George Tubbs, in front left, and Bob Beezley add bricks to a fish habitat they were building Monday afternoon at Webster Lake. In the back are Joe Kleinknight, left, and Kyle Flumbaum. (Photo by Michelle Sokol)
Volunteers from all around the Webster Lake area have contributed toward the building and locating of five additional fish cribs or habitats, according to organizer Gary Dant. “People have come to help us build, given money and local businesses have really contributed their services to make this possible. It is a community project that has been paid for entirely out of pocket, ” he explained.
The cribs immediately become fish magnets when placed in the water. Maps of their locations will be available at local bait shops as good locations to begin fishing.Originally the cribs were supposed to join the five others already in Webster Lake on Friday, but Carmen Pier Services needed the barge it was donating on that day, so the transfer occurred on Thursday morning. The barge has a hydraulic forklift.
Department of Natural Resources biologist Nate Thomas rode the barge to supervise Carmen employees placing the fish cribs. The locations were all DNR approved ahead of time. Another big contributor was Charlie Baker Backhoe Services, which brought all the materials to the Washington Street ramp for construction.
A barge prepares to take off with one of the five volunteer built fish habitats. All were located in Webster Lake Thursday morning. (Photo by Martha Stoelting)
“Already there has been positive feedback about the five habitats located in January being good places to fish. The native water plants are combining with the cribs to bring back fish to Webster Lake,” said Dant.He explained that a similar die-off of fish happened 10 years ago when the lake was sprayed for weeds. Lyn Crighton, executive director of Tippecanoe Watershed Foundation, noted Webster Lake was sprayed for exotic, invasive plant species, not native plants. When invasive plant species are introduced fish lose places to hide and spawn. The Webster Lake Conservation Association with DNR approval funded the spraying.The cribs are meant to be permanent structures and the men involved have volunteered to check up on them regularly by fishing around them. The more fish caught, the more successful the crib has been.
