Feltz explained that due to the softness of the lake bottom, hauling this much gravel by truck would have required building temporary roads and many locations would not have been possible to enhance.

“They’re going to be able to move more gravel to more sites in three days than we would be able to move in weeks,” Feltz said. “We’ll be able to do more work closer to shorelines, which will be a little prettier; these will be rough, with no clean borders, but they’re going to be in areas we couldn’t reach otherwise.”

Once the bags are set, AGFC staff will return to the spawning bed sites and spread the gravel by hand to create the beds.

“We looked at using implements mounted to ATVs, but with the amount of stumps, roots and other obstacles, it’s looking like we’re going to be doing everything by hand with rakes in these remote locations,” Feltz said. “Having the helicopters deliver everything during the three-day operation is really going to save a huge amount of time in this process.”

The lakebed will be closed to access during the three-day operation to ensure public safety. Most of the work will be done in the Caney Creek and Pierce Creek arms of the lake, focusing on undeveloped portions of the lake and shoreline.

“This is really just the beginning of the habitat improvements we have planned for Lake Conway during the renovation,” Feltz said. “We also have around 180 to 200 pieces of concrete pipe that we plan to place for fish habitat,” Feltz said. “We had a contracting company donate these to the project, and we’re hoping to have that much more concrete pipe available next year to place as well. We may try to use the helicopter to place some of it if we have time, but most of these concrete structures will need to wait until we refill the lake. Then we can use a habitat barge to sink these structures with less chance of breaking them.”

Feltz also plans to have hundreds of concrete spawning disks poured to help with largemouth bass habitat.

“They’re about the size of a trash can lid and slightly concave,” Feltz said. “You can put about 10 pounds of pea gravel in them and they’re a great substitute for the tires people have placed over the years that we know are not great for the water in the long run. I’m really hoping to be able to distribute some of these disks to anglers who want to volunteer their time and create their own spawning areas in the lake once we get a little further along in the project.”

Lake Conway was built in 1948, and at the time was the largest lake ever constructed by a state wildlife agency. Over the last few years the gates and spillway structure had begun to see failures at an increased rate, and the entire structure had outlived its initial life expectancy. The agency has drawn down the lake to begin major habitat enhancements as well as access improvements such as improved boat ramps and parking at Pierce Creek Access and much needed clearing of up to 30 miles of boat lanes for safer navigation. The spillway will be replaced with a new design that does not need manual operation to accommodate rising lake levels and will last at least another 75 years to continue offering fishing memories for anglers in central Arkansas.

Visit www.agfc.com/lakeconway for more information about this project, the largest lake renovation in the AGFC’s 109-year history.