Image for HABITAT FLASHBACK: MLF Fisheries Management Division headed up habitat project on Kentucky Lake
October 23, 2025 • MLF • Bass Pro Tour

CALVERT CITY, Ky. – Discovery viewers looking forward to the Oct. 25 and Nov. 1 premieres of Bass Pro Tour Stage 5 (7 to 9 a.m. ET) Knockout and Championship rounds can anticipate a showcase for a Kentucky Lake fishery that has surged back to health in recent years.

The day before competition kicked off in early June, the MLF Fisheries Management Division (FMD) partnered for the first time with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources deploy habitat in Kentucky Lake, as part of the Minn Kota Habitat Restoration Program.

On the morning of June 4, Bass Pro Tour anglers Gary Klein and Nick LeBrun joined MLF FMD Director Steven Bardin, MLF staff, KDFWR biologists and First Choice Farm and Lawn Calvert City at the Kentucky Lake Dam State Park. With the assistance of a Kubota SVL75-3 Track Loader, the group constructed 50 MossBack Fish Habitat ReedMats, which were deployed in sites selected by KDFWR. Three of the sites are accessible only by boat and GPS coordinates will be available on the KDFWR website. The other deployment site can be accessed from shore using the ADA Fishing Jetty off of US 641.

 The MossBack ReedMat is made of recycled PVC and provides a long-term stake bed habitat popular with panfish anglers.

This was the fourth Minn Kota Habitat Restoration Project of 2025. The previous projects were at Stage 1 at Lake Conroe, Texas; Stage 3 at Lake Murray, South Carolina; and at Stage 4 at Lake Chickamagua, Tennessee.