Just a few points that we have seen and figured out since the cover projects were started in our home lake, after IKE in 2007.
CJ is a 2200+ acre, deeper man made flood control reservoir in SW Ohio...it is rocky with minimal natural structure and hardy any cover...fishing was a second thought when it was built in the early 70's.
The lake is Very Fertile, has plenty of wetlands, and no residential or commercial areas close.
The lake is broke up in 1/3's...the inlet North third is mainly 3 ft to 15 fow....the middle third is 10 to 30 fow...and the Dam draining, Southern third is mainly 20-45 feet deep.
The lake has 5 creek channels, 3 road beds, humps, uneven bottom, and Massive amounts of rocks....it had good vegetation until the new boat ramp and Marina was built and IT ALL DIED.
It has always been a decent place to fish...mainly due to the HUGE schools of shad...we have no had a massive shad kill since 2001...fishing suffers after a shad kill and we started the projects to protect from this.
All the major species were stunted except for the Walleye and the occasional trophy.
This is how the lake was turned around by a dedicated group of fishermen....!
First we had to have the blessing of the Army Corp of Engineers, then the ODNR fish biologists, and the ODNR Park Management.
The first 3 years, the lake was loaded with THOUSANDS of Christmas trees and Wood....they were set in concrete or tied to blocks with coated steel cable and clamps as laydowns...this gave the lake breeding habitat and a place for small fish and minnows to hide and grow....we soon found that these became "Little Ecosystems"...When the wood started decaying and grew algae, it attracted microorganisms, baitfish, freshwater lobster, and shad also.
We then started the next phase of permanent covering these same areas and we saw the lake explode. Smaller and medium size fish used the pvc vertical cover, porcupine balls/trees, plastic pallets, etc.
We have seen the crappie size increase from 7-8 inch average when we began to about 9 inches at this phase...this is also when the State helped by increasing creel limits to 30 and minimum size of 9 inches.
The past 2 drops have been combos of pvc and long lasting hardwood cover together and redoing areas of Christmas trees with hardwood laydowns. We are also getting vegetation started in critical areas again.
We know that the average Crappie size is now OVER 10 inches...when Crappie reach about 13 inches they leave all cover and move around the lake with other large fish and the schools of shad.
What the cover has done at CJ, is increase the TOTAL fish holding capability of the lake...laydowns, Christmas Trees, and stake beds allow for good spawns, fry survival, and life starting ecosystems, and hunting grounds for larger fish.
Larger cover, pvc, hardwood 2x4's, plastic barrels, plastic pallets, plastic pipe, hardwood trees/limbs, all provide cover for small and medium fish to grow.
Once they are large and secure enough...they roam the lake feeding on the shad...they sometimes use the BIG cover to rest but most are caught on a single piece of cover in barren areas.
One of the extra benefits....is that we have also increased the natural baitfish population and put more pressure on the shad...now, if we have a shad kill, the predator population can remain stable until the next shad spawn. We have built a strong and stabilized fishery.