ABSTRACT
The needs of fishes to maintain viable populations are essentially the same as for all other animals; an appropriate environment that includes food, cover and suitable habitat for other life sustaining processes such as spawning. Fishery managers for many years have realized that artificially constructed reefs may provide the needed structural cover and substrate necessary to establish food webs and thus serve to concentrate fish. Although artificial reefs have been used extensively in marine environments to congregate fishes for increased angler opportunities, their use in freshwater systems has been limited. The reef was named after Tom Hamilton, a biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service who was a stimulus for the reef location. A major portion of the lake bottom of Michigan’s lower Great Lakes coastal waters is comprised of sand, devoid of cover and unproductive of fish food. Data from fry traps and observations by divers indicate that several species of fish have successfully spawned on the reef.
