Cut live trees weighted down and put in the lake are great fish habitat. That's generally what happens to our tree annually. Now you'll want to use common sense. Don't put it at the end of your dock where you will be jumping into the water once summer arrives, don't put it where you will drag your prop through it when parking the boat. If you have more than one tree a good rule of thumb is wiring them together to create a bigger fish habitat. And placing them under the platform of your dock and weighting them down with concrete blocks is best.
If it's a small tree one block is usually enough, medium to large trees I suggest two. You should drill through the base of the tree and use coated wire to securely attach them to the concrete blocks. most of the information I found wants the trees to be in an upright position, but that's not common on Sinclair, most people also weight down the top as well and place them under their dock for great fishing.
But I found a youtube video that I'm adding that shows the procedure used on a pond in Alabama. The groups of trees (if you use 2 to 3) should last for 4 to 5 years before they need replacing. You can certainly add from year to year and then in the years that Lake Sinclair has draw downs you can clean out from under your dock while the water is lowered in the fall for clean up and repairs. The next scheduled draw-down should be next fall (generally approved starting in late October) Debe Maxwell, CRS asked how this is done after a comment on her post about recycling them in her market and inspired this post.
