Thread: FISH Day at Smithville

The Missouri Dept of Conservation, the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Clay County Parks Dept, and a good number of volunteers all got together yesterday to put out about 75 new brushpiles in Smithville Lake. We all met at 9:00 a.m. and split into several teams. There were 4-5 guys on each of the 4 habitat barges and a team of 5 at the loading site, hauling the cut trees down to shore. I think it's pretty amazing that these government agencies cooperate with each other to improve fish habitat in many Missouri lakes. The equipment is jointly owned and a schedule to have the barges in/around the same lakes to do normal day to day projects, but then to be available for the volunteer days is somehow coordinated. Agents, fishery biologists, engineers, and fishermen/women all meet to volunteer some or all of a day to improve fish habitat.
The habitat is designed to help all the fish, not just crappies, from fry to adult. This means cover is placed from shallow (for spawning fish as well as fry nurseries), all the way through the usable depths in the lake. Trees are cut with the cooperation of a forester, or park manager to take trees to improve the woods. Sometimes a clearcut is best, sometimes the cutting is more selective. At Smithville, the park employees and the MDC have been re-seeding native grasses into the area, and they went through in the weeks prior to the event and sheared off trees that have grown out in the new prairie. Some trees were up to 8" diameter and over 25' tall. There was a mixture of tree varieties....oaks(pin, shingle, red), hedge(osage orange), GIANT cedar trees(15-20' tall and nearly that wide!),etc. Concrete is donated from local cement companies and home improvement stores. A local guide puts out marker buoys and the barge operator takes a GPS reading when he dumps his load. Eventually the coordinates make it onto the MDC website for fishermen to download and use. Each year, a different area of the lake gets new piles so the existing piles may get refreshed every 4-5 years, but there are also new piles each year getting "seasoned".
I'll admit I'm no good at finding fish....I know it's hard to believe, but there it is...I suck at fishing! But thanks to these agencies and volunteers, I certainly can't blame my inability on a lack of spots to fish. Thank You and kudos to all involved!!

Thanks for posting Vic. Good write up. Good to hear they got some volunteers