Lake Scott State Park’s abundance of red cedar trees is about to pay dividends for area fishermen.
What possible connection can there be between trees and fish? The cedars provide an ideal underwater habitat and, consequently, the opportunity for great fishing.
Earlier this week, while one crew was busy clearing away numerous trees crowding the blacktop road which winds through the park, another four-man crew was loading these trees onto a flat-bottomed power boat so they could be dumped into the lake by designated fish attractors.
“The guys who will really appreciate what we’re doing are the ones who will be crappie fishing this winter,” says district fisheries biologist Dave Spalsbury with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. “They’ll be able to sit over these attractors and reel in the fish.”
Spalsbury, who has done spring and fall fish surveys at Lake Scott, observed that the existing attractors had been neglected for a long time. According to Park Manager Rick Stevens, it had probably been about seven years since the county last hauled trees to the lake.
Christmas trees have been collected on a few occasions, but their effectiveness is short-lived.
“These trees will last 10 to 15 years, easily,” said Spalsbury, referring to the 12-20 foot cedars. “Christmas trees are easy to come by, but after two or three years all you’ve got is a stick in the water.”
It was a tough chore for the crews to move the cedars, some measuring up to 20 feet in length, in the 100-degree heat. Once they were dragged onto the boat, anywhere from three to eight concrete “anchors” were used to weigh down the trees once they were unloaded into the lake.
There are four primary areas where Spalsbury focused his attention - near three existing fish attractor buoys and by the handicap fishing pier. He said they would deposit trees into the lake until they used up the 300 concrete anchors available. That would amount to roughly 50-60 trees.
Crappie Overpopulation
During last fall’s fish survey, Spalsbury said he caught a lot of crappie in the 8-9 inch range. He feels there is too much competition in the lake among crappie, so improving the attractors would serve a dual purpose. Fishermen will have the chance to improve their angling success and as crappie numbers are reduced it will lead to larger crappie inhabiting the lake.
KDWP introduced saugeye in the lake earlier this year to begin reducing the number of smaller crappie.
“We’ll let the anglers take care of the bigger ones,” Spalsbury says.
He expects fishermen to notice a difference around the attractors within the next 3-4 weeks as crappie and other species - primarily bass and catfish - discover the new habitat.
“The real benefit will come in October, November and December,” says the biologist. “Something like this is like a magnet. It will attract the fish in a big way.”
Spalsbury will mark the attractor buoys on a GPS system and put the information on the KDWP website to further assist area fishermen.
“That way people can follow the map and know where we’ve improved the habitat and, hopefully, improve their success,” he adds.