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habitat success
Lake Bryan , Texas will benefit from FMD restoration project
By Steven Bardin and Gary Klein
During the third qualifying event of the 2023 General Tire Team Series in College Station , Texas , the MLF Fisheries Management Division in partnership with Berkley Labs completed our fourth Minn Kota Habitat Restoration Project supported by Humminbird . This project was on Lake Bryan in collaboration with Texas Parks and Wildlife College Station office and the Bryan , Texas Utilities Department .
Lake Bryan was impounded in 1974 and was used as cooling reservoir for power generation . The reservoir is 829 surface acres with a maximum depth of 45 feet and a constant water level . It ’ s maintained by well water and has a slightly high salinity . The reservoir is almost divided perfectly in half down the center by a peninsula , with each side connected by a small channel on the southern end .
The lake traditionally has low spawning success , low survival and low angler catch rates due to a lack of habitat . Stocking redfish has been attempted several times but has yet to result in a significant adult population .
Bryan Texas Utilities has put more emphasis on the recreational value of the reservoir since renovating the public park in 2018 . These improvements have focused primarily on improving access for both boats and shoreline anglers . TPWD began restocking Florida largemouth bass fingerlings in 2019 and again in 2020 . This spring , TPWD stocked 18,000 Lone Star Bass into the reservoir . Lone Star Bass are largemouth bass spawned at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center from two ShareLunker offspring . These improvements have resulted in more angling attention on the lake .
The Lake Bryan record largemouth bass of 8.7 pounds was caught in 2021 .
fmd ’ s habitat goals for lake bryan
The FMD chose this project because of the recent recreational improvements , as well as the size and shape of the lake . The reservoir ’ s shape allowed us to directly compare the success of adding artificial habitat to a reservoir . We focused all our habitat on the west side of the reservoir , leaving the east to still be habitat limited .
The TPWD team will be able to use their electrofishing and creel sampling data to assess the direct impact of our project over the next several years .
To select the specific sites for our habitat deployment , we asked Gary Klein – MLF co-founder and co-director of the FMD – to examine topographic maps of the reservoir and select sites . Gary selected what he considered obvious transition sites where largemouth bass and crappie would most likely move as seasons change . Once Gary outlined the sites , we got the MossBack Fish Habitat team involved and went through their product catalog selecting four products : Trophy Tree XL , Safe Haven XL , the 40-inch Conservation Cube and the Spawning Bed .
Each product was selected to fill a niche in the reservoir and promote both forage survival and predator ambush points . Additionally , BTU provided 33 concrete trash receptacles to be used as catfish spawning habitat . The final steps to prepare for the project were to get the build site secured from Bryan Utility on Lake Bryan , get cinder blocks and pea gravel from Lowe ’ s Bryan Texas store # 0103 , and finally get our volunteer crews together to help build and deploy the structures .
For volunteers for this project , we put a call in to Texas A & M Fisheries Society to provide student volunteers and sent out email invites to local Major League Fishing Bass Fishing Membership . Through those requests and local word of mouth ( as well as some unplanned help from MLF staffers who were working the Team Series event in College Station ), we were able to gather a dozen volunteers for the project .
18 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | DECEMBER-JANUARY 2023