THE BASS COLLEGE

High school project

By Robert Montgomery

From BASS Times, January 2011

LANDEN, Ohio — The Warren County Bassmasters teamed with the Landen Community Services Association and students from nearby Kings High School for the third phase of habitat improvement on Landen Lake.

"In the past, the community stocked the lake every year," said Bill Donaldson, president of the bass club and also a member of the board that manages the 65-acre lake. "Now, we're getting to the point where we don't have to spend lots of money and stock it every year."

This time around, 100 spider blocks were constructed from concrete and tubing and dropped in five areas with 4-foot depth. "We had nothing in that depth range and we wanted something that boats could go over," said Donaldson, who added that his club got the idea from a BASS Times article about a project in Michigan.

To help them fulfill their community services requirement, 12 students, including Donaldson's sons Billy and Tyler, built the blocks from materials purchased by the community. Club members and volunteers from Landen then placed them.

In the Student Reflection Record, which documented participation, the students and their supervisors said, "The only negative was lost summer vacation. A close second would be the heaving lifting of the concrete blocks.

"One cool positive was getting to help and work on a project that might get published in BASS Times magazine. We also had hamburgers and hot dogs, along with all the water and Mountain Dew we could drink!"

Also during the past five years, PVC trees and pallets have been placed in the lake, which is barren of natural structure except for rocks along the shore.

"Next, we'd like to put in something that people could actually see because this lake looks so sterile," Donaldson said.

Neat deal

Hey!  This is my new club and I've fished this lake with Bill!  It's a great little lake.  We doubled up on deep crankbaits a few times before I put a clinic on him with a Brian's B2 prop bait. 

great community work. Make sure you keep this in a log as it will pay off later when you include this project on a job resume. Good way to help the environment, the sport, and the fish!