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They didn’t mind watching all of their hard work sink to the bottom of Frances Slocum Lake.
After all, for the members of the Nanticoke Conservation Club, that was their intention.
On Wednesday, 20 members of the club were joined with staff from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources as they built 20 wooden fish habitat structures. A symmetrical arrangement of one-inch hemlock boards nailed with brush stuffed into the openings and anchored by concrete blocks, the wooden cages are actually called vertical plank structures.
Keith Beamer, habitat manager for PFBC, said the structures serve a dual purpose for all sizes of fish. The brush-filled openings offer a sanctuary for small young-of-the-year fish, while the larger openings provide an ambush habitat for predator species such as bass and muskie.
Last year the PFBC stocked 600 purebred muskie fingerlings in Frances Slocum, hoping to bring back a population that thrived in the lake decades ago. But an survey last fall turned up only a handful of the fingerlings, and Beamer hopes Wednesday’s project will help.
“The smaller fish will use the (brush) cover and then as it degrades the large openings will be used as ambush cover for the larger fish,” he said. “We weren’t seeing a return on the muskie fingerlings we stocked, so these structures are geared toward juvenile muskie habitat but they’ll also be used by all species.”
And anglers as well.
The PFBC posts maps on its website identifying exact locations where fish habitat structures are placed in lakes such as Frances Slocum. While the structures are designed to provide habitat for fish, they all serve as hotspots for anglers.
Nanticoke Conservation Club member Joe Rutchauskas said the bottom of Frances Slocum Lake is flat and muddy, devoid of any natural debris that would provide habitat for fish. That’s one reason why the club has been building and depositing fish habitat structures in the lake since 1999.
Including Wednesday’s project, the club has deposited 175 fish habitat structures in the lake. They’ll build another round of vertical plank structures next year, Rutchauskas said, and then, together with the PFBC, switch to a different habitat project. Possibilities include cutting trees along the shoreline so they drop into the lake and rock piles.
“The porcupine cribs we used to build were put in deep water, but these go around the shoreline in five to 10 feet of water,” he said. “They go together quickly and we use green hemlock lumber so they last. Since they’re submerged underwater, they should last about 20 years.”
Rutchauskas coordinates the project by bringing the materials on site. He said the concrete block used to anchor the structures were donated by Riverview Block, Inc., of Berwick and DCNR provided a forklift to load the structures on a boat that carried them onto the lake.
“The club members really enjoy doing this every year and some bring their grandchildren to help out,” Rutchauskas said. “We just like improving things here by providing habitat for fish and a place for anglers to find the fish.”
