Vanishing Fish Cover Spawns Business

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — When David King was a kid, he could look across Beaver Lake and see a forest of trees in the water along a favorite bluff .

As an adult he moved away, but returned years later to find most of those fish-holding trees were gone. King discovered the bluff he used to fish held far fewer crappie and black bass without the trees.

Not one to give up, King, who lives at War Eagle Cove on Beaver Lake, started sinking brush and trees in the lake to attract fish. He created his own private honey holes, primarily for crappie.

Sinking whole trees can be rough, dangerous work.

“I almost killed myself. I fell out of the boat one day when the branch of a sinking tree caught my shirt by the back of the neck,” he said.

The incident eventually led King to start his new business, Moss Back Fish Rack Fish Attractors. King, a full-time sales representative, has been selling the plastic fish attractors for about six weeks.

Each is made from a length of 4-inch diameter PVC pipe with plastic V-shaped strips that slide through slits in the 4-inch pipe.

When assembled, it lookslike a tree with a plastic trunk and green artificial branches.

The branch strips are rough in texture to promote algae growth, King said. That attracts bait fish like shad. The bait fish bring in the game fi sh that anglers seek.

Each attractor has a cable that attaches to a concrete block that sinks the attractor. Dock owners can attach the cable to the dock to hang the attractors vertically in the water.

Landowners with ponds don’t need any blocks. King said the attractors sink slowly on their own and will stay put in a pond.

The angler entrepreneur launched his endeavor only weeks ago, but has been building prototype attractors until he was pleased with the design.

King’s fish attractors retail for $79.99. A doublesized model costs $139.99. Concrete blocks aren’t included. He recommends using two blocks at Beaver Lake because current can be strong during fl oods.

Beaver Lake bass and crappie angler JR Ball of Rogers said plastic attractors like King’s have advantages over wood.

For one, lures rarely snag on the plastic.

“You can actually hit the attractor and it slides right off ,” Ball said. “I don’t know what that does to the fish, but if you bump the structure it can get them to bite when they might not,” he said.

For anglers who don’t like to share their hot spots, the plastic attractors don’t show up well on a depth finder. It’s best to mark the location with a GPS.

The attractors come in a slender box that’s easy to transport by boat to a sinksite. Ball said he had one assembled and in the water in 8 minutes.

King’s fish attractors aren’t just for crappie, either. Ball testified they’re havens for black bass, as he’s found competing in tournaments at Beaver Lake.

Sinking natural or artificial fi sh attractors at Beaver Lake is allowed by the Army Corps of Engineers.

George Ann Tabor, a ranger with the corps, said the agency asks anglers to contact the corps office at 479-636-1210 and tell what the attractor is made of and where it will be submerged.

That’s so it won’t be placed in area where it will be a hazard to boaters, she said.