fish, so I can cut it there, and they do like it. I have caught fish off it the same day I put it out...

9094

Some docks are better than others water depth, the shade the dock throws on the water are important too having a boat in the slip etc.. Much depends on where you docks located I do believe brush maybe slightly better because it draws fish faster but the headache of keeping kids from hanging up and the fact that it doesn't last for more than a few years and sometime only a few days if there's a beaver around lol. Where pvc can last for a lifetime, plus brush is easy to spot with side imaging so you'll have more competition fishing it.
IMHO Its more difficult to bring crappie into just any old area, verses concentrating them with new structure when they are already present. If you have confidence in your area try getting some brush like xmas trees something with bulk to it that will stand up off the bottom and form a "WALL" they are also easy to put out since you can just tie a block to them.. Lay them in a LINE running out from your dock IN 2 diff directions making a contore for fish to follow after all we all agree fish follow contour and they do move in and out of shallow water. ..also I would stand up several in a bucket and place them on the sunny side of you dock away from it enough so you can fish between them and the dock..
You have a great idea for the young uns. if your going to be at your present location for a while you can add some extra brush out away from you slip..

""If you put it out they will come may not hold to promising everywhere"""

An good option might be to find some bamboo, its difficult to see on side imaging and if you cut it to lengths and knock off the leaf sprouts you will have the WOOD and very low hang-ups probability..of course it would be better with the sprouts but then we are back to hanging up.
When I say "knock" and mean get a 3ft piece of pvc about 2 inches around and hammer them off. Cut the bamboo to length the stand it up with sprouts angling upwards just like it grows give it a quick sharp downward pop right against the stalk and the sprout will break against the stalk fairly smooth if you use a Moschetti it will leave a place for you line to grab knocking them off is much faster anyway, I even cast thru large bamboo stands with very little or no hanging up..



Luck helps a little a bit too so Good luck

I use 1/16th oz weedless Jigheads with a #2 hook anytime I'm fishing. I use the toothbrush type filler material and very rarely Hang up. As long as I don't set the hook on a limb instead of a fish I'm good to go.

I am forced to fish with soft plastics, but I got past that years ago.

If your going to fish bamboo, which is where I fish most of the time, it's almost necessary.

Bamboo is harder to see on side imaging. I throw a marker out when I put a top out and then gps the location after I have been over it a few times to see where the most brush is in relation to the marker. But bamboo looks like a "ghost" or school of Shad because the bamboo has hollow segments that contain air and SI picks that up and sees thru it.

Down imaging will show you every limb, twig, or fish. But if you spend much time trolling over it, it seems the fish either sink down in the brush or will just move away from the top.

The new panoptics unit are showing people how shy Crappie really are of trolling motors and boat noise. They are seeing to catch the better size Crappie in a brushpile, you need to run the trolling motor on a very low setting and use a long jig pole, I have used 12' poles for years for that reason.