Fishing For Crappie

CRAPPIE HABITAT

Crappie habitat in area lakes is necessity for not only sustaining good structure for survival but maintaining a great fishing spot. Anyone can build a crappie habitat in their own lake with all different types of structure and we will show you how and where to place these structures with what you have to work with within your own areas. A crappie habitat can be built with oak tree branches or Christmas trees, most cities have an area that is a designated drop after Christmas for trees that are free to the public. You can find areas with willow trees and bamboo or giant cane used to make fishing poles, please make sure that whoever owns the land will let you thin them out.
First you will want to find areas that you like to fish, shallow and deep water is a good start for your crappie habitat. Shallow waters in 10 foot or less for crappie spawn and deeper water for year round enjoyment for summer and winter, these areas will be in 20 plus feet of water at the end of points, creek bends or around bridge pylons. When building a crappie habitat, willow and oak tree branches have been the favorite for years, that are weighted with heavy weight 8 X 8 X 16-inch concrete blocks and secured with heavy duty nylon rope or 5 gallon buckets with concrete. Always take a tarp to lay down on your boat or barge for protection when building your crappie habitat. You can insert oak trees, bamboo shoots thru the concrete blocks or a 5 gallon bucket to make your structure is more upright for your crappie fishing pleasures.
When building your new crappie habitat there is an added plus for bamboo if you can find it in your area, you see bamboo is buoyant and will stand up straight in 5 gallon buckets with 60 lbs of concrete added to the bucket, always make sure that the bamboo shoots are no more than 1 ¼ inches in diameter at the base. This way you can add up to 20 shoots to one bucket and the bamboo shoots can stand up to 15 foot tall. However if your new crappie habitat is that tall you will need to make a 2 X 4 base built around the bucket to keep it upright until the concrete is cured out. Here comes the exciting part, after you have built your new crappie habitat you will be able to start fishing your new structure within a week and start catching crappie. With willow trees and oak trees you will have your fair share of losing your hook setups, now what I am so excited about is bamboo shoots are smooth using the 5 gallon buckets even on the side of an underwater embankment, they will still stand upright and your hook will glide up the branches without getting hung up. As time goes on your new crappie habitat just gets better even when the leaves are gone, the bamboo still offers enough protection for crappie to feel safe and will give you many years of enjoyment.
A crappie habitat can be placed anywhere on the lake and in as many spots that you choose, some will be better than others depending on the time of year. Your possibilities are endless by contributing to nature’s ecosystem by building your own crappie habitat.