After the holidays are over most people sadly take down their Christmas decorations and toss the tree. When disposing of their tree they usually either put it out front for the trash men to take, or they lay it in the woods out back to slowly decompose. I’ve got a better idea. Why not use it to improve your success during the crappie season?





Old pine trees, with all of their intertwined tightly knit branches, make a great habitat for fingerling fish. Crappies especially love those sunken trees. They will stay there most of the year if deep enough, but if you have one that you sunk closer to the shoreline you are guaranteed to have a honey hole during the spring crappie run.


When sinking your old tree, keep in mind the make-up of a tree. It’s made of wood and wood floats. Even though your tree will sink, it’s buoyancy will make it drift in the underwater currents. So for that reason you will want to sink it with some weight. The process is fairly simple. Just drill a hole in the trunk and attack a cinder block or similar weight. Don’t forget to mark where you dropped your tree, being just 20 feet away will make a big difference. I recommend using a GPS so that you can easily find it again.


Before placing your tree in any public waters make sure that you check your local and state laws. Most states allow you to sink your trees because they know of the benefits to the natural habitat, but some will require you to burn off the needles first.

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