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Donated custom barge helps improve fish habitat |
 MOUNTAIN
HOME - While hosting a conference of the White River Fisheries
Partnership at his Big Cedar Lodge on Table Rock Lake, John L. Morris,
owner of Bass Pro Shops and Tracker Marine, was searching for a way to
contribute to multi-agency efforts to improve fishing on the big U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers reservoirs on the White River.Morris' answer was that there was a real need for boats and equipment capable of improving fish habitat in the lakes. With the resources of Tracker Marine at his command, he offered to donate two specially designed barges to Arkansas and Missouri to help with fish habitat placement. A team of fisheries managers from the two states worked with Tracker's engineers to design the boats. Within a year, the two custom habitat barges were in operation on the White River lakes. The 30-foot pontoon boats are equipped with several features for habitat placement, according to Arkansas Game and Fish Commission district fisheries biologist Mark Oliver. "They have a hydraulic dump bed capable of lifting materials weighing over two tons, a heavy-duty winch and a 115 hp four-stroke outboard motor. With their tri-axle trailers, these boats weigh over 9,000 pounds," Oliver explained. "Our barge has an additional feature: the motor is mounted on the bow of the boat to facilitate dragging trees from the shoreline," he added.  The
White River lakes include Beaver, Table Rock, Bull Shoals and Norfork.
All four are ageing, with three over 50 years old, and any woody habitat
that was left from the construction process has mostly decomposed.
"Black bass and other shoreline dwelling sportfish, depend on the
presence of woody and vegetative structure to maintain healthy
populations," Oliver said. "In addition, as most anglers know, the
introduced habitat attracts bass, crappie and bream and produces
excellent fishing opportunities," he added.For many years, Arkansas and Missouri have been sinking trees in the reservoirs to improve habitat and fishing for bass and other sportfish. The donation and deployment of the two barges has accelerated these projects and also increased the size of trees that can be handled. "We can now place trees with diameters of over 20 inches, even with the rootwads still attached," Oliver said.  New
materials, such as large rootwads left over from construction projects
and large artificial structures can now be used due to the barges.
"There are plans to experiment with sinking large hay bales as a source
of organic fertilizer that may produce zooplankton for young bass and
forage species," Oliver said. "The barges, valued at over $80,000, that were donated by Mr. Morris, Tracker Marine, and Bass Pro Shops, are great fishery management tools that will be used for many years to improve the quality of bass and other fisheries in the White River lakes and elsewhere in Arkansas and Missouri. In fact, fisheries biologists from several other states have traveled here to view the barges in action and soon there will be two more in operation in Oklahoma and Arizona," Oliver stated. "As the habitat barge program expands, bass fisheries and bass anglers all over the country will be the beneficiaries of the generosity and cooperative spirit of Morris and his Tracker Marine engineers and technicians," Oliver added. |
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