By Don Smith
Special to the Insider
The fish in Lake Auman now have more structures to provide them with places to raise their young, lay eggs, feed and be protected from predators. That’s what the addition of more than 100 artificial fish habitats in the lake means for the fish in Lake Auman.
On Aug. 16 and 17, volunteers from the Lake Auman Sports Club placed these new habitats in clusters, improving their effectiveness, in multiple locations around the lake.
Manufactured by Fishiding.com reusing existing unwanted all-plastic PVC vinyl materials otherwise destined for landfills, these structures help the environment while adding much needed cover in the lake.
Each unit consists of a rigid PVC base and various lengths, widths and sizes of substantially flat limbs. Some models were bent by hand to form intricate and realistic aquatic plant textures, and some models were self opening and simply dropped in the water.
The addition of these artificial fish habitats is an important part of this year’s SLW Lake Committee’s Lake Auman Fishery Enhancement Plan. It was developed to address the recommendations and implement the management options provided from last year’s professional lake study.
That study concluded, “There are three management options that can be used to improve the fishery: adding submerged cover and structure, supplemental forage fish stocking and increased supplemental feeding. The main limiting factor that can be addressed is submerged cover and structure.”
The Lake Auman Fishery Enhancement Plan targeted all three options. Funding was provided in this year’s Lake Committee budget, and the plan received approval from the SLWLA Board of Directors.
When the order arrived, the following helped unload and store the habitat structures in the Longleaf boat yard: Wade Bliss, Jeff Brisson, Tom Gaffney, Keith Golding, Phil Menendian, Steve Reid, Don Smith and Jeff Timmons. Thanks to Cliff Baldwin, Welding Enterprises Inc. in West End for providing the necessary forklift support and initial delivery location.
Helping on Aug.16 and 17 to get the fish habitat structures moved from the boat storage yard to Johnson Point, getting them loaded on boats and then deployed to designated locations in the lake were Ryan Badger, Jeff Brisson, Bob Bruzina, Jim Deak, Joe Easley, Ron Easley, Kevin Frost, Tom Gaffney, Mike Hughes, Tom Kallio, Chris Loken, Greg Lyne, Stan Makson, Bill McCord, Mike Ozimek, Jay Pederson, Steve Reid, Jeff Timmons and Don Smith, who organized this project.
