Creating "Structure"

[amateurfishing]

Has anyone (or is it even legal to) ever put rocks, brush, or any other kind of natural environmental items on top of ice (or off of boat for that matter) to have it fall in what you would believe to be an ideal location for fish to congregate where there is no structure? or on any "bowl" lake where there is no natural structure already located?

[CAMAN]

In MN it is not legal unless you receive a permit from the DNR.

[Alagnak]

Has anyone (or is it even legal to) ever put rocks, brush, or any other kind of natural environmental items on top of ice (or off of boat for that matter) to have it fall in what you would believe to be an ideal location for fish to congregate where there is no structure? or on any "bowl" lake where there is no natural structure already located?

That's a big no- no on public waters in the land of one line and 10,000 laws to do it when and where you want. Any structure is better than none and yes it works great. Many lakes associations get permits to do it legally.

[leech~~]

lol. There was a news story a few years ago about a boat that sink loaded to the gunnels with rock as two guys were trying to do just that. I think they got fined by the DNR and then had to pay to pull the boat out!

[pushbutton]

Lol...yeah you would see the poor twin 250's owners paraded in front of the news/legislature with tear jerking stories of how tough it is to travel on the lakes with only one after the other lower unit gets tore up in someones crappie bed.....

[amateurfishing]

good to know, thx all

[PurpleFloyd]

Someone had one or two christmas trees on Crystal by the aerator. Personally, on most of the pothole lakes in the southern part of the state there is next to no structure and the DNR should be encouraging groups to add any structure they can to the lakes.

When I lived in Northern Wisconsin they would put "Crappie Cribs" made of wood in the lakes to give them a place to get away from predators and it would seem that we could use a lot of the same thing ourselves.

[CANOPY SAM]

Open up that can of worms and you're going to have lake bottoms covered with everyone's unwanted yard fodder. Not such a good idea.

[PurpleFloyd]

Open up that can of worms and you're going to have lake bottoms covered with everyone's unwanted yard fodder. Not such a good idea.

How about the crappie cribs or similar things if they were done through conservation clubs working with the DNR?

[eagle_3464]

The last two years there has been a bunch of Christmas trees placed on the ice on Eli lake by Clinton. Anyone know what the story is there?

[CANOPY SAM]

Cribs and structure created by an agency, or group with the proper authorization, under specific guidelines is one thing.

Every Joe Schmoe out there sinking Christmas trees, cinder blocks, old junker cars, and dead refrigerators is another thing entirely.

I honestly wouldn't be against this, as long as it was regulated, and really particular guidelines were adhered too. I mean really, how much harm could it do to drop a couple hundred pounds of field stones and gravel onto an otherwise vacant faceless lake bottom?

[Nick Kuhn]

It is pretty easy to get a permit or permission to create structure. The WI DNR actually encourages lake associations to create fish structure. They just require cooperation from the DNR to make sure the right kind of wood is being used (Willow for example is apparently a bad type of wood to use), and that you aren't going to interfere with navigation.

So if you want to call up the DNR. Generally they would like to see a program with some organization for a given lake. Done correctly I see no reason the DNR would say no to such a program.

[Dusty]

I think cribs where placed on red lake during the crappie boom.

[TigerBlood]

Totally agree with you. I simply wouldn't trust the average Joe Structure maker to do this safely. Think about the lakes we all know really well. Now imagine your normal troll or back to the dock paths full of potential prop busters and lure snags. No thanks. The fish have been doing just fine with what's out there. Improvements from lake associations/DNR etc are fine but there's a reason they don't allow anyone to create their own structure on public lakes.

[Down Deep]

It's more than likely that you would need a permit to do anything. I do know that the DNR has installed cribs in many lakes. I'd bet there were working with local fisherman or lake associations.

Trying to create structure can also lead to some unwanted results. About 20 years ago there was a building boom on one of the local large lakes in my area. In one area surrounding a large bay there were 25 or so lots developed in a year or two. Someone got the idea to haul out large amounts of slash from the cleared land on to the ice in hopes of creating structure. Sure enough the ice melted and much of the slash settled to the bottom. I'm sure it was big attraction for some fish, but two years later most of it had broke up and settled to the bottom make what was once a great early season bay to troll and jig for walleyes a nightmare much to chagrin of many local fisherman and lake residents . It took about 15 years for that stuff to rot and settle into the mud before the bay was at least fishable again.

[Cicada]

This is what happens when someone thinks they should create their own structure. Pulled this up from 28 feet of water. Dang near killed me lugging it up for almost ten minutes. All the other boats in the area thought I had another big fish on and stopped to watch.

[Kung_Fu]

you mean cover not structure, 2 different things.

[CANOPY SAM]

And one of the problems that most don't realize with sinking those Christmas trees is that many have been sprayed with a die, and some are also sprayed with a fire retardant. So it's entirely possible they are releasing toxic materials into the water with the fish these folks are ultimately trying to help.

Whoops!

Just like in the scenario given above, most people tend to think they have to go way overboard to create structure. But if you think about it fish often relate to very, very subtle pieces of structure near the bottom. A slight breakline, perhaps one sunken old log, or even just a gravel to mud transition line. I would really think that just a couple wheelbarrows full of field rock would do just fine.

[PurpleFloyd]

This is what happens when someone thinks they should create their own structure. Pulled this up from 28 feet of water. Dang near killed me lugging it up for almost ten minutes. All the other boats in the area thought I had another big fish on and stopped to watch.

Looks like according to the fish attached to your line the tree was doing it's job

That looks like a typical day of fishing the river or Lura Lake when I was younger.

[mrklean]

That looks like a typical day of fishing the river or Lura Lake when I was younger.

Lura was always a bit greener for me growing up

[Wanderer]

you mean cover not structure, 2 different things.

I was going to mention this too...

But if you were to dump enough rocks to make a reef, that would be structure.

The problems (as already mentioned) with letting people drop in whatever they think would make good cover and wherever they want it is that by design, its a short sighted effort. Each individual has their own idea of what's OK to do, strictly based on their wants.

Concrete products have chlorides in them.

Christmas trees are treated like Sam mentioned plus they're really not the best tree to sink. Their PH is on the acidic side and it takes a while for the tree to break down enough to be suitable for fish.

Just cuz something is laying on a featureless bottom doesn't make it a fish magnet. If you want to try improving the habitat on a lake, call the experts and see what they recommend.

[JoeMX1825]

I've been throwing rocks in one particular spot in front of my cabin the last 10 years or so, I would guess I have a nice little rockbed now that probably holds a few fish. The water depth in this areas is 7+ feet deep, so no worries about people hitting their props...

[Cicada]

"Looks like according to the fish attached to your line the tree was doing it's job wink

That looks like a typical day of fishing the river or Lura Lake when I was younger."

The fish on my line was my bait.

Camped on Lake Lura a couple of summers ago when my sister married a guy from that area. Seemed like a nice lake, but it was still only June.

[benbosh]

Camped on Lake Lura a couple of summers ago when my sister married a guy from that area. Seemed like a nice lake, but it was still only June.

It is a nice lake until about late June when the weeds choke most of the lake out and the algae blooms

[amateurfishing]

For the record when starting this topic all that entered my thought was "natural items" like rocks & maybe local tree limbs. To think up anything else would be sacrilege to me, but I know not all people think alike.