Building Brushpiles

[Guest]

"to sink or not to sink, that is the question"

Its been 15-20 years since I sunk brushpiles, but this year Im bored & its mid winter, so I might as well get out there.

What makes a brushpile good, what makes it a disaster?

Which type of trees are preferred? What about weights & rope?

Here's the deal, I dont want to drag a flatbed to the lake then ferry it across the lake. I dont have a pontoon either.

Should I locate already dead trees on the shoreline & use a handsaw to cut them loose?

Are there any trees that will sink? Seasoned dead trees or live green trees?

Im trying to keep this simple & as pain free as possible.

Any ideas, tips or schematics are welcome. (Im an engineer & love schematics)

[J-Doc]

I'm an architect so they need to be "pretty trees".

You know......the Bob Ross variety.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5Wo1ubuzAE

To legally place brush piles, I think you need a permit. The AGFC want to know the locations so they can log them and such.

Rope rots I'm told (makes sense), chain rusts, cable....seems to do well. Cable and clamps are more affordable than chain and doesn't impact the ecosystem either. To me, that's what's more important.

There are enough brush piles in the lake now so my advice is to place it where you have a secret go to spot that no one ever fishes. And deep enough that you can fish it year round.

And NEVER use chicken wire. Somebody thought that was a good idea. I have about $35 worth of baits on a couple of them like that.

[JRD]

Not that I have ever done this but just my two sense:

Use cable, not rope or chains

Use blocks or poor ready mix in a bucket, if using blocks and a tree drill a hole through the trunk and run the cable through the tree.

Use a dead tree already down and cut most of the small branches, leave the big limbs

PVC works but sand the coating off the pipes

Do not use pallets or Xmas tress unless you like donating lures to the lake.

Green trees will work but fish seem to locate to dead trees sooner.

Most of all be careful in the winter and email me the GPS coordinates.

[Guest]

Somebody told me that dead cedar & sycamore will sink under its own weight, is that correct?

This would elimanate the concrete blocks, I hope.

[J-Doc]

email me the GPS coordinates.

Lol!!!! Now that's a good one. All serious to the end. :-)

[J-Doc]

I'd think it would not sink on its own. Especially if green. And it is a bait hanging magnet.

[Guest]

In my mind, the perfect plan would involve a tow strap, a sawzall, & marker buoy.

If I cant sink brush without weights, then I will just idle around & find somebody elses brushpile. Lol

[J-Doc]

A certain guide service told me he would cruise the shorelines finding brush to sink. All he would take was blocks and cable for supplies. Find a brush and say "Oh that's a 2-blocker" or "that one's definitely a 4-blocker".

:-)

[Quillback]

In this age of videos for everything, there have to be some brushpile building videos out there.

[J-Doc]

In this age of videos for everything, there have to be some brushpile building videos out there.

And careful what you Google. Don't want to find stuff you didn't intend (wink)