In regards of introducing structure.

[INTIMIDATOR]

This is a double edged sword, Cover is GREAT, but telling people where it is causes all kinds of problems....We have a group of Local fishermen, who got together after hurricane Ike leveled thousands of trees here in Ohio. We have a local deep 2500 acre lake that was dammed by the Army COE in the early 70's for flood protection....thought, was not given to this becoming a fishery so it was pretty much bulldozed clean...the natural STRUCTURE, such as creek banks/channels, cliffs, road beds, boulders, culverts, etc still existed. But actual COVER, such as trees, vegetation, etc, was gone!
We met with the Army COE, ODNR Fish Biologists, and ONDR Park Management, and was given the OK to do yearly COVER drops for fish Habitat, spawning beds, etc.
After the first couple years the lake began to improve, the ODNR decided to allow us to put COVER near the Marina, Handicap areas, and easy access for kids and families, and to give GPS coordinates to local baitshops, on-line, and fishermen. THIS WAS A DISASTER...TOTAL DISASTER!
Boats sat on the cover 24/7, people fought over spots...bank fishermen fist fought over areas, ran kids off, people yelling and cussing all day and night, they wouldn't allow handicapped people access to platforms etc, people littered from all the extra pressure, they threw trash cans, dumpster, picnic tables etc in the water to make "THEIR OWN" cover....people were keeping illegal fish, not obeying size or creel limits...Man, it was like the lawless Wild West. PEOPLE WERE EVEN TEARING OUT COVER AND MOVING IT, OR REMOVING IT, because they lost lures, or didn't want others using it. WITHIN 2 YEARS all of that cover was pretty much gone or dead and areas did not replenish!
So we stopped giving out locations, placed cover in darkness, or the wee hours in the morning, we use Christmas trees, 'boo, cedar, hardwood, pallets, stake beds, PVC, Plastic Culverts, and other plastic...and this year we have massive amounts of Osage Orange...We also have been making "Reefs" with concrete rubble, concrete blocks, and 10 hole bricks!
The Lake has been energized and the increasing amount of fish holding ability of the lake is amazing, the numbers of natural baitfish has exploded, along with the shad population...the Walleye are growing, Bass have made a comeback, and we have SLABS. The fishery is alive AND NO FIGHTING!
WE, a bunch of local fishermen transformed a lake...now it can weather mass shad kills, bad spawns, etc...AND IT IS HEALTHY as a fishery!
Lowell and I have pretty much headed up this GRAND EXPERIMENT, and have learned many lessons along the way, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask, and will try to help in any way we can!
Good Fishing to All!
Brent