I agree that anglers should not build habitate on public lakes without coordinating their efforts with the lakes management. The main reason is navigation hazards. Fisherman can put some strange things into the lake thinking it improves the habitate for their secret spot. If these objects get loose and float just under the surface, it can ruin your day, prop, boat and cause injury.
Hydrilla was introduced into lakes by people dumping their tropical fish or gold fish into the lakes along with the fish tank weeds. The pet store weeds were hydrilla and the cute little gold fish morph into carp. Good intentions going haywire.
Coordinated projects with the lakes management to add habitate that is beneficial should be OK. We had a project to add shore line willows for Castaic lake that helped, because the lake had lost most of it's native chaparral brush due to soil erosion from water level fluctuations. The willows are tough and seem to survive the wave action and help slow down soil erosion.
I don't believe over harvest is a major issue with big lakes (over 20,000 surface acres), unless the ecosystem is in trouble from other issues. Draw downs during the spawn can cause severe problems for that year class of bass, however all bass don't spawn at the same time and a spawn will occur to some degree. Draw downs on the other hand have a benefit that allows grass and other vegetation to reestablish on the barren shore before the lake returns to full pool. The new organic materials decay and fertilize the water and give fish fry a place to hide. Like everything in nature, it's not all black and white, good or bad. The key is attaining a balance and that may go against our tendency to create conditions for our own benefit.
It would be good to list what, if any, are good habitate enhancement considerations, when and where they could be implemented. We are getting off C & R, habitate is definitely a related topic.
How about some input from other members! Jim and I can go on indefinitely on there topics, lets have more input to debate.
Tom
Hydrilla was introduced into lakes by people dumping their tropical fish or gold fish into the lakes along with the fish tank weeds. The pet store weeds were hydrilla and the cute little gold fish morph into carp. Good intentions going haywire.
Coordinated projects with the lakes management to add habitate that is beneficial should be OK. We had a project to add shore line willows for Castaic lake that helped, because the lake had lost most of it's native chaparral brush due to soil erosion from water level fluctuations. The willows are tough and seem to survive the wave action and help slow down soil erosion.
I don't believe over harvest is a major issue with big lakes (over 20,000 surface acres), unless the ecosystem is in trouble from other issues. Draw downs during the spawn can cause severe problems for that year class of bass, however all bass don't spawn at the same time and a spawn will occur to some degree. Draw downs on the other hand have a benefit that allows grass and other vegetation to reestablish on the barren shore before the lake returns to full pool. The new organic materials decay and fertilize the water and give fish fry a place to hide. Like everything in nature, it's not all black and white, good or bad. The key is attaining a balance and that may go against our tendency to create conditions for our own benefit.
It would be good to list what, if any, are good habitate enhancement considerations, when and where they could be implemented. We are getting off C & R, habitate is definitely a related topic.
How about some input from other members! Jim and I can go on indefinitely on there topics, lets have more input to debate.
Tom