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CHARLOTTE— State wildlife officials are hoping to attract more fish to lakes in the Charlotte area.

Volunteers are placing a series of artificial reefs in the lakes. They're hoping to create habitats that will help to keep more fish around. A couple dozen volunteers are spending a few hours of their time to ultimately help a few hundred, and maybe even a few thousand fish. The volunteers are building artificial reefs in Lake Norman, Lake Wylie, and Mountain Island Lake.

"There's not a lot of structure in some of these reservoirs so by creating this reef habitats, it provides the ecosystem, the underwater woody-debris structure that we need," said Tim Gestwicki, executive director, of N.C. Wildlife Federation.

Gestwicki says that between five and 15 attractors will be grouped together. Eventually, algae and plankton will grow on them, providing refuge for fish and drawing more of them to one area. In the past, old Christmas trees were used for the same purpose.

"Instead of a Christmas tree breaking down over time, these keep their dimension and their structure and they're weighted down so that they're not moving," said Gestwicki.

Mark Lancaster owns a few businesses around Lake Norman. He depends on anglers coming back.

"We have a lot of people who come from all over the country that use this lake for tournaments and taking their kids out and having a good time and catching fish," said Lancaster.

The attractors are dropped deep enough so they won't interfere with a boat's path or be dangerous to swimmers. This is the second year wildlife officials have placed the attractors in the region's lakes.