Mercer student, faculty add new fish habitats to Javors Lucas Lake

Mercer graduate student Carter Coursey, along with several university faculty members and volunteer students from Stratford Academy’s bass fishing team, installed new fish habitats Wednesday at Javors Lucas Lake aimed at encouraging the largemouth bass population in the reservoir.

The Macon Water Authority manages the 600-acre body of water, which provides Jones, Monroe and Bibb counties with drinking water. 

Although the lake is home to game fish like catfish and largemouth bass, hybrid striped bass bred in hatcheries by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources have taken over the reservoir and created too much competition for the largemouth bass, according to MWA warehouse manager Paul Cumbess.

The hybrid striped bass were added to the lake for recreational fishing, Cumbess said. New hybrid fish have not been added in six years, Cumbess said.

The 13 habitat structures Coursey designed had to be safe and nontoxic for the water. The structures are made of plastic and consist of several holes for fish accessibility, plus tubing to simulate sticks and rocks. The habitats will be anchored into the lake with aluminum stakes.

“It’s not a new idea, but no one’s really done it, especially in a small reservoir like this,” he said. “Most people do them in the ocean, like the Great Barrier Reef.”

Coursey, who is studying environmental systems, said the lake does not have a lot of natural vegetation so the habitats will help provide shelter to species like crayfish that serve as food for largemouth bass. 

While hybrid striped bass eat crayfish too and weigh 30-40 pounds, the smaller 4-5 pound largemouth bass tend to eat more crayfish. 

“It’s beautiful and we try to keep it clean,” Cumbess said of the lake. “I’m just glad somebody’s doing something.”

Coursey’s project builds off of the research conducted by Mercer biology professor Craig Byron, whose 2023 class studied health indicators of hundreds of fish in the reservoir. 

Byron and his students examined organ mass, anatomy and stomach contents to confirm the decline in largemouth bass as spotted bass and hybrid striped bass took over the reservoir’s ecosystem. 

“Indicators that we’re looking at showed us in the data that, yeah, there is something to the story of largemouth bass being out competed and showing less vigor,” Byron said. 

Largemouths had poorer health indicators, such as more parasites and smaller mass for their length.

The habitats will not only provide refuge for bait fish, but also for young largemouth and spotted bass.

Cumbess and Mercer faculty say they hope to raise money to install more habitats in the reservoir. Byron’s upcoming fall class will study the new installation’s effectiveness by using electrofishing to paralyze the fish, measure and release them again.