On Friday, the department began placing fish habitats in the upper mile of the lake.

A press release said periods of heavy hydropower generation below the dam leaves “trout vulnerable to swift currents and (limits) fishing access for wade and bank fishermen.”

Newly installed structures in the lake will include boulder clusters, which should provide trout areas to rest and feed and provide anglers with more accessible fish habitats during periods of generation.

The project will be in conjuction with a drawdown of Lake Taneycomo requested by Empire District Electric Co., which will enable improvements to be constructed on Powersite Dam.

The department “plans to utilize this drawdown period to use large equipment near the lake to place the boulder clusters,” the release said.

Conservation officials will be at the project site to monitor the work and answer any questions from the public.

The department will use machinery to move the boulders into place, however, fishing will still be permitted in areas near where the work is being done.

The project is expected to conclude by the following Friday, Nov. 4.

The project is part of the Table Rock Lake National Fish Habitat Initiative, which is designed to maintain and improve fish habitats in Table Rock Lake and Lake Taneycomo.

This project is a joint effort of the Missouri Department of Conservation, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Bass Pro Shops, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other organizations.

It is designed to be a pilot project for a broader national program focused on habitat protection and restoration in reservoirs throughout the country.Tyler Francke

Visit mdc.mo.gov for more information on Missouri fishing.

See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the industry leader and only science based, man made and artificial fish habitat, proven to provide all fish with cover they prefer to prosper.

Game Fish Bundles The new game fish habitat bundles the Shafer and Freeman Lakes Environmental Conservation Corp. (SFLECC) is placing in the lakes will provide shelter for bass, wall-eyed pike, and other game fish. SFLECC executive director Daryl Johns is shown lowering a bundle into Lake Freeman. The bundles are made from tree branches and weighted with anchor blocks. Photo providedIn its continuing efforts to improve the survivability of game fish stocks in Lakes Freeman and Shafer, the Shafer and Freeman Lakes Environmental Conservation Corporation (SFLECC) has begun constructing and planting wooden fish habitat bundles in Lake Freeman. The bundles are designed to provide deep water cover for small game fish; thus providing places for the fish to hide from larger predators, to find food, to grow, and to reproduce. The bundles have the same function as weed beds and reefs. They are constructed of tree branches and bound together into 3 ft. high by 6 foot long bundles. The bundles are then attached to anchoring blocks and dropped into water 10 ft. or more deep.

“Ironically, we are constructing the habitat bundles out of materials that are among the same types of hazardous debris materials that our trash crew removes from the lakes each spring and summer, SFLECC executive director Darryl Johns said. “In the future we hope to recycle some of the wood collected from lake surfaces into construction of more fish habitat bundles, rather than burning it or hauling it to a landfill. The branch wood that we use for the bundles is less costly than using man made materials like plastics, rubber, or metals, and it does not pollute the water as it degrades. Through the wood bundles we think that we have found a cost effective, environmentally friendly way to help increase the game fish population in the Lakes.”

Initially SFLECC has secured permission from the Indiana DNR to place groups of three bundles at six different locations on Lake Freeman. SFLECC is supplying the materials and labor. Local bass fishing clubs are helping to identify the locations. The new game fish habitat bundles will supplement 22 igloo-like fish pods that SFLECC placed in Lake Freeman in 2009. “The 22 pods were placed in shallow water. They work, but cost too much to use in large numbers,” Johns said.

SFLECC is initially placing habitat bundles in Lake Freeman because that lake has less natural habitat to support game fish. There are fewer bays and natural weed beds on Freeman than on Lake Shafer. Both lakes are manmade and part of the Tippecanoe River system. As such, their bottom characteristics are different than bottoms of natural lakes. The scouring action of currents, periodic lake drawdowns, and floods makes it difficult for plant life to catch on.

SFLECC is also eying possible locations on Lake Shafer to plant more habitat bundles. See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the industry leader and only science based, man made and artificial fish habitat, proven to provide all fish with cover they prefer to prosper.

The new structures will supplement the periodic fish stockings in the Lakes that is paid for by SFLECC, the IDNR, the Lake Shafer Welfare Association and local bass clubs. According to Merle Peterson, SFLECC board president, “We were once concerned that we might be losing some of the stocked fish in the lakes through the dams. However, the preliminary data from our two-yearold fish tagging, and tracking program indicates that the number of game fish that make their way through the Norway and Oakdale dams and down into the lower Tippecanoe River is negligible. The loss of fish from the lakes into the Tippy is not as great as we feared. That tells us that the money we spend on fish stocking and habitat improvement is worthwhile.”

The Underwater World of Freshwater Fish

Man made fish cribs are definitely worthwhile to fish providing cover and shelter for juvenile panfish and baitfish, Most cribs are built Continue reading “Fish Structure Cover & Weeds”

Island construction in middle of Illinois River

Aquatic vegetation such as hydrilla, milfoil and coontail will year-in and year-out produce big stringers of bass on lakes across the United States. But by no means is that to say “grass” is the only thing that’ll hold viable concentrations of largemouths.

Shoreline structures will harbor good numbers of fish, too. This holds especially true on reservoirs that don’t have much aquatic vegetation, which in Texas includes many of our older, silted-in impoundments as well as those reservoirs geographically situated in areas that are not conducive vegetation growth.

Some of the more obvious forms of shoreline structure are boat houses, piers and docks. And truth be known, they are also some of the best.

Try as you may to find fish on other forms of structure like creeks, rivers, points and humps. If boat docks are available in substantial number on a lake where vegetation is sparse, that’s invariably where most of the bass are going to be caught and, where many of the tournaments are going to be won.

Now don’t be mislead, here. Not all docks are going to hold concentrations of bass. Some are naturally better than others, be it due to location, construction, size, age or a combination of the four.

Where a dock is located on a reservoir can a make a big difference in whether it will hold bass or not. It has been been my experience that structures built in the backs of creeks on top of shallow flats are the most reliable during the spring months. This this true mainly because they provide the fish some security for spawning.

Once spring gives way to summer, however, shallow docks lose some of their magic. Bass like to hang out close to deep water during the summer months, thus explaining why docks built in the mouths of creeks on mainlake and secondary points are usually the most productive. The ideal dock could be one situated in 8-10 feet of water along the edge of deep creek channel.

Another element to consider about boat docks is the manner in which they are assembled.

We do a lot of fishing around docks on Midwest impoundments during the summer months, and those “stationary” docks built on buried pilings are almost always more productive than those that float. The reason is that the pilings provide the fish with obstacles to relate to or hold against, which in turn means more targets to chunk at.

The size of an individual dock doesn’t make much difference when is comes to attracting bass, but it can sure have some influence on how many fish will be present.

As a rule, larger docks with several stalls will harbor more bass than one-boat units. Obviously, these types of docks will have more pilings beneath the surface for the bass to relate to, which means more good places to put a lure. Plus, the larger docks naturally provide the fish with more shade.

The age of the dock can also be critical. It has been my experience that older, more weathered docks tend to hold more bass than do new ones. These tend to have more algae growing on the framework, which in turn attracts bait fish. Older docks also are apt to have more brushpiles submerged around them. Dock owners often sink brushpiles to attract concentrations of crappie, but they act as bass hotels as well.

Some other telltale signs of a productive dock are lights, chairs and maybe a rod holder or two. These are all good indicators that someone fishes off the dock with regularity, which means there is more than likely going to be plenty of submerged brush in the area.

When I’m practicing for a tournament on an unfamiliar reservoir that has a good number of boat docks, I usually don’t spend near as much time looking for bass around docks as I do looking for brush. Find the brush and the bass will be there, sooner or later.

Depthfinders and LCR units definitely come in handy for locating structure. But when it comes to turning up brushpiles around boat docks, they aren’t of much use to me.

Probably the single-most effective technique I’ve found for finding brush around docks is the Carolina-rig. Not only does it allow me to probe an area thoroughly, but it enables me to do it quickly.

Once I locate some brush, then I’ll switch to a Texas-rigged plastic worm or Stanley jig/craw combo. My preferred worm in this case is a red shad, junebug or black/redflake Zoom Dead Ringer plastic worm or maybe a four-inch Big Critter Craw. A deep or medium-diving crankbait like the Norman Deep Little N is another option around docks. See the dozens of unique artificial fish habitat models, fish attractors and fish cover used at fishiding.com, the industry leader and only science based, man made and artificial fish habitat, proven to provide all fish with cover they prefer to prosper.

In summary, boat docks are man-made fish attractors. However, not all of them are going to hold bass consistently during the course of the year. The best summer docks are typically located adjacent to deeper, cooler water and they’ll have an abundance of brush submerged around them.

Find these docks and fish them correctly and you’ll invariably catch more bass, especially on reservoirs where they are available in abundance and grass is relatively scarce.