By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
A better water habitat could improve fishing for local patrons and
prevent the City of Great Bend from restocking in-town lakes with fish as much.
A battle with blue-green algae years ago and past flooding at Veterans Lake has
caused an aquatic desert for the fish population. Over the winter, the city
will work with Great Bend High School’s FFA chapter to build artificial structures
out of PVC pipe.
Great Bend Public Lands Director Scott Keeler said cages will be installed at
both Vets Lake and Stone Lake to protect underwater vegetation that will be
planted next spring.
"The purpose of the cages is to keep a lot of the turtles and grass carp out of there," said Keeler. "We have a good population of carp out there. You really can't get rid of them without killing the whole place."
Ideally, the habitat will provide the fish a place to hide, feed and grow. As the
fish breed and grow, fishing will be significantly better.
"The idea is to get these areas, probably a dozen at both lakes, started and then you expand it," said Keeler. "Once the plant gets healthy enough and big enough, they're resilient enough that they'll keep growing."
Funding to build up the fish habitats will come from the .15% sales tax revenue
designated for quality of life projects. There is $5,500 assigned to the
project this year, and $5,000 planned for each of the next two years.