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Members of the Ottawa Valley South Bassmasters group decided to give a little something back to one of the fisheries we enjoy so much yesterday ... Mississippi Lake, by working on improving the Bass Spawning habitat. We sank bundles of trees to the bottom of the lake in many areas where bass can make their nests in protection thus enabling more of the fry to survive and thus increase the number of bass in the lake.

This lake sees a lot of tournament pressure and therefore we thought it was a great candidate for this work. We worked in conjunction with the Ministry of Natural Resources to carry out this work and they will be studying the newly created cover to see if they become bass magnets.

Consultations with various other fishing folk in the area ensured that we did not drop them in areas that are trolled for walleye so that they did not become lure magnets.

I must say that it felt great to take part of this... but that is kind of common being a member of this organization you get a great feeling of belonging to something that is conservation minded, friendly and focused on fun competition with a bonus along the way is that you get to learn more about bassin.

Cool stuff Chris. How deep of water did they go into?

And forward me the GPS co-ords. Thanks.

RJ

They all went in over 12 feet of water at the MNR's request. One lake dweller went right over to inspect what we had dropped in the water... must have thought it was a body...

Seaweed wrote:They all went in over 12 feet of water at the MNR's request. One lake dweller went right over to inspect what we had dropped in the water... must have thought it was a body...

If that were on the Ottawa River, I could see that being a valid concern...

Good on you guys to do this - I hope the experiment is a success! And yeah, GPS coordinates would be nice.

Wont increases in bass population negatively affect walleye populations?

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!

That is pretty cool stuff.

nice job!

good on you Chris and the OVSB organization for that matter. That brush just might become crappie magnets come ice time!

plncrzy wrote:Wont increases in bass population negatively affect walleye populations?

No

CN wrote:

plncrzy wrote:Wont increases in bass population negatively affect walleye populations?

No

What ever spawns first gets to eat whatever spawns later.They're bigger.Even earlier spawning perch can prey on musky minnows.

Nice job OVSB and thanks for posting this Chris.

Mike

Hi Folks:

Just to elaborate on Chris's post above.

The particular program we did receive a GRANT for is called CFWIP.

Yes that's right......MNR pretty much just gave us gas money......lol !!

We cut the trees from one of our member's property.

Weights (bricks) were garnered from the garbage dumpster at the local construction site.


3 boats arrived at the Carleton Place launch, each carrying 2 pre-bundled batches of cedar trees.

We were instructed by the MNR to be careful where the trees were sank, as depths less than 10-12 feet could hamper boat traffic and be a menace.

Some communication with some of the local walleye officianados ensured their trolling lanes were not obstructed.

The 2 bundles I dropped were in 30' and 22' respectively.

I have no doubt that this newly created fish habitat will only serve to benefit the fish population of Missippippi Lake.

Ottawa Valley South Bassmasters will be looking to repeat this CFWIP project again next season.

Thanks.

Tim

Thanks for the update.

This is something cool to be a part of.

This is the stuff I like to hear ... if I ever get a boat(next year ... everyone pray for me .. next year) I'd like to help out on something like this ... it's simple and makes too much sense.