Fish Attractor

I came up with an idea for creating a fish attractor that hopefully would do two things: Provide shade and provide protection for fish spawning. I read about spawning benches and contacted several people about the dimensions of the benches and learned that anywhere from twelve inches to eighteen inches worked well.

I wanted it to be reasonably permanent and decided to use plastics. The top is the lid from a five-gallon pail. Simply put it has a hole through the middle to allow a rope to pass through and four pieces of Styrofoam siliconed on the underside for floatation.

 

 

Sand the underside of the lid to roughen it in preparation for the silicone. A lot of lids are notched eight times and it’s easy to line up the Styrofoam blocks on every other notch.

The rope is a braided poly rope, a quarter inch rope I found at Wal-Mart. It also consists of a hook guard made from ¾ inch PVC cut at ten inches in length and a brick. The brick has holes in it and requires a homemade “washer” underneath. Take the brick and pass the rope through, now under the brick slip on a piece of bucket plastic with a hole drilled through it. Now tie an overhand knot under the washer, and then tie another overhand directly over the first knot….meaning when its tightened down, it snug’s directly onto the first knot…making it bigger….then using a pair of scissors, cut off the extra rope leaving an inch and a half sticking off the bottom. Light the rope end and when it gets very near the knot, take a piece of wood and mash it into the knot….this puts out the flame and seals the knot from slippage.

Now, slip the upper end of the rope through the ten inch piece of pvc and then through the bucket lid. If you made the center hole the right size, 3/8 inch, you can work the rope through and out the top. Do the same double overhand knot, the second knot drawing down on the first, leaving the tag end and melting it down.

 

 

I haven’t mentioned color yet as it’s optional….if you want it painted you will have to sand the lid first, again to roughen it. It’s really not required unless you want to conceal it from being discovered by others. Eventually I think it would become covered with algae anyhow, but it’s not a bad idea when the water is very clear.

I received great news last week. I got a call from the Rangers saying they’d like to plant my attractors in the mountain lake not far from here. We’ll be planting 50 to 70 in clusters of 4 this spring. Then, in the fall, they’ll run a shock boat over the attractors to see to what extent they’re being used.

 

Check with your local authorities before planting. Some waters prohibit plastics.

Good Fishing,

Mac