Major League Fishing Helps Bring Artificial Fish Habitat To 3 Oklahoma Lakes

Major League Fishing teamed up with several conservation groups Monday to add more artificial fish habitats to Oklahoma Lakes.

Tuesday, March 29th 2022, 10:44 am



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Major League Fishing teamed up with several conservation groups Monday to add more artificial fish habitats to Oklahoma Lakes.

Following the REDCREST Championship, the MLF’s Fisheries Management Division stopped by Bixhoma Lake to sink two different types of donated artificial fish habitats in the lake.

The MLF worked with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife to add “Georgia cube” fish habitats, along with Mossback Fish Habitat trees.

MLF’s Lead Fisheries Biologist Steven Bardin said the artificial habitats will give fish a safe place to grow, as well as forage and eat. He said it will also give anglers new places to catch fish.

“Number one, we’re trying to promote more fish in a general area and increase their survival. Then there’s this other component where there’s angler success or predators using the habitat,” Bardin said.

The group also added habitat trees to the dock at Bixhoma making them accessible to all anglers.

“Not all of us have a boat, so it will make sure that the anglers that want shoreline access will or even off these docks will have the opportunity as well,” said Bardin.

Volunteers with the Union Sportsmen Alliance built more than 100 Georgia Cubes during the MLF’s Outdoor Sports Expo. Bardin said they were built using sustainable, long-lasting material that was donated by building supply company, Ferguson.

With the help of fishing fans at the expo, Mossback Fish Habitat raised $3,000 to go toward habitat and donated its entire booth of artificial habitat, which was two full pallets of various habitats.

“It takes all of us to do these conservation projects because every reservoir across the United States is going through habitat loss and it’s all happening at the same time. It’s a big effort and it requires everybody’s help,” Bardin said.

While some of the habitats were put in Bixhoma Lake, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Fisheries Division will sink more in other lakes. Bardin said the majority will go in Grand Lake, but biologists will also add some to Lake Eufaula.

"Oklahoma has really become part of the forefront of adopting habitat and improving their fisheries and especially angler access,” Bardin said. “Oklahoma is gonna provide GPS locations for every single one of these deployments, as well as an interactive map on the website to where every angler can where the habitats are, exactly what they are, and when they were deployed."

ODWC fisheries biologists will sink the other habitats in Grand and Eufaula Lakes over the next 6 months.

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