Bank fishing opportunities continue to improve in southwest Arkansas at Bois d’ Arc Lake in Hempstead County, Mike and Janet Huckabee Pond in Hope, and Dierks Lake in Howard/Sevier Counties. AGFC District 7 staff personnel have been collecting unused oak pallets from local businesses, and scrap PVC pipe provided by local fiber optic contractors to repurpose for fish habitat. The pipe was used to attach vertical “limbs” to the pallets to form artificial stake beds (pictured above). These shallow water stake beds make ideal fish habitat for various sunfish species, and were placed in waters less than 6 feet deep so bank anglers can easily fish over them. Eighteen of the 4’x4’x4’ pallet stake beds were sunk using concrete blocks around the seven fishing piers located at Kidd’s Landing at Bois d’ Arc Lake, and twenty were sunk around the seven piers at the Huckabee Pond.
Personnel from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Dierks Lake Field Office also took the initiative this winter to purchase and assemble nine Mossback Fish Habitat structures. AGFC District 7 staff transported the structures and sunk them at bank fishing areas around Jefferson Ridge Park and the Jefferson Ridge boat access . All of these new sites will be available at www.agfc.com on the Fish Attractors page and on the AGFC Interactive Mapper soon.