Wade Bales with Quality Lakes, Inc. out of Bluffton, South Carolina, has been promoting lake mapping as a standard base map for his clients.  Quality Lakes believes that an accurate, up-to-date map of a lake assists in several management areas.  This philosophy helped a client who was trying to comprehend the severity of sedimentation of their prized fishing lake.  Mr. Bales explained that “this impoundment is a popular fishing destination for members of the club.  Many species of marine sportfish, such as redfish and flounder, utilize the impoundment throughout the year.  Two water-control structures provide tidal influence on water volume.  Some years back the dikes were rebuilt using spoil from the impoundment.  It was apparent that siltation has occurred since that time. ”  Managers were contemplating applying for necessary permits to dredge in order to increase the overall average depth for fisheries habitat.  Due to the expense of such a project however, they decided to have the impoundment mapped to provide a baseline depth profile which they could revisit in the future to determine if dredging was truly necessary.  This effort would also identify the deepest areas of the impoundment that may be conducive to aeration.  The resulting map provided the baseline depth profile needed for long-term sedimentation monitoring.  Property Manager, Paul Pyle, agreed, “I think the maps are great. I couldn’t have gotten a better picture of what I normally can’t see.”

More information on Quality Lakes, Inc. can be found at their website: www.qualitylakes.com