Pineview Reservoir is a Blue Ribbon fishery and an extremely popular recreation destination. The USFS and others are working on making improvements to access the reservoir and all the boat ramps. The first location they are proposing to do work and allow free access is Anderson Cove Campground. However, fishing is marginal in this arm due to lacking habitat and structures that would attract and hold fish. Our electrofishing efforts in the summer of 2021 documented very few fish within this arm. Adding these habitat structures would provide anglers options to fish this arm as other access sites may be closed in future years due to construction. Additionally, DWR is conducting a research pilot project on the use of these habitat structures by young of the year (YOY) Yellow Perch and Black Crappie during the fall and winter months after the reservoirs have turned over. Predation on YOY fish increases as larger perch, crappie, trout, and muskie can access all depths of the reservoir after fall mixing and can target YOY fish creating boom and bust cycles in perch and crappies. Adding these habitats will help protect YOY.

Provide additional fish habitat for YOY Yellow Perch and Black Crappie Provide additional angling opportunities for anglers while other access points may be compromised during construction activities over the next few years.

Ecologically, we should not reach a threshold on the species listed. Based on DWR's research and current pilot project at Echo and Rockport, DWR has demonstrated the use of these structures by YOY perch and crappies as well as adults.

UDWR constituency goals Blue Ribbon Fisheries Plan Provide angling opportunities for anglers

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Not applicable. The site is completely underwater year round

A mix of commercially-available and manufactured structures will be placed in hypolimnetic areas for the purpose of providing cover for young-of-the-year yellow perch. Treatment areas will be determined based on the bathymetry of the reservoirs and areas adjacent to or within reasonable proximity to spawning areas. Areas targeted for habitat augmentation will be no less than 20 feet deeper than the lowest normal drawdown (or 20 feet deeper than the bottom of the boat ramp elevation, whichever is deeper) to preclude boating hazard issues. Habitat structures will be assembled at the regional office and on-site. Structures will be transported by boat to the selected area.

Monitoring will consist of SONAR and video documentation of the structures to determine stability (i.e., no migration) and fish use. Temperature and dissolved oxygen data loggers will be used to verify conditions theorized to be present in the location of the structure deployment. The use of Garmin Panoptix Livescope will determine the use by fish.

USFS, Weber County, Weber Basin Water Conservation District

Pineview Reservoir will continue to be managed as a Blue Ribbon Fishery, producing one of only two Tiger Muskie fisheries in the region and the only one with trophy muskies. Pineview will also be managed for its pan fishing opportunities for Yellow Perch and Black Crappies. Adding this additional habitat will provide better recruitment of perch and crappies from year to year.

Other than the obvious performance measure of providing a number of acres of coverage with new habitat, longer-term sampling of young of the year yellow perch will indicate the influence of the structures on their population. Indicators of success will include a more predictable recruiting year class of a naturally-reproducing species into the population annually.

07/01/2023

05/30/2024

2024

DWR staff assembled habitat from Pond King and Mossback. These structures included Pond King Trees (20), Pond King Shrubs (24), Pond King Honey Hole kits (2), Mossback Safe Haven kits (20), Mossback Root Wad kits (7), and Mossback Root Wads (2). Our technicians assembled all the Pond King habitats except for the Honey Hole kits at the Northern Region office. Due to the size of the Mossback habitats, the materials were all hauled to the Cemetery Point boat ramp at Pineview Reservoir and assembled at that location.

DWR staff met at the Cemetery boat ramp on May 30, 2024, to assemble and place the 75 habitats. We stacked the Pond King habitats away from the staging area because they were assembled. Each person took a base, cinderblock, three columns, and all the horizontal parts and spread out on the blacktop and assembled the Mossback habitats and the Pond King Honey Holes. This took our crew about 6 hours to do. We then loaded what habitats we could on our Oqwuaka boat and drove to our predetermined location. This location was on the same contour as the previously deployed habitats from Kent Sorenson. In 2021, these habitats still had 13 feet of water over them and were not hazardous to boats or swimmers. The depth of the water on our day of deployment was 60 feet. It took about 10 trips to deploy all the assembled habitats on this contour.

In the fall and winter of 2024 and 2025, DWR will use sonar, an underwater camera, acoustic telemetry, and angling to look at the use of these newly installed habitats at Pineview Reservoir. Additionally, DWR will add more habitat structures to the reservoir over the next few years. Additional seminars and training will be attended by DWR staff to ensure that these are the right habitats for the fish species targeted.