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1. Improve fish habitat by adding natural and artificial structures to the lake.
2. Improve lake productivity and fertility by adding granulated fertilizer to treat 300-400 acres in the upper lake sections.
3. Improve forage by stocking Threadfin shad.
4. Fish habitat improvement through targeted herbicide treatments of invasive hydrilla

• Limited nutrients
• Limited littoral structure
• Nuisance species

• Largemouth Bass, Crappie, walleye

Paintsville Lake was was impounded by the US Army Corps. of Engineers in 1984 by construction of an earthen Dam along Paint Creek in Johnson County Kentucky. Much of the lake was initially full of standing timber, due to age much of that timber is now deteriorating or gone. In 2022 we added 61 pieces of habitat in conjunction with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, those locations were researched thoroughly by local KDFWR biologist Jason Russell through his sampling experience and bottom composition. We installed 10 “Shelbyville Cube” (pvc plastic) structures in one location for experimentation and 51 pallet structures in identified locations throughout the lake, all of these locations were marked with buoys by the KDFWR.

Our plan to continue and expand his project in 2023-2024 is the result of the cooperation of several local entities and a partnership between Anglers For Improving Opportunities and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife. Throughout the past year, local elected officials including Johnson County Judge Executive, State Representative John Blanton, State Representative Bobby Mccool and other elected officials have facilitated several meetings with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Johnson County previously formed a steering committee and one of the main topics gathered through surveys on county residents was improvements at Paintsville Lake. Many feel the lake is the worst it has been in terms of fishing opportunities and expressed this in the surveys. This group has also conducted extensive research including a DNA study, relative weights, water quality samples, and any available data from samples collected by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, this is an angler driven initiative but a cooperation between entities. Recently on Paintsville Lake a $159,000 boardwalk was constructed by the Johnson County Fiscal Court and Casting For Kids. This ramp allows handicapped children to get to the water level to fish and hopefully participate in the kids fishing tournament hosted by Casting For Kids during Free Fishing weekend in June. This tournament can justify our impact in our lake, as the last few years the fish the kids have to weigh is pitiful, with the plans around the new boardwalk and the habitat we hope to add, plus forage we can see the benefits of our work in the kids tournament the first of every June.

On January 9th 2023, leaders of Anglers For Improving Opportunities, Casting For Kids and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife and the US Army Corp of Engineers met at Paintsville Lake to determine the feasibility and specifics of the project. All were in favor of the following details after some clarification and justification of goals, composing the following plan, pending approval of particular locations for habitat improvement. We believe the following multifaceted approach can have a continued positive impact on fish populations in Paintsville Lake. Paintsville Lake currently faces challenges due to deteriorating habitat, a deteriorating forage base and a lack of fertility. These issues are evident when measuring relative weight in bass that were sampled during both the East KY Tournament Trail event and during samples collected over the last several years on Paintsville, the diversity of DNA also illustrates the limiting factors affecting fish growth in Paintsville Lake.

Anglers For Improving Opportunities met twice with the Department of Fish and Wildlife and local elected officials in 2022. From those meetings we pinpointed some variables and issues that we can potentially address as a unified group. Samples from the lake were taken on fish DNA, length and weight to compare relative weights. We found that our general population could benefit greatly from habitat and forage improvement, recommended by every expert who examined our situation. We found our DNA in our largemouth population was already very diverse containing both pure Florida Strain Largemouth and pure Northern Strain Largemouth. These DNA Samples were collected by anglers in conjunction with Fisheries Biologist Steven Bardin and certified by Dr. Peatman at Auburn. The diversity of Largemouth illustrated other limiting factors, habitat enhancement, forage enhancement and fertility. We began to improve habitat with donations of materials and labor in July of 2022 with the help of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife. With the cooperation of the local KDFWR office, our turnaround for habitat improvement was unmatched, we greatly expedited the process with the help of Chris Ferguson and Ferguson Excavating, Chris also runs Casting For Kids and is a member of AFIO. Chris provided a dry garage for the habitat to be constructed and hauled the structure using his telehandler and tractor trailer to Paintsville Lake for deployment. We placed 61 pieces of structure through local donations and with the equipment and personnel provided by the KDFWR. Outside from some screws and block, this project cost our county government and the KDFWR nothing, all of the efforts were supported by donations. We set an initial goal of 500 pieces of habitat over 5 years, our goal is to continue with those efforts in 2023.

We have also gathered water quality data and noticed one alarming fact in that Paintsville Lake has not improved fertility any at all throughout its history, remaining oligotrophic. Paintsville is in a heavily forested wildlife management area, the forest itself is not high quality due to timbering methods a century ago, there isn’t much farming or livestock above the impoundment, and experts agree that the forest consumes most of the available nutrients before they are deposited in the lake water. We also feel through research that some minor Hydrilla control is necessary to protect the lake for the future. We believe through the large reservoir grant that we can potentially address several of these issues and potentially improve fish populations and overall fitness of those fish populations. We believe these efforts will benefit every fish in the lake and eventually lead to more success from anglers. Our county government has plans to monitor this economically and the effects it has on our local economy. The ability of these groups to come together and agree on a plan is a huge step for the conservation effort and anglers in East Kentucky.

1 - Fish Habitat Improvement
In 2023 we hope to add 50 hinge cut trees. The KDFWR will assist in cutting these trees that are located off the main channel away from boat traffic and attaching the cut tree to the remaining stump for safety with synthetic rope. We also want to continue to add 25 more Shelbyville cubes in 2024. Five of the cubes would be placed in front of the Casting For Kids Boardwalk along with 50 of the stump block/corrugated structures pictured below. The bank is a gradual slope in front of the dock and adjustments will be made to these structures, and be modified for this purpose. These structures provide the best weedless structure for those kids to fish. The Casting For Kids Boardwalk is currently under construction and gives handicapped children water level access to fishing opportunities. The cubes cost approximately $150 each and were assembled by volunteers. We plan to continue to add pallet structures, the goal is to add 75 pallet structures in 2024, with a goal of 500 total pieces of structure over 5 years. In 2024 we hope to add 10 stake beds to selected areas throughout the lake. These stakes would be hardwood stakes which cost about $70 for a bundle of 25. We would use 100 stakes per each of the 10 beds.

2 - Fertilizer
Paintsville Lake despite its age has remained oligotrophic, there is very limited agriculture around the lake due to the property in the watershed being USACE owned, and most experts agree the forest probably consumes most of the nutrients available. Our research leads us to believe that the proposed stocking of Threadfin shad would be directly supported by fertilizer increasing the amount of plankton in the water. We plan to focus on particular sections of creek arms, Lost Creek, Little Paint, Upper Sandlick, and Patoker. We hope to focus on improvements in these defined areas with fertilizer, forage and habitat with a goal of studying the effects on our fish populations. The fertilizer would eventually work its way through the system, potentially increasing fertility only slightly throughout the lake. This part of the project will need approval from our local water plant located on the lake (We are currently working on this), we do not anticipate any issues there as we are focusing on a portion of the upper lake only for fertility. This effort will be monitored closely in terms of plankton bloom, and adjustments will be made in following years depending on success.

3 - Forage
One of the major limiting factors affecting growth rates of every species of fish in the lake is the limited forage, through research we believe that the limited forage has a negative effect on mortality in fish in the lake as well. The amount of forage has a direct impact on growth rates, areas of the lake with higher relative weight amongst fish are also noting a higher density of shad. Our research leads us to believe adding 50,000 Threadfin shad in 2023 could potentially be the most beneficial thing we can do to improve fishing opportunities. In 2024 we hope to add 25,000 additional Threadfin to help sustain and establish that population. These efforts will be studied for sustainability, all of this project will be studied from a biological perspective and an economic perspective. Currently Paintsville contains Gizzard Shad only, the addition of Threadfin shad would potentially create multiple shad spawns at differing times throughout the year benefiting fish populations, Threadfin potentially spawn 2-3 times in a season. If Threadfin are stocked and are able to get off a couple of spawns this season, we can potentially have a huge impact on our fishery. Stockings the following years (2025+) will depend on sampling data from the KDFWR. Threadfin were previously stocked by KDFWR in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s in Paintsville Lake, but cold winters and discontinued stockings led to the disappearance of threadfin.

4 - Hydrilla Control
The last part of this project includes targeted Hydrilla control. Hydrilla is invasive and abundant throughout the lake. Hydrilla is probably as responsible for consuming nutrients and potentially limiting fertility due to its ability to store nutrients for extended periods of time (up to 7 years in tubers). We believe this method of targeted treatment could take place around the state park boat ramp, surrounding bank lines and 3-4 habitat improvement sites to prevent spreading the invasive hydrilla. Local biologists suggest this process will need repeated for a few years to be successful. We want to begin working on the lower end of the lake to test the effects on our lake before we move up the lake with treatments. If successful, this process could be replicated throughout the lake and in similar bodies of water. We would use a Fluridone based chemical called SonarOne as recommended by local biologists for treatment of the invasive vegetation. The removal of some hydrilla can significantly improve our lake and our ability to manage it more effectively.

In 2023 we will use other funding sources to get this effort off the ground, just like we did in 2022. The large reservoir grant would be used to sustain the project over time. We hope that hinge cuts can begin as the KDFWR schedule allows. Hinge cutting, per our local fisheries biologist Jason Russell is the quickest and most effective means of creating sustainable habitat. In April we also plan to begin with fertilizer treatments in our creek arms as water temperatures allow. We hope to follow with an initial stocking of Threadfin shad in April or May of 2023. The KDFWR will schedule our habitat improvement day in the summer of 2024 just like last year as it fits their schedule. Last year we footed almost the entire cost of habitat through donations and materials contributed by local businesses and with the cooperation of the KDFWR. We would add an additional 25 plastic cubes and 75 pallet structures, plus 50 hinge cuts, 100 stump corrugated structures, for approximately 250 pieces of habitat in 2024, with annual continuation of this project for 5 years through 2027. Local businesses can contribute more pallets than we need., Wal-Mart and Lowes have 100 or so earmarked for us right now. Local labor from high school fishing teams, local bass clubs and other local citizens as well as the cooperation of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife will ultimately make this project successful. The combination of these efforts will have an immediate impact on our fishery and we believe through our 12 months of extensive research that we can greatly improve angler success ratios, especially for those young handicapped kids who will use the $159,000 Casting For Kids Boardwalk that was specifically designed for them. We found through DNA studies that our largemouth bass population consists mostly of intergrades of Florida strain and Northern strain largemouth bass. We believe after our habitat, forage and fertility work that every fish in the system will benefit from our efforts. Our success will ultimately be measured by relative weights and growth rates improving in our bass population over time. We will also measure success in total tournament weights, and hopefully an increase in fall and spring sample trophy fish from our population by the KDFWR.

Project progress and results will be provided to the public through social media channels associated with AFIO group.
We will begin immediately using our socials to educate our following on the justification for things like hydrilla control. Throughout the past year we have used our socials to educate fisherman on many topics that affect or limit our lakes, we feel this channel on Facebook is very effective as demonstrated by opinions expressed in polls before and after the data that has been collected throughout this process. We also believe this process can have implications on other lakes in Kentucky, the success of these ventures will want to be replicated hopefully by other groups on other bodies of water. We ultimately hope to inspire other groups like ours to work with their local entities to provide donations in time, equipment and materials to support similar efforts.

• We believe we can enhance at least 300-400 acres of Paintsville Lake through habitat/forage/fertility, the Threadfin and fertilizer can potentially improve the entire lake top to bottom. In the beginning we will focus habitat efforts in targeted locations with a bottom that supports our habitat, depth The scope and the potential rewards if successful could be game changing for management strategies for lakes like ours in East Kentucky.

Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources is involved in planning, site selection, staff and equipment participation as well as implementation.

FOR grant dollars will be spent to purchase construction materials for the Shelbyville Cubes, take beads, Corrugated block stump structures, 25,000 Threadfin shad and 195 boxes of fertilizer purchased from American Sportfish (including freight), SonarOne herbicide (+ shipping) and 500 concrete block. All items to be purchased between 04/01/2023 and 12/31/2025.