Lake hosts artificial fish attractors

NORFORK — Cody Wyatt has already seen how a new kind of artificial fish attractor is working at Norfork Lake.

Wyatt, a fisheries biologist with Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and his colleagues have been sinking dozens of tree-like fish attractors made of plastic PVC pipe in Norfork Lake in recent weeks.

He donned scuba gear to check how one of the artificial trees was doing.

“I dove on one a week ago that had catfish stacked up vertically on the pole,” Wyatt recalled. “On another one I was encouraged to see a bunch of spawning bluegills. There was a flathead catfish actually laying in the arms of one of the trees.”

He said although Game and Fish will continue to create fish habitat by sinking trees in the lake, those typically only last two to five years.

The PVC “Mossback Fish Habitat” structures theoretically have a 100-year lifespan because they don’t rust or break down in water, he said.

“These will be just as fishable in 20 years as they are today,” Wyatt said. “They’re similar to natural fish habitat and will attract bait fish and other larger fish that come to feed where the bait fish live.”

An angler might wince upon seeing the numerous plastic arms sticking out of the pipe trunk, maybe an entanglement nightmare for fisherman pitching expensive lures near the structure.

“We were concerned about that, but these things are designed to be relatively snagfree,” Wyatt said. “We’ve tested them by fishing on them and there were very little hangups. They have a V-shape to their limbs and lures just tend to roll over them instead of getting tangled.”

The arms also have a textured surface designed to encourage algae and water plants to grow. The natura biomass offers ideal hiding places for young fish. And the more young fish in one spot the more likely it will draw hungry largemouth bass crappie and walleye.

At Norfork Lake, 150 PVC structures will be sunk, typically with 10 “trees” per site in 25-35 feet of water. Their GPS coordinates and maps showing their locations wil be available to anglers on the Arkansas Game and Fish website. The project is on track to be finished by the end of August.

Wyatt said the artificia fish habitat was authorized through an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the lake.

The project will cost $40,000, spread over three budget years. Money for the project came from the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service’s Sport Fish Restoration fund.

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