Black Bass and Crappie Use of Installed Habitat Structures in Table Rock Lake, Missouri

Abstract Reservoirs are important resources utilized by millions of freshwater anglers annually, but as reservoirs age the quality of the habitat that they provide for fish deteriorates. In 2007, a large‐scale habitat improvement project began on Table Rock Lake, Missouri, with the goal of supplementing existing fish habitat in this large reservoir. Over 2,000 habitat structures composed of cedar, pine, hardwoods, stumps, and rocks were installed between 2007 and 2013. By means of scuba surveys, we evaluated the use of these structures by black bass Micropterus spp. and crappies Pomoxis spp. to determine whether it varied among fish species, fish sizes, and structure types. Black bass were observed utilizing all structure types but appeared to utilize hardwoods most. Covariates such as water depth and visibility at the structure confounded our analysis of black bass use, however, limiting our ability to clearly document differences in use. Crappies never used rock structures, and more crappies were observed on cedar structures than any other type. In Table Rock Lake, black bass were attracted to all structure types and crappies were attracted to all structure types except rock. Since fish use is similar across nearly all habitat types, other factors such as cost and installation times should be considered when planning habitat enhancement projects on large reservoirs. Received August 12, 2013; accepted October 30, 2013