# Cost of Deploying reef.....



## bigrick (Sep 29, 2010)

If I wanted to build and deploy my own structures (legally) in the gulf, what are the costs of getting a permit to drop it or any other expenses I'm not thinking about?


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## DreamWeaver21 (Oct 3, 2007)

The actual cost in Escambia county for the permit is 25 dollars for as much as you can take in one trip. The rest of the expense is stuff you know about, time and materials. Don't underestimate time.


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## Fishin Ski (Apr 27, 2011)

There are also some restriction on what you can legally put down. the info is on the escambia county website


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## duckgrinder (Jul 14, 2009)

I know nothing about the rules for deploying a reef so I'm going to ask a dumb question. If you have to get a permit from the county to make a reef for $25, is the county permit still needed if your reef is in Federal water? Sorry for the highjack, just trying to learn something.


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## Fishin Ski (Apr 27, 2011)

to keep it short, no you dont. but you will have to apply for permits from Army Corps of Eng, Dept. Env Protection, EPA, etc..... Basically the County has applied for and received permits to deploy reefs in predetermined areas. It is just easier for the public to have them hold a permit for a Large Area Artificial Reef Site (LAARS) and then allow people to put stuff in their site. 

If you tried to do it yourself in federal waters it would be years before you could drop anything.... 

Check out the Artificial Reefs Page of the Esc. CO website, its got all kinds of good info on there :thumbsup:


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## duckgrinder (Jul 14, 2009)

Great info, thanks.:thumbup:


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## DreamWeaver21 (Oct 3, 2007)

Anything specific you can ask me. I have gone through the whole process with the county multiple times.


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## bigrick (Sep 29, 2010)

I'm in okaloosa county , but I've been playing with the idea of buying a pontoon boat with no engine and turning it into a reef dropper, just pulling it with a bigger boat.


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## younghooker (Oct 7, 2007)

best way IMHO... is Kelly Windes... reef boat Michael Scott... $2000 plus fuel .. includes Capt. and Mate... will load and haul 24 chicken coups.. we put 'em in pairs of 2.. so 12 wrecks.. if you count your time, fuel, to drag out 1 or 2 wrecks at a time on a small barge or pontoon.. it will save $$.. we had 3 partners to split $$ on our wrecks..:thumbsup:


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## DreamWeaver21 (Oct 3, 2007)

I have thought about the pontoon boat or even a big carolina skiff too. Haven't done it that way though. Well I did use a skiff before but it went out on its own power.


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## ryanbr (Oct 10, 2007)

Ditto on the chicken coups. Although a single coup will produce fish well enough for a recreational private spot. Legal materials are steel(at least 1/8in thick-last i checked) and concrete, at least 150lbs. Keep in mind that a single 150lb reef wont get you very far. Neither will a "shell" reef. That is a reef with an outer frame but little or no density(interior structure for fish to hide in and move in and out of). Plenty of rebar frame reefs have been put out with little hope of ever producing fish. That's why the coups work so well.


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## kennethmandel62 (Oct 3, 2007)

thumbs up to coops! Dove one a couple weeks ago and it had several 15+ snapper. I was really surprised at the amount of fish around, yet not in very close proximity to the actual structure. For snapper it turned out to be the best dive of the day. On the flip side, I have no idea how long it has been down there though.


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## younghooker (Oct 7, 2007)

coops are actually live haul chicken transportation devices.. 8 ft' x 4.5 ft. by 4 ft... 700 lbs. each.. we use 2 / spot.. some w/3 and 4 cages.. but 2 is plenty.. :yes: snapper and bait get on 'em in 1st 6 mo.. after a year or 2 with barnackle growth.. more trigs and grouper.. post some diver reports please.. we just fish 'em.. we prefer 125 to 160 ft. deep.. can't be found or dove so easy


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## bigrick (Sep 29, 2010)

Wirelessly posted

My problem with that is then charter boat captians have my numbers, kinda takes the private out of private spots. I fish a lot of chicken coops put out by charter and party boats, so private doesn't always happen.


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## younghooker (Oct 7, 2007)

our experience on the Michael Scott... was great 2 years ago.. spots are loaded.. :thumbup: only 1 or 2 may have been found.. when you go out with him.. you drive the boat.. turn off their electronics.. mark spots with YOUR hand held GPS.. while they are on back.. pushing off cages... capt. Robert Hill of charter boat Twilight went with us .. I'm sure he didn't mark 'em.. $2000 + fuel.. 24 cages = 12 spots.. i furnished the cages .. had 2 partners


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## younghooker (Oct 7, 2007)

I had to furnish the cages had 2 partners


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## bigrick (Sep 29, 2010)

Wirelessly posted

Where would I go about buyine cages and what are the limits on how far they can be put out. Most of my prate nunbers are under 150 feet so if probably want them deep, 200 to 250 range and not straight south


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

Just saw this thread. 

Younghooker, the 150-170' range is divable for a quick bounce for someone with the experience and right gear. If you ever want HD video of your spots and don't mind 2 divers (won't dive deep solo) payin there share of gas and each shootin one fish (at that depth that's all you have time for), let me know. I would love to see what's on a coop at those depths. Deepest coop I have been on only about 120'. You might have a big ole warsaw grouper hidin down there.

I know it's a mighty nice thing of me too offer my services and pay my share of gas...but that's jus the kind of guy I am...ha ha. Seriously though. more than willing.
:thumbup:


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## WhackUmStackUm (Jan 31, 2010)

younghooker said:


> ...post some diver reports please... we just fish 'em...


Chicken coop are great habitat and good places to spearfish. Most of the coops I see are lashed together and are made of heavy duty metal bars.

I often find black snapper within the structure. When speared (or caught) they tend to dive into the crates and become entangled. Grouper also can be found inside provided there is overhead cover and openings large enough for them to enter through. Many coops are partially buried and offer no way for grouper to enter. Red Snapper, trigger and occasionally AJs can be found outside of the coops. I often see one large breeding pair of red snapper that rule the coop, and a lot of little ones. The trigger are often territorial and will chase away both fish and divers that come near their chosen spot of the reef. This makes them pretty easy to spear, as they often swim up to you and turn their broad-side to you as they put on their threat display.



younghooker said:


> ...we prefer 125 to 160 ft. deep.. can't be found or dove so easy


Agreed. That's a pretty good plan. Most divers will not go that deep for dish.


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## X-Shark (Oct 3, 2007)

bigrick said:


> I'm in okaloosa county , but I've been playing with the idea of buying a pontoon boat with no engine and turning it into a reef dropper, just pulling it with a bigger boat.


Yep.....That sounds real good on paper.

I knew someone that had the same idea. I tried to talk him out of it. It was difficult because he was hard headed. But alas he was all talk. 

So now you have this pontoon / platform boat.

Now you need a trailer to haul it on.

Now you need another truck to pull it to the ramp.

Now you have this ugly thing sitting in your yard most of the time that you have to mow around.

A hull loaded will not tow the same as one unloaded.

I have some better ideas for this and have physically had my hands on with helping build and deploy over 150 reefs when we had the RFRA up and running strong.


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## capt mike (Oct 3, 2007)

*reef deployments*

I have personally deployed thousands of coop reefs in the gulf in the past 16 years and I assure you the pontoon boat idea is dangerous, costly and not worth the trouble.:no:


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## Sea-r-cy (Oct 3, 2007)

younghooker said:


> our experience on the Michael Scott... was great 2 years ago.. spots are loaded.. :thumbup: only 1 or 2 may have been found.. when you go out with him.. you drive the boat.. turn off their electronics.. mark spots with YOUR hand held GPS.. while they are on back.. pushing off cages... capt. Robert Hill of charter boat Twilight went with us .. I'm sure he didn't mark 'em.. $2000 + fuel.. 24 cages = 12 spots.. i furnished the cages .. had 2 partners


 
Does everyone realize, you do not have to "mark" a spot to find them? All you need is a handheld gps turned on in a bag, pocket, or other hidden spot. After the trip is over, everyone has gone home, retrace the "track" feature. It's easy to see where the boat stopped or turned in tight circles. 
The only way to overcome this is to not stop, but dump the coops "on the fly".
It all comes down to the honesty of the Captain and the owner of the deploying boat. Not questioning the honesty of anyone, I personally am not going to spend $400 + to build a fishing spot that may or may not be "not so private"
As for "only one or two have been found", how do you know that? It may well be that someone is "cherry picking" you coops. Impossible to know.

Sea-r-cy


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## bigrick (Sep 29, 2010)

I've been dropping reefs the last month and can personally say DON'T TELL ANYONE when or where you're going. If you do have to use an extra hand make sure that person doesn't have a boat or GPS. Do it at night, and don't haul more than you can safely. Once everything is dropped I'll post pics of what I made, but for legal purposes I'm waiting till I'm all done....


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## Fletch Lives (Dec 12, 2011)

anyone have the contact info for this Michael Scott reef boat...

Thanks,


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## Gamefish27 (Nov 13, 2009)

just a question on the coops. Do you need to anchor in down or will the 700lb hold? With the ability of water to move heave things easy.


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## Gamefish27 (Nov 13, 2009)

Bump


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## DreamWeaver21 (Oct 3, 2007)

No you don't have to anchor them. They may get burried by shifting sands eventually but they don't often move.


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## 95lsteg (Jul 16, 2011)

http://www.sowal.com/video/life-on-a-gulf-of-mexico-chicken-coop


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## Gamefish27 (Nov 13, 2009)

95lsteg said:


> http://www.sowal.com/video/life-on-a-gulf-of-mexico-chicken-coop


Sweet video!! :thumbsup:... With all that bait fish around it is amazing we can even catch a snapper ...


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## The LaJess II (Oct 3, 2007)

Fletch Lives said:


> anyone have the contact info for this Michael Scott reef boat...
> 
> Thanks,


 
Here's the # 837-2211 leave message. Deployed 32 reefs off of it. You can also get the coops from Joe Young out of Destin. Ask about coops when you call if you need them. Normally after March is not good to deploy. You want to put reefs out during winter months. Less activity on water.


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## bigrick (Sep 29, 2010)

Do you have Joe Youngs Number and do you know what he charges just to buy a coop from him. Would save a trip to orange beach for me.


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## The LaJess II (Oct 3, 2007)

Rick it is Joe Young Construction on Mountain Dr in Destin. I don't have his number available. We bought 24 from him just over a year ago at 125.00 a piece and they were already cleaned. Price varies sometimes depending on how many he has.


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