Want better fishing at your local reservoir? Go do something about it.
Austin Fly Fishers recently teamed up with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the City of Cedar Park to conduct aquatic vegetation plantings at Brushy Creek Reservoir. The 38-acre lake, in Cedar Park just north of Austin, is one of five intensively managed Austin-area urban impoundments that provides high-quality fishing opportunities.
The native vegetation planted will hopefully grow into lush stands, which will provide habitat for fish, stabilize sediment and improve water quality.
The project fits in with the TPWD’s promotion of urban fishing opportunities, with projects aimed at providing quality fishing in areas close to population centers. The department is seeking local partners to help intensively manage lakes such as Brushy Creek and make them sustainable fisheries. Organizations like Austin Fly Fishers, which gathered 22 volunteers for the Brushy Creek project, have made significant economic and hands-on contributions to help develop quality fisheries in the Austin Area. Future work with AFF will focus on Lake Kyle, a 12-acre impoundment south of Austin in Kyle.
Jim Gray, AFF president, said, “Part of the Austin Fly Fishers’ mission is conservation through projects that benefit our members and the community. Our partnership with Texas Parks and Wildlife allows us to have an even greater impact by combining our resources on projects where the benefits are significant and long lasting. We see our efforts with the Brushy Creek Reservoir plantings and the improvements at Kyle Lake as examples of good stewardship that can be replicated on other water bodies.”
So if you want to make your local reservoir a better fishery, make it happen. Any person or group wanting to participate in these types of reservoir habitat restoration projects on local lakes is encouraged to become a member of Friends of Reservoirs. See www.waterhabitatlife.org for details or contact your local district fisheries management office.
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