Missouri Department of Conservation improving fish habitat at Table Rock, Bull Shoals
Jun. 1—The Missouri Department of Conservation announced this week that it is refurbishing existing underwater fish habitat brush piles throughout Table Rock and Bull Shoals reservoirs as well as establishing habitat at new sites in these two Southwest Missouri lakes.
This work is funded with a grant MDC received from Bass Pro Shops.
The origins of the habitat improvement project underway at Table Rock and Bull Shoals can be traced back to the National Fish Habitat Initiative, a project that went from 2007-2013 and involved MDC, Bass Pro Shops, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and other partners.
This project resulted in the establishment of 2,024 fish habitat structures at Table Rock and 193 in Bull Shoals.
The grant MDC received from Bass Pro Shops in 2022 is to refurbish 645 of the brush piles on Table Rock and 35 sites on Bull Shoals.
An underwater brush pile serves multiple roles for fish — nursery habitat and protective cover for some young fish, as well as attracting larger, predatory sportfish species such as crappie and bass.
"Table Rock and Bull Shoals are aging reservoirs and much of the woody structure in these lakes is deteriorating," MDC fisheries management biologist Shane Bush, who manages Table Rock Lake, said in a statement. "Fish habitat projects like this one and the NFHI project allow MDC to be proactive in helping to maintain the quality fish populations these reservoirs have and ensure that fishing remains great for anglers in the future."
The current project began in November 2022 and will continue through December of this year.
