Thread: Is it allowed in Maryland to make fish attractors?

CFS, I would ask the Lake Park Rangers or the Game Wardens that control the lakes or waterways that I planned to place the fish habitat. They would know what type material (wood, PVC,etc.) that could be lawfully used in that type (lake,river,etc.) of water.

Hello and if may "suggest" do as Scrat suggested. And when you build the fish attractors try for 4-6` HARDWOOD branches like Osage Orange (hedge apple), ash, hickory, oak, and fruit trees like mulberry, apple or pear. DO NOT use walnut !

Different States look at adding cover differently....some want all that they can get, with very little hassle...and some want to put you in jail for life for adding "illegal" cover....if your cover breaks loose and damages or destroys a dam, you can face federal charges.
At our lake, we had to get approval from the District ODNR Fishery Manager, The District Army Corps of Engineers, and the ODNR Park Manager....it was actually very easy to contact them all in a day.

We were REQUIRED to be aware of their common sense "Forbidden Zones" (within 2000` of the Outlet Tower, the public beaches, inside the boat ramp and mouth of the Marina, ect) but presenting a well thought out plan WITH examples of exactly what you want to drop all helped secure permission to do so. And a bit of advice; although everyone wants to catch 15" crappie and other harvestable fish NONE of them are hatched that big. although crappie and perch fry do not use cover initially, both of them as juveniles and many other types of fish both as fry and juveniles DO; if you want a much better chance for getting your local Dept of Wildlife aboard and `in your corner` offer to put in some Christmas trees ("C" trees ) or evergreen shrubs, these denser types of cover will gradually thin and become much more biologically rich than just the PVC type. Placing them TOGETHER with the PVC slightly deeper is the best of both worlds and will make them 2-?X more effective...

Not sure about their rules but here the COE and Game and Fish sometimes will help .