Fish Habitat Award Winners Honored at Jim Range National Casting Call
THURSDAY, 21 APRIL 2011 15:08
(Washington, DC) – The winners of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan (NFHAP) Awards were honored for their extraordinary achievements at the Jim Range National Casting Call on Friday, April 15th on the grounds of the C&O Canal National Historic Park, along the banks of the Potomac River in Washington, DC.

Maureen Gallagher (Midwest National Fish Habitat Partnership Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), Mark Johnson (District Manager, Coos Bay District Office, BLM), Andy DuPont (Glen Lake Association), Dr. Stephen Brown (NOAA) were all recipients National Fish Habitat Awards for 2011.
This was the fourth year the NFHAP Awards have been handed out, recognizing outstanding achievements in Fish Habitat Conservation.
The NFHAP Award winners for 2011:

Maureen Gallagher, Midwest National Fish Habitat Partnership Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received the Jim Range Conservation Vision Award in support of Fish Habitat.

Award Presented by: Rowan Gould, Acting Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Background:
Maureen Gallagher was instrumental in the recognition of five new Fish Habitat Partnerships. Maureen worked across Fish Habitat Partnership and US Fish and Wildlife Service regional boundaries, and developed a committee of Midwest state Fish Chiefs to weigh in on large scale National Fish Habitat Action Plan issues.

Through her vision and leadership, a Science Advisory Network was established including science expertise at all NFHAP levels. She worked with this group to fund and conduct basinwide assessments to help FHPs prioritize habitat efforts. This assessment effort was expanded to the Great Plains Fish Habitat Partnership.

On a national scale Maureen helped develop the National Fish Habitat Action Plan through participation on several committees to develop guidance and provide recommendations to the National Fish Habitat Board. She provides technical expertise in partnership building, fundraising and strategic planning to Fish Habitat Partnerships nationwide. Maureen is well known as an advocate and spokesperson for the Fish Habitat Partners and the National Fish Habitat Action Plan. Her thoughts and actions that relate to the Action Plan are always on target and in the long term interest of the success of this program to all involved.

Mark Johnson, District Manager for the Coos Bay District office for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), accepted the award for Extraordinary Action in support of Fish Habitat Conservation Award.

Award Presented by: Tom Mendenhall, Senior National Fisheries Program Manager, Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

Background:
The Bureau of Land Management’s Coos Bay District Office (CBDO) has been in the forefront of efforts to restore habitat for native fish species on the southern Oregon coast over the past two decades. Numerous stream and riparian restoration projects at varying scales have been implemented by the CBDO over that time, but the scope and extent of the restoration work has increased substantially over the past 5 years as an outcome of developing partnerships with private landowners, watershed councils, and other state and federal agencies.

Dr. Dana Infante – Assistant Professor, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University and Dr. Stephen Brown- Chief, Assessment and Monitoring Division (NOAA/NMFS), each accepted the award for Scientific Achievement in support of Fish Habitat Conservation on behalf of the National Assessment team for Michigan State University and NOAA, for their work on the National Status of fish habitats 2010 Report.

Award Presented by: Stan Moberly, past President, American Fisheries Society, National Fish Habitat Board

Background:
The NFHAP 2010 Assessment Team conducted an assessment of fish habitats in all 50 states at a scale and level of detail never before attempted. Their efforts included numerous steps, including: amending existing geospatial reference systems to their needs; searching out, collecting, and evaluating data sources; in some cases converting the data for their use: developing statistical methodologies; and seeking review of the assessment results.

Almost two dozen scientists from five academic and federal government institutions participated in the work, sharing ideas and solving problems in a true spirit of intellectual cooperation. The results of this team’s efforts have been used to publish the first comprehensive report, titled: Through A Fish’s Eye: The Status of Fish Habitats in the United States 2010 Report, on the status of fish habitat in the US, which will be used by aquatic habitat conservation policy-makers and practitioners to support and prioritize fish habitat conservation efforts.

The team has also laid the groundwork for recurring assessments to ascertain trends in fish habitat over time, which will help the National Fish Habitat Board determine where fish habitat conservation efforts are making a difference.

Andy DuPont, President, Glen Lake Association, accepted the Outreach and Educational Achievement Award in support of Fish Habitat Conservation.

Award Presented by: Kelly Hepler, National Fish Habitat Board Chairman

Background:
The Glen Lake Association is a grassroots organization of over 800 individual and business members. They work to protect and improve the Glen Lake watershed, which is recognized as an “interim priority watershed” in Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership’s Strategic Plan. Through numerous outreach and education campaigns, the Glen Lake Association protects the Glen Lake watershed from aquatic invasive species, physical habitat degradation, and water quality impairment, while promoting aesthetic and recreational enjoyment by riparian owners and the public. The many programs that the Association implements serve many purposes including, providing high-quality status and trend data on the health of the aquatic ecosystem, and to engage and educate the community on the importance of long-term monitoring and the health of their local resources.
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Award Winner Quotes:
Maureen Gallagher: “I am truly honored to accept such a prestigious award. Working with the National Fish Habitat Action Plan has been a rewarding experience for me both professionally and personally. Truly I accept this award on behalf of all of the partners involved in the Action Plan. Success stories through the Action Plan truly take a team effort.”

Mark Johnson: “The conservation work that has been done in the Coos Bay region of Oregon is nothing short of amazing. The Coos Bay staff of the BLM in all aspects is responsible for making a difference, by working in partnership with businesses and landowners to make a significant impact in Aquatic Conservation in Oregon.”

From Dr. Dana Infante: “The work that went into the assessment for the status report, took a great deal of effort to organize and compile. This would not have been possible if it weren’t for the great team that I have to work with at Michigan State University. We look forward to the challenge of completing the next assessment of our national waters.”

From Dr. Stephen Brown: “The NOAA assessment team really pulled a lot of critical information about our estuaries and coasts in a short amount of time for this report. Working in coordination with the Michigan State team took a lot of teamwork which resulted in a quality assessment of our national waters.”

The National Fish Habitat Awards presentation was just a portion of the program for the Jim Range National Casting Call. Other agencies represented for the Monday event included The American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA) and the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF) and numerous other partners that help make the Jim Range National Casting Call a success every year.

Click on the link below to see how easy fishiding is to install. Self contained units which require no tools or additional parts/materials. Units come in either 8″ or 10″ tall boxes, ready to be bent to shape. The pliable pvc material bends easily by hand to unlimited shapes and angles. Maximum shade is cast by the wide limbs which grow algae fast. Bass, Crappie, Panfish are just a few of the species that love this new reclaimed, environmentaly friendly fish habitat. Numerous sizes are available form aquariums to the oceans. Various textures provide cover for newly hatched fry to full grown predators.

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Structure Fishing 101

written by Tim Allard

Structures are a big factor in fish habitat and certain types will concentrate fish.

Structures are areas where there is a variance in the depth or contours of the lake bottom.

If you’re new to fishing, knowing how to find structure and understanding how fish relate to it will dramatically improve your ability to find and catch fish. As a term, structure gets used a lot in fishing articles, television shows and presentations by professional anglers. In this guide I’ll define structure, discuss various types and share some tips for fishing them.

What is structure?

Structures are the physical features of a lake or a river bottom. From a fishing perspective, structures are areas where there is a variance in the depth or the contours of the bottom, and these changes can range from subtle to dramatic. Structures can be natural as well as human-made features of the underwater landscape. Structures are a big factor in fish habitat and certain types will concentrate fish.

Before I get any further, let me explain what structure is not. Sometimes cover is incorrectly used interchangeably with structure. Cover refers to objects in or on the water that provide shelter for fish, such as vegetation or a dock. Of course, finding structure and cover together can make great fishing spots (e.g., a hump with a dense weed bed), so it’s no surprise that the two terms get used interchangeably.

Some Basic Structures

Here are some common fishing-structures. A ledge is the beginning of a distinct change in depth. It marks the top of a drop, which is simply the sloping of the bottom towards deeper water. Ledges and drops are main structures that hold many freshwater species, such as walleye and muskie. Add a weedline in close proximity to a ledge or a drop and they can be prime spots.

A hump is a shallow area surrounded by deeper water and often a preferred piece of structure for bass. Humps are sometimes called underwater islands. A hole is the inverse of a hump – a deep pocket in the bottom surrounded by shallow water. Holes are favorite hiding spots of bottom-dwelling hunters, like catfish.

More Advanced Structures

The above items are some basic structures, but they also form the building blocks for more elaborate pieces of structures. What follows are some of the more common fishing structures, but this listing is by no means exhaustive.

One example is a spine. To imagine a spine, first picture an underwater hump as an elastic band. Take that band, stretch it slightly and you’ve got a spine. One of the most common places to find spines is as a continuation or off of a point from a shoreline, but others exist off the end of humps as well.

The contour of spines will vary, some even have fingers running off the sides of them, and their gradient, or slope, will also vary from steep to subtle. Like a hump, spines are surrounded by deeper water, with drops and edges on each of their sides. Long spines can be travel routes for fish as they move towards shore, transitioning from deep to shallow water.

The inverse of a spine is a cut, or trough, which can be described as elongated holes. Most common in flooded areas or reservoirs, many of these structures were streambeds in their former lives before water levels rose above their banks, submerging them. Of course, drops can sometimes contain cuts in their sides that are simply grooves that were not previously riverbeds. Again, these irregularities can attract fish and are worthy of fishing and their ledges can be particularly effective at holding fish or acting as route ways.

Still got that elastic? Holding both ends, bring them together slightly until the band bows. You’ve just created a saddle between two islands or underwater humps (your finger tips). Saddles can be great structures to fish with both deep and shallow water structures as well as being corridors for fish to follow as they move from one structure to the next. Depending on their disposition, fish may be anywhere on the saddle complex. They may be tight to the islands and feeding or positioned slightly off the saddle and inactive. In this case, it pays to know the behaviors of your target species and fish these areas accordingly, but when in doubt, pick the structure apart with different lures to work a variety of depths.

Another piece of structure is the breakline (sometimes shortened to break). A breakline is really just the edge of a drop that runs perpendicular to the shoreline. If you’ve ever trolled along the shore in an S-pattern, running between shallow and deep water, you’ve been fishing the breakline. Sometimes anglers will describe the different breaks as primary and secondary. The primary breakline is the first sharp drop in depth traveling from shore outward; the secondary following thereafter and another major drop in depth. Whether you think of breaks as walls or underwater stairs, they can be good structures to fish. Yet the entire breakline does not always hold fish. What makes them great fish-holding structures is when other elements (like a cut or a bend) or cover (such as a weed edge) are added to a stretch of the break.

Why is Structure Important?

Structure often concentrates fish. Structures provide different advantages to various species (such as corralling baitfish, providing an ambush area, or being close to deep water for comfort). For reasons like the three listed above, many species seldom stray far from structure. Learning how the fish you’re targeting relates to structure and being able to find structure on the water will increase your ability to catch fish. Structures can move you away from shorelines to intimidating expanses of water that may seem void on the surface, but what lies underneath can be fishing hotspots.

Putting Structure in Context

It’s important to keep in mind that structure is but one factor in the finding-fish equation. Finding structure can put you on fish, but it’s not an absolute that you’ll catch them. Structures are often feeding areas, but if there’s no food they’ll likely not hold fish. Weather conditions and seasonal patterns are also important to keep in mind and, again, are part of a larger equation to finding fish.

Other factors affecting if structures hold fish are temperature, oxygen supply, or water quality/light penetration. Since different species have different dispositions, some structures may appeal to certain fish and not others. For example, a 12-foot hump on a gin-clear, rock bottom lake may be a smallmouth bass hotspot, but too bright an area for walleye during the day. Yet at dusk and dawn it might concentrate light-sensitive walleye that move in to feed and ambush prey. Sometimes how well structures produce fish is all about timing and putting environmental and forage factors in your favor.

Using hydrographic maps and fish finders together can make finding structure a relative easy task.

How Fish Relate To Structure

As mentioned, food and environmental factors impact the mood of fish and thus, impact how they relate to structure. A common misnomer is that if fish are not directly on top of structure, they are not there or are not relating to it. Speaking in general terms, fish “on” structure are usually aggressive (add cover to the mix and things could change), while fish suspended “off” of structure are less aggressive or in a neutral mood, resting between feeding binges (unless baitfish are also suspended off the structure). Fish distanced from structure are still relating to it and catchable, so novice anglers should learn to fish both the actual structure as well as its surroundings. It pays to ask, “How do the fish travel to this spot? Is there an obvious route on my hydrographic map?” and “If fish are not directly on the structure, where might they be off of it?”

The Tools of the Trade & Finding Structure

As mentioned earlier, the easiest structures to find are those that extend from land, such as a point. The reason is obvious; one sees the gradual slope on land and knows this piece of structure likely continues into the water. What’s difficult is finding structure when there are not hints from land. This is where a fishing finder and hydrographic maps are critical.

Hydrographic maps illustrate the bottom contours and depths, showing where the structures are on a body of water. Of course the scale of the map will impact the detail of the features it shows. Depth finders are your underwater eyes. They provide a continual reading of the depth below your boat, and help you pinpoint depth changes and find structure. Using hydrographic maps and fish finders together can make finding structure a relative easy task, even on a new lake.

A recent addition to an angler’s arsenal are GPS units, which can hold hydrographic maps as well as store waypoints, allowing you to mark structure once you find it. Of course, carrying some buoys is also handy to help you stay on structure as you fish the entire area.

Tips for Fishing Structure

I won’t try and cover how-to fish the various types of structure in one article, but I will suggest a few tips. First off, working jigs along the bottom and around the edges of structure can catch several species of fish, anglers should not just concentrate on the bottom (whether using jigs or not). Consider trying lures to work other depths around the structures. Also, try and fish “off” of structure as mentioned earlier. By this I mean if trolling the breakline, weave out into deeper water to look for suspended fish. The same concept applies when casting areas, like humps, islands and saddles.

Here’s a tip: fish sometimes suspend off of structure around the same depth as the structure itself. So, a hump that’s 12-feet deep might have a pike several feet away from the edge of the structure, suspended at 12-feet over water with a depth of 25-feet. Another important tip, which I’ve touched on already, is learning to isolate prime structure by considering other factors influencing fish behavior (such as food, cover, environmental elements, and so on).

Once you’ve done your homework and found structure you think will hold fish – take the time and fish it thoroughly. Many anglers work large structures too quickly, and if a big trophy is relating to a certain, special area on the structure (often called “the spot on the spot”) you might pass over her.

Learning about structure is just another way of thinking to solve the “Where are the fish today?” puzzle. Use maps and read up on your favorite species and how they relate to structure and you’ll find yourself catching more fish. Large pieces of structure can be intimidating to fish, so take the time to look for the best areas (considering other fish-factors) and fish them thoroughly.
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Warmwater Lake and Pond Habitat Initiative

The Department’s fisheries biologists recently discussed the feasibility of installing fish habitat structures to mitigate for the absence or loss of physical fish habitat in some New Hampshire water bodies. This discussion was initiated because of the potential opportunity that exists to enhance warmwater fisheries through fish habitat improvement projects.

The overall goal of these habitat projects is to improve warmwater fish populations and the opportunities to fish for these species. An additional objective of installing shoreline habitat structures would be to increase youth fishing opportunities.

Improving fish habitat by installing structures has been a successful management strategy in use for many years in states across the U.S., as these structures can benefit both forage and sport fish populations in a number of ways. Habitat structures have been shown to provide important nursery areas for many fish species and can act to increase fish growth and survival. The abundance of forage fish species is often enhanced in areas with habitat structures, which in turn can increase the abundance and growth of sportsfish (this is especially relevant in some NH lakes and ponds where a decline or lack of forage fish and/or crayfish may be the result of the absence or loss of appropriate habitat). Additionally, studies have shown that habitat structures can increase nest density, spawning success and juvenile survival of both largemouth and smallmouth bass.

Using fish habitat structures in New Hampshire waters is currently in a conceptual phase and there is no firm timeline for when, where, and what types of structures will be used. Before formulating a specific plan, the Department’s fisheries biologist will first thoroughly review the existing scientific literature, inventory current habitat quality and quantity on various lakes and ponds, and communicate with anglers in an effort to better understand their interest in this type of initiative.

The Department is also actively pursuing a feasibility analysis of using fish habitat structures. The feasibility analysis will answer the following questions: Will fish habitat structures provide habitat for the fish species of interest? What types of structures have been used elsewhere and for what purpose? What types of structures (artificial or natural) are allowed under current regulations? What are the potential problems (maintenance, ability to obtain permits from NH DES, potential navigation issues, potential effect on other fish species such as invasive species) in using fish habitat structures? What are the costs of building, deploying and maintaining such structures? How will anglers use the fish habitat structures (i.e., how will they access them)? What monitoring efforts would be best suited for evaluation purposes?

Warmwater fish habitat projects offer an exciting opportunity to improve fish habitat and warmwater fisheries in New Hampshire lakes and ponds. Additionally, involving anglers in this process presents an excellent opportunity for the Department and anglers to work together towards the common goal of improving and sustaining our state’s fisheries resources for current and future generations.

CONTACT:
John Magee, Fish Habitat Biologist
Gabe Gries, Region 4 Fisheries Biologist and Warmwater Project Leader

How to Build Fish Cribs for Habitat
The approximate cost of a crib is about $10.00 each, and now there is a new way to help purchase cribs for Lake Chippewa Flowage. In the summer of 2002 friends of the flowage will have the opportunity to purchase $10.00 raffle tickets. A drawing will be held in October and the lucky winners will be able to schedule a free day with a local fishing guide for 2003.
The Chippewa Flowage was created over 75 years ago. In those 75 years many trees and stumps that harbored food and shelter for fish have disappeared through natural decay. Realizing the structure must be replaced for a healthy fishery, the Lake Chippewa Resort Association, along with the Chippewa Flowage Area Property Owners Association started building and placing fish cribs in Flowage waters. Since March 1996 over 2500 cribs have been built and placed by volunteers from these associations. Building Cribs:

The first step is to accumulate wooden pallets. Pallets are donated by various companies in Wisconsin and trucked to the flowage at our expense. Cinderblock, clips and strapping must be purchased to build cribs. Cribs are constructed by layering pallets separated by cinderblocks on each comer until it is 3 or 4 pallets deep. Then the “sandwich” is strapped together. At this point the cribs are loaded by tractor-forklifts onto special pontoon boats that have been totally stripped down to just bare decks. Workers then turn the pallet/cribs on edge to stuff in brush. It takes a lot of brush to fill each crib. Accumulating brush and stuffing the cribs is actually one of the hardest parts of the job. Finally , when the pontoon is totally loaded, the captain and workers shove off and the cribs are dropped off into new crib locations.

Meanwhile other volunteers are cooking and serving food and beverages to the hungry workers. A master map is kept by the associations, but not published. After all, the cribs are for the fish, not the fishermen!

Crib building is an on-going project. Members of both associations are committed to preserving and enhancing this great fishery for current and future generations. If you are interested in supporting this effort, look for Crib Program Raffle Tickets on your next visit or mail donations to: CFAPOE Adopt-a-Crib P.O. Box 555 Hayward, WI 54843-0555

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/2011/04/calif-agencies-sue-over-sucker-fish-habitat#ixzz1KBj6L3I7