Around the lake this past week, I saw several anglers putting out Christmas trees to attract fish. The anglers had been waiting for a good winter day to do their work, and that finally happened this past week. I witnessed several anglers depositing their trees, and unfortunately, I think some anglers will be disappointed when they return to fish their handiwork.

Placement of the Christmas trees or any other type of material to attract fish is a good idea, but you need to take into consideration the current produced by the Georgia Power pumpback in both Lakes Oconee and Sinclair, but particularly the current in Lake Sinclair.

Without properly weighting the trees or other materials, the current will move your hard work overnight. I had to learn that hard lesson when I initially began placing fish attractors in the lake. Fish attractors placed in the main lake are especially vulnerable to water current that is so strong that at times it can easily move a single cinder block. Attractors placed in coves are not as likely to be moved by the current but they also need to be adequately weighted.

Anglers for many years have placed Christmas trees around their docks and other places in the lake to attract fish. Each year with the passing of Christmas, you can witness vehicles loaded down with Christmas trees headed to the lake. Most of those Christmas trees are destined to be placed around docks to primarily attract crappie.

Almost any object placed in the water can attract baitfish and game fish, but the type of material, the size of the material and where that material is placed can mean the difference between success and failure. It can mean the difference between a pretty good place for an angler to catch an occasional fish or it can an excellent place where an angler is almost assured of catching good numbers of fish on a regular basis.

I personally love to build and place structures in the lake to improve my opportunity to catch fish. Why would I be excited about that activity? After all, it is hard work and often it is done in the most unpleasant of weather conditions. Nothing is more rewarding than to construct a fish attractor, place it in the lake, then return to that fish attractor and catch fish.

Over the years, I have had both success and failure from my own building and placement of fish attractors but I have learned from my failures. Other than proper weighting, one of the most important aspects of building and placing fish attractors in the lake is the material used to construct the attractor.

Let us consider the type of structure material that is best suited for building a fish attractor, and do not get carried away and assume you need to create an underwater forest. Sometimes less material is actually better for attracting fish.

You want to use materials that will last for some time and not require you to redo the attractor every year. I have found that old Christmas trees will last at the most two years (some varieties will last longer) where some hardwood trees will last two to six years. Unfortunately, beavers can be a problem when using hardwoods and overnight the beavers can eat away your hardwood attractor.

However, structures made from PVC pipe and other manmade materials will last just about forever. I have several structures made from hardwood trees, I try to improve or add to those structures about every two to three years. I am now using wild bamboo since bamboo will last a considerable time and has other benefits.

One problem with many woody products is density. Most Christmas trees are evergreens that have limbs and foliage that are too dense. They will definitely attract small baitfish because baitfish can hide in the dense foliage. However, larger fish will find it difficult to hide and maneuver within the tree.

The density problem with evergreens is what led me to initially using hardwoods and then led me to using wild bamboo. The bamboo is readily available, easy to work with and comes in lengths from five to 25 feet. That makes it suitable for almost any depth of water. It weighs much less than evergreens and hardwoods, is not nearly as dense and beavers do not seem to like bamboo.

When I began this article, I mentioned the fact that I had observed several anglers placing Christmas trees in different areas of the lake last week.

Some attractors appeared not be adequately weighted, and others were being placed in questionable locations.

Next week we will look at the best locations for your attractors. Good fishing and see you next week.

Outdoor Columnist Bobby Peoples can be contacted via e-mail at brpeoples@windstream.net.