Fish Hotels

Fish Hotels Subhead Artificial structures make sweet fishing spots for anglers on lakes across Texas News Staff Wed, 05/29/2024 - 06:57 Image

• Arkansas-based MossBack Fish Habitat has worked with numerous conservation organizations as well as TPWD in providing artificial fish structures for use in habitat restoration projects on public lakes throughout Texas. (Photo Courtesy of MossBack)

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Most anglers will agree — give fish some cover and they are sure to come. This is especially true of crappie and bass in aging reservoirs where timber, brush and other natural goodies may have withered away over time.

Both species are cover nuts. Cover provides shelter and good places to hide and ambush unsuspecting prey that fins dangerously close.

I know fishermen who have spent countless hours sinking brush piles made from willow tops, sweet gums, cedars and Christmas trees on their home waters. It’s hard work done in the name of attracting fish to isolated locations that in many cases are far from shore. The brush is normally anchored to bottom at strategic locations using buckets of concrete, sandbags or cinderblocks.

For years, the main idea behind building brush piles was to create good fishing holes you could have to yourself and not share with others. The advent of GPS, side-imaging technology and spot lock trolling motors has changed all of that.

If there are any secrets left out there, they probably won’t stay that way for very long. Once a fish hotel leaves the boat, it belongs to the public. Anyone has as a legal right to fish around it, whether they had a hand in putting it there or not. Harassing another angler for fishing around a brush pile on public water can get you in serious trouble with the law.

HAAP: Making Fishing Better

Keeping secrets isn’t the name of the game with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Habitat and Angler Access Program (HAAP). Program coordinator Michael Homer of Abilene wants everyone to know about it. The more the better.

Currently in its fourth year, the emphasis of the program is carrying out useful projects aimed at improving fish habitat on Texas waters and making angling access better.

Creating sweet fishing spots by sinking artificial fish attractors is part of the deal. The structures are typically made from materials that are everlasting and tend to become more attractive to fish with the passage of time, unlike natural brush that decomposes and loses its fish appeal in time unless freshened up periodically.

The habitat projects are usually carried out using funds from annual freshwater fishing stamp endorsements in combination with matching resources cooperative partnerships formed with various groups including reservoir controlling authorities, local bass clubs, conservation groups and well-known fishing organizations like Major League Fishing and the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society.

Launched in 2021, the HAAP program also awards competitive grants of up to $50,000 for use in angler access projects on public ponds, large reservoirs, streams and rivers. The program supports bank and shoreline stabilization projects, silt dredging, dock lighting, pier development and the construction of launching facilities for small watercraft like kayaks and canoes.

“The Habitat and Angler Access Program offers us a tremendous opportunity to support much needed fish habitat enhancement initiatives and shoreline-based access improvements, improving conservation of fisheries resources and quality of angling for Texans,” said Homer. “We’re doing a lot of work out here and we want people to take advantage of it. It gives us the opportunity to connect with our customers and maybe identify more project opportunities. It’s a win-win for everybody.”

To learn more about current and past HAAP projects, or future requests for proposals, check out tpwd.texas.gov/landwater/water/ habitats/habitat-angler-access-program.

About Those Fish Structures

TPWD has been proactive over the year in trying to identify some of the best styles of artificial fish structures, and the best ways position them to maximize fish traffic to provide anglers with good places to soak a bait.

In 2014, state fisheries biologists began a multi-year study on Sam Rayburn Reservoir to examine sport fish usage of 72 fish attractors deployed in 18-25 feet of water at the southern reaches of the impoundment. The structures were placed six to a site in straight-line and clustered configurations.

The plastic structures were framed with 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe, then wrapped with fourinch corrugated drainage pipe and industrial- grade mesh. Each structure measured 3-feet tall, 3-feet wide and 6-feet long.

The PVC frames filled with the drainage pipe are coined “Georgia Structures,” because they are the same design used in earlier studies by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Fish attracted to the structures were evaluated and counted by using scuba gear and underwater cameras. The study results, now published in the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Journal, indicate a total of 14 species and 11,078 fish visited the structures.

The most common species were sunfish, crappie, spotted bass and largemouth bass. It was common to observe more than 50 fish at each attractor site; more than 150-200 fish were present at times.

The study taught scientists several things: * PVC structures attract more fish than Christmas trees.

* The deployment configuration of the structures had no effect.

* Structures with corrugated pipe attracted more species and higher overall numbers of fish, while those with mesh held more largemouth and spotted bass.

The study findings also created a blueprint of sorts that has since been followed dozens of times in different partnership deals, resulting in the strategic placement of hundreds of artificial fish structures — some of different designs — on lakes all across Texas.

Projects Galore

Earlier this month, the Sabine River Authority announced the completion of one of the state’s biggest artificial fish structure deployment projects in recent times — the 2024 Toledo Bend Artificial Fish Habitat Project.

The SRA-funded project resulted in the deployment of 150 Georgia cubes and 60 concrete “reef balls” with the assistance of TPWD inland fisheries crews. Each 1,200-pound reef ball has multiple round openings so fish can access the open cavity. Catfish should love them.

TPWD also assisted SRA and Toledo Bend Lake Association with the deployment of 120 Georgia cubes last year. “We’ve got 50 more to put for the TBLA this summer,” said TPWD fisheries biologist Dan Ashe.

As earlier mentioned, similar distribution projects have been carried out on dozens of Texas lakes of all sizes using assorted types of artificial structures.

To wit: In 2016, the City of Cleburne helped TPWD plant 28 “Crappie Condos” made from exotic bamboo along the Lake Pat Cleburne dam.

TPWD fisheries biologist Michael Baird said the structures simulate clumps of natural fish habitat like flooded brush and small standing timber. He predicted the structures would eventually become coated with algae and provide a food source for micro-fauna like insects and snails.

“These creatures, in turn, provide a food source for forage fishes such as sunfishes, which are naturally drawn to the new habitat for cover,” Baird said. “Predatory fishes then frequent the structures looking for prey and anglers can take advantage of these habits to try and increase their chance of success.”

Going Commercial

So it goes with MossBack Fish Habitat.

MossBack is a popular artificial fish structure brand produced commercially in Springdale, Ark. The company makes a variety of structures advertised for use in shallow or deep water. The structures are made from eco-friendly materials that simulate natural habitat, including timber, brush piles and logs.

Major League Fishing’s Fisheries Management Division, Bass Nation, the Brazos River Authority and other organizations have partnered with MossBack and TPWD on a number of fish habitat projects on lakes like Limestone, Sam Rayburn, Bryan, Canyon, Belton, Granbury and Possum Kingdom.

The upsides to artificial structures are they may last for a lifetime and typically get better with age. Plus, fishing hooks don’t hang up on them near as bad as natural brush.

The downside is they can be expensive compared to a willow top.

One of MossBack’s Trophy Tree XL’s retails for about $598.00. The unit stands 63 inches tall and is 84 inches wide.

Ashe says one Georgia cube costs about $350 to build at today’s prices, plus the time assemble all the pieces. Buying in bulk will save some money.

“When we first started building the cubes in 2013, you could build one for about $85,” Ashe said. “Prices of pipe and fittings have gone up, just like everything else.”

Mapping Hot Spots

What is really cool about all of this is the locations of each artificial structure placed under TPWD’s watch are readily available to anglers on agency’s Fish Attractor web page.

The link leads to a clickable map with a drop down menu of 71 different lakes where hundreds of fish attractors have been dropped. It lists the type of attractor and the GPS coordinates for each one. The map content is updated regularly.

Anglers can enter the coordinates in a GPS chartplotter or Smartphone, go to the spot and drop a line.

And hopefully reel in a few fish.

Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by email, mattwillwrite4u@ yahoo.com.