It has been proven that artificial fish attractors will improve your chances for catching fish. That said, why not spend some time and build your own? Creating your own fish attractors can be as simple as placing a few Christmas trees around your dock or as complex as building a large attractor made out of materials like PVC piping and then placing that attractor in a prime location in the lake.

Around the lake over the next few weeks, you will see anglers hauling Christmas trees to the lake to create fish attractors. There is hard work involved in collecting the trees and then more work in actually placing the attractors in good locations. Hopefully, the anglers will not be disappointed in either the materials they used to build the attractors or the locations where they were placed.

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; especially the strong current in Lake Sinclair when water is dumped back into Lake Sinclair when generation at the Wallace Dam is completed.

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 Lake Sinclair. Fish attractors placed in the main lake are especially vunerable to water current that is so strong that it can easily move a single cinder block. Attractors placed in coves are not as likely moved by the current, but they also need to be adequately weighted.

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 is often done in the most unpleasant of weather conditions. Nothing is more rewarding than constructing a fish attractor, placing it in the lake, returning to that fish attractor and catching fish.

I have over the years 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 discuss 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 to attract fish. Sometimes less material is actually better when building a large fish attractor.

I recommend that you use materials that will last for some time and not require you to redo the structure 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.

Better still are structures made from PVC pipe and other manmade materials because they will last for years. I have several structures made from hardwood trees and 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 it 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 begin using hardwoods and then led me to using wild bamboo. The bamboo is readily available, easy to work with and comes in lengths from 5 to 25 feet. That makes it suitable for almost any depth of water that you might choose for placement of your fish attractor. It weighs much less than evergreens and hardwoods and is not nearly as dense.

About this time last year, I witnessed two guys placing bundles of Christmas in the lake, but in my mind I questioned the location where they were being placed and I questioned what appeared to be inadequate weight to hold the bundles down. The location they chose was not all that bad but within just a few weeks, the bundles had been swept away by the strong current and their considerable effort had been wasted.

Next week I will discuss some of the best locations for you to consider for placing your attractors and remember you can never use too much weight on your attractors.

Good fishing and see you next week.