Got some free time on your hands this weekend? Want to get outside and help improve fishing in Maryland? The Department of Natural Resources is looking for volunteers to help build 80 artificial reef balls.
It’s part of the Smoots Bay project to increase habitat in the Potomac River and improve the fishery.
“There is definitely some grasses in Smoots Bay, just not as much as there used to be. Not surprisingly, there aren’t as many bass there either,” said Tidal Bass Program Manager Joseph Love, PhD. “Coves, like Smoots Bay, are preferred areas for spawning bass in tidal rivers.”
The reef building will take place at National Harbor Friday through Sunday. It will involve mixing and pouring concrete into fiberglass molds and then pulling the balls out of the mold once the concrete has cured.
To sign up as a volunteer, you can check out the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s web site here.
* Jeff Herman is the assistant news director at WMAR | ABC2. His main passion while not at work is fishing. This column is part of a series of columns he writes for our outdoors page. You can read more of his columns here.
