Building structure

[Juba]

Hi Guys I’ve seen some very nice spots in our local dams with rocks and all the goodies including deep water close and and… accept laydowns…
So my question: is there certain trees bass relate to better than others? Willow/pine /black wattle / blue gum?
I’m gone take a chain saw and some wire and make laydowns!! Any tips?

[Riprap]

a man after my own heart - there, now I can "watch" this topic. :eusa_whistle:

[LaRocks]

Ek het nie baie kennis van bome, maar ek dink dennebome is die een. Hy absorbeer water die vinnigste en raak gouer swaarder. 4m toppings van Dennebome behoort te werk met gewig aan. Joubert ek sal graag kom help as jy dalk hulp benodig.

[Juba]

Ek het nie baie kennis van bome, maar ek dink dennebome is die een. Hy absorbeer water die vinnigste en raak gouer swaarder. 4m toppings van Dennebome behoort te werk met gewig aan. Joubert ek sal graag kom help as jy dalk hulp benodig.

Ok lekker ons moet dit vir onself lekker maak want niemand anders gaan nie!

[nutt]

Hi Juba

You want to buy some cheap 5 lt buckets and remove the handles drill a hole on each side where the handles were and feed some rope through and tie off, then fill with cement (These are used to weight the tree down). I would use Blue Gum as they have the least tanins and resins etc. Also they are not allowed to be within a 100m of a water source, so no one can complain when you are felling them.

[Navrik]

This is definitely one way to make a lot of friends quickly :blue-wink:

[August]

Ek het nie baie kennis van bome, maar ek dink dennebome is die een. Hy absorbeer water die vinnigste en raak gouer swaarder. 4m toppings van Dennebome behoort te werk met gewig aan. Joubert ek sal graag kom help as jy dalk hulp benodig.

ek weet ook nie te veel nie, maar ek weet 'n denneboom is 'n baie suur boom, kan vir 'n ruk jou water minder lekker maak tot hy goed dood is.
Ek sal se gaan net groot :-)

[Riprap]

I once almost broke my boat whilst towing a lekka big gum tree out into the depths and recorded all that needed recording for the future.....hell, we fished it the same day but lo and behold, next trip that tree was nowhere to be found and must have rolled down towards the river channel with current and all so if I ever attempt it again, the advice about the anchoring weights will be put to good use.

[Kassie]

I'd like to see pictures of how this whole idea is finally put together.
Tree stumps with concrete bases are not exactly light and easy to manoeuvre so carrying them is gonna take some serious effort.
Then. How to get them to your chosen spot? Put it on your fibreglass bass-boat...not likely.
Hope you've got a barge with a crane! LOL - so much for stealthily creating a private honey hole

[Riprap]

For years I've heard how in the past local guys used to cart boatloads of old tyres to make structure but I have yet to find some even when our dam dropped below 50%......!

If you want something snag proof then PVC or plastic is the way to go and also lasts long. Abroad, the huge Christmas tree market results in many being used for structure afterwards. I've seen in a reservoir how if you place a single item in the middle, all the bass gravitate to this item........

[BassRat]

This is a great topic one that intrests me a lot. I know of this being done in dams like Albert falls (falls with in a nature reserve!) but I'm not sure of the legal implications and the ruling in tournament be it BFSA or SABAA and government regulations for that matter. Perhaps Rob or Brenden could help out with the "laws" for or against this.

I've heard of tyres, 220lt drums, brush piles even tubes filled with dog pellets. Yup dog pellets.

[StephenK]

We tried this at Klerkskraal years ago, but it was not successful, the reeds grew over the structure. We got some old cracked/damaged box culverts for free from the roads department and tipped that into the dams as structure. It is very heavy and we had access to a large barge. What about he concrete railway sleepers. Just don't know what they weigh! The ones used at mines are about 50kg each.

You could float it,tie 210 litre drums to it, add weights/anchor to it, tow it to the spot and cut the drums loose

[Juba]

What I had in mind is +-5m trees in length(manoeuvrable size) tie weights to it in about 5ft to 8ft water... if I do 5 of these 10m apart that's should be good?
This cant be to difficult once the tree is cut 2 to 3 guys drag it to the water tie it to the boat and take it in....

[Riprap]

Yes, legality is an issue and must be checked!
This sort of thing is to create your own honey hole and doesn't always help the fishery itself HOWEVER, if we planted indigenous aquatic vegetation, eradicated the bad ones, managed the fish population etc etc blah blah blah, then we are improving the fishery for all including our kids.
Lekka topic this.

[Brenden]

Hi Juba, another thing to take into consideration is that today it is sunk in 5 to 8ft of water. two months from now the level has dropped and the local carp fishing crowd eg QWK have used your laydown to keep themselves warm for the night.
did you ever see all those laydowns at clan at beeskraal? the local farmer used it to make fire in his drying kiln.
not trying to dampen your idea but for all the effort you will make will it actually help because our water level drops in summer. not like Natal that has summer rain. just food for thought.