What's the clarity in this lake? Only reason I ask is if it's typical of many FMZ 18 lakes you will be hard pressed to find bass spawning in more than 12' of water. Do some? Yes, but the majority spawn in much shallower water. (I've conducted or helped with extensive snorkel surveys on Opinicon, Newboro, Indian, Big Rideau, Sand, Charleston, Miller's Lake on the Mississippi River, research lakes on Queen's University property north of Kingston, and others). The bed fishing that occurs in the States is typically done in shallow enough water that the bass can be seen on its nest, which is often much shallower than 12'.
I think the rationale for dropping the trees would be to provide the hatched fry with cover to decrease predation-related mortality and, theoretically, increase recruitment. Once bass offspring reach the stage where fry begin forming balls, generally the parental male becomes less protective of their brood because they're essentially "running on fumes." Typically this is when they leave their broods and resume non-reproductive activities (parental care period lasts about 4-6 weeks). Once daddy is gone, those fry are mighty vulnerable and adding cover to a lake is, theoretically, a decent way to provide them with some protection until they grow large enough to fend for themselves (i.e., larger sizes = greater swimming performance = greater ability to escape predation).
You guys are to be commended for your efforts and it's nice to see collaboration between angling groups and the MNR (the sense of empowerment you felt when you put the trees in is the feeling co-management fosters, and will only lead to increased stewardship of the resource). My above post was simply to point out some of the "potential" biological aspects of habitat enhancement. GOOD ON YOU GUYS!
