# Man Made reef ? for ya



## realspeed (Jul 22, 2009)

On average how long does one need to be in the water before if is considered established? just curious


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## X-Shark (Oct 3, 2007)

The longer the better, but I've seen bait fish on them in the first week.



Generally 6mon's to a year.


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## WW2 (Sep 28, 2007)

I fished one after 6 months and while it produced it didn't produce nearly as well as it did at a year or year and a half.


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## ryanbr (Oct 10, 2007)

General rule years ago was not to touch it for a year. But I have heard of things not producing for a couple of years. If you expected to put it down this year and live off it the same year, good luck. By the way, what was it? Some guys are trying to get away cheap(easy) and it usually doesn't work out so well.

Chris


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## JoeZ (Sep 30, 2007)

Life will show within hours in the form of bait fish just stopping by to see what it is.

Real resident life will take about 2-3 months in growth on the structure. That growth keeps the bait there.

4-6 months brings juvenile snapper and grouper to eat some bait. 

6-12 is when you see the bigger fish -- still not jumbos -- move in.

Jumbos, I believe, are raised on a reef. They find it as a juvy, hang there and dominate the other area fish. They are more aggressive, eat more and reproduce more. They come to rule a reef and might share it with one or two other large fish.

Now, they do move from spot to spot within their range (depending on season) but they know where home is.


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