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The Innsbrook Fishing was started in 2016 to evaluate, enhance, and promote bass fishing for the Village of Innsbrook including Innsbrook Resort. We have assessed our lakes with electroshock surveys for the last 10 years. These surveys revealed our habitat was lacking so we have focused on installing fish habitats to allow forage fish to grow and provide ambush cover for largemouth bass.

We have installed Mossback Habitats over the last 9 years from funds raised through our non-profit corporation. We are seeking this grant to enhance the amount of cover we can provide in Lake Alpine at 236 acres.

Our catch records, size of largemouth bass, and density of bait fish have improved over the years based upon our electroshock surveys. We survey our lakes each year to develop a plan of action for the next 12 to 24 months.

Members of the fishing club engage in all habitat efforts. This includes high school fishing team members from several schools within close proximity. Our members help organize and build the structures. We have a dedicated pontoon boat for habitat placement which is GPS located for angling success.

The loss of habitat over the years is a significant barrier to improving fishing quality and success. Our prior Mossback structures have been a major success in providing the habitat to rebuild our forage base and allow largemouth bass a location for ambush.

We will install signage along the banks that identify where the structure has been placed. We initiate this program in the last two years and anglers provide data on species caught, catch rates, and fish harvested. Innsbrook Resort provides these signs to the Fishing Club for installation.

Evaluation of installed habitat will be based upon angler self-reported catch records. In addition, electroshock fish surveys will evaluate fish species and densities as compared to prior year studies. We have survey data that goes back to 2017 for comparison.

We are planning three major habitat improvement activities between October 2026 and April 2027. If awarded the Grant, we will include the new habitats in one of our planned work days. All structures would be installed by May 2027.

The project will be organized by the Innsbrook Fishing Club. We will use the Mossbacks to add to existing habitat restoration efforts that have included artificial, natural, brush, and artificial cubes. We have found over the last 9 years that the manufactured artificial provides the best habitat due to the longevity and the design to promote microscope growth which attracts YOY fish species.

We have worked with the Missouri Department of Conservation over the years to electroshock lakes. When this program was discontinued, we engaged Herman Brothers Lake Managers to provide electroshock surveys and habitat recommendations since 2017. We have tried to follow their recommendations based upon our available funding. We have these habitat management plans going back several years and data indication what specific measures we have implemented.

The various fish specifies to benefit from this grant will be largemouth bass, black crappie, bluegill, redear sunfish, and fathead minnows. Our goal is to support a more robust forage base in our lake.

As mentioned above, we will install signage that identifies FOR and Mossback as the key contributors to the habitat efforts. In addition, we have over 1,100 Facebook followers that will see the grant award announcement, photos of habitat construction, and photos of the final installation. We will recognize FOR and Mossback on our Club's website.