But with one event remaining, Peoria angler Eckhold has a chance at winning the Triple Crown — albeit just the Triple Crown of central Illinois ice fishing.

After hooking second-place bluegill and crappie at Lake Camelot’s party two weekends ago, Eckhold landed a 3.44-pound catfish Saturday that was the second largest fish at Wildlife Prairie Park’s inaugural ice tourney.

Now Eckhold heads into this Saturday’s showdown at the Big 25 Club in Victoria looking to continue his streak.

“I’m not looking to lose, that’s for sure. But we got lucky at Lake Camelot and we got lucky here,” said Eckhold, 28, the only angler to place at both events. “Basically we walked as far away from the crowd as we could, drilled a hole and landed on top of a brushpile.”

Getting away from the crowd was no easy task, since 447 anglers turned out — lured by sunny skies and the chance to wet lines in a seldom-fished strip-mine lake.

Those who showed were not disappointed, as there were plenty of hungry fish under the ice. Eckhold and partner Ryan Bill wound up with 200 bluegill, 10 crappie, 4 bass and 4 catfish. Action was similarly good across the hard water, with many hauling out buckets half full of bluegill and crappie, plus an occasional catfish.

“They were biting as soon as we started fishing,” noted Chef Todd, who like most of the competitors fished the lake west of Taylor Road. Chef fished with Shane Stoddard of Brimfield, who was on the ice for the first time. Stoddard managed a nice 1.59-pound catfish, some bluegill and a few decent crappie (below).

The catfish were a surprise to some, though not to those familiar with the lake’s stocking history. The Department of Natural Resources has dumped channel cats in the lake for years to provide a good population for the youngsters who get to fish that lake.

No doubt there were numerous break-offs attributed to those fish. One that didn’t get away went to Roy Bradford of Bushnell. His 4.29-pounder was worth $750 as biggest fish of the tourney and biggest catfish.

Bradford caught his channel cat about 6 inches off the bottom while jigging a Swedish pimple rig tipped with a waxworm. “My ice-fishing buddy Mark loaned me this one,” Bradford said. “I guess I’ll owe him some money now.”

Here’s the rest of the top catfish finishers: 1. Bradford 4.27; 2. Nate Eckhold, Peoria 3.44; 3. Jenna Wieda, Goodfield 3.03; 4. Joe Grzanich 3.02; 5. Jeff Mullins 3.

There were also plenty of fish of more than 2.5 pounds, including the 2.69-pounder modeled by Kristin Shepherd of East Peoria (below) and caught by Chris Woolley.

Beyond that were several other impressive fish, including a pair of largemouth bass that topped the 18-inch minimum. Best was Richard Archdale’s 2.91-pounder, followed by Josh King’s 2.85-pounder (pictured below), which hit on a bright pink two-spot jig and a waxworm. “I had a few different people measure it to make sure it was long enough,” King said.

Because of the large crowd, event organizer Scott Carlson expanded the cash payout to the top three finishers for each species and the two largest fish.

Crappie and bluegill were also plentiful but smaller beyond the 1.99-pound slab crappie caught by David Berry of Brimfield. The best bluegill were a pair of
.46-pounders caught by Darron Birkel of Peoria and 14-year-old Justin Graham of Peoria.

Graham was ice fishing for the first time thanks to neighbor Orville Maxwell, who said he is the boy’s “adopted grandpa.”

“It was pretty fun,” said Graham, pictured below with Maxwell.

The fun continues Saturday at the private Big 25 Club, located 4 miles south of Victoria in strip-mine country. Organizer Tom Reynolds said he is preparing for a crowd of about 200 anglers.

Entry fee is $20 per two-man team, gates open at 7 a.m. and fishing is 8 a.m. to noon. Cash prizes will be paid to the top five finishers based on total weight of all bluegill and crappie. Minnows are not allowed.

“Our goal is not to sell memberships or to impress the public. We want to harvest fish,” Reynolds said. “If someone gets into them, we want them to keep going.

“We’ve got a nice population of 9- to 12-inch crappie in one lake and bluegill up to a pound.”

Given the hilly roads leading to the club and expectations of snow, Reynolds advises participants to arrive in four-wheel drive vehicles.

Snow or no snow, Eckhold and partner Bill will be there.

“We’ve got a special bait we call the Camy special,” Eckhold said. “It works on everything.”

The plan falls short of closing the navigational structures entirely, as demanded by Michigan and five other Great Lakes states. They fear the locks will provide an opening to the lakes for the giant carp, which some scientists say could devastate the region’s $7 billion fishing industry.

But the Obama administration described the plan as part of an effective strategy for keeping the invaders at bay while long-term biological controls are developed.

The government said it would spend $78.5 million and take 25 actions to slow the advance of the carp, which can reach 4 feet long and 100 pounds.

Invasive species have hammered the Great Lakes for decades and the Asian carp threatens to be particularly damaging, Nancy Sutley , head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said after talks with several governors from the region. “Today, we have an opportunity to work together to prevent environmental and economic damage before it happens,” she said.

Bighead and silver carp, Asian species imported to cleanse fish farms and sewage plants in the Deep South, have been migrating up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers for decades. They have infested rivers and canals near Chicago, and their DNA has been detected in Lake Michigan itself.

The Supreme Court last month refused Michigan’s request to order the locks and gates closed, a move opposed by the Obama administration and Illinois. They argue that closing the locks would cause millions in losses for barge operators and could lead to flooding.

Michigan last week asked the high court to reconsider and is pushing ahead with a separate lawsuit that calls for permanently severing the century-old, man-made linkage between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins. Joining Michigan in the dispute are Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The Obama administration’s strategy, announced Monday, calls for modifying operations of the navigational structures by April 30. It says four scenarios are being considered, including opening two primary locks for just three or four days a week, or closing the locks one week per month or every other week. Another option is continuing to operate them normally.

Officials said a $10.5 million contract will be awarded to build a third electric barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, a crucial link with Lake Michigan. The two existing barriers emit pulses designed to repel the carp and give them a non-lethal jolt if they don’t turn away.

Also pledged was $13.2 million for construction of barriers to prevent the carp from bypassing the electric devices by slipping into the canal from the adjacent Des Plaines River during flooding.

An additional $9.5 million will be spent to promote commercial fishing of carp, research chemical treatments to kill off the carp if the electric barriers fail, and study other control techniques such as preventing carp from spawning or developing poisons that would kill the carp but not other fish.

Agencies also will speed up their analysis of DNA samples and continue exploring the waterways in hopes of determining whether Asian carp have actually gotten past the electric barriers - and if so, how many.

The carp battle involves the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the navigational structures; the Environmental Protection Agency; the Fish and Wildlife Service; and the Coast Guard. State and local agencies also are taking part.

A total of 226 teams are entered this year. Sectionals are April 23 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The finals will again be held at Carlyle Lake on May 7-8. Click here to see more information. Better yet, click here to see the Web site.

Argyle Lake Sectional (12)

Aledo (Mercer County)
Alexis (United)
Astoria
Camp Point (Central)
Carthage (Illini West)
Cuba
Galva
Knoxville
Moline (H.S.)
Port Byron (Riverdale)
Sciota (West Prairie)
Warsaw

Banner Marsh Sectional (13)

Bartonville (Limestone)
Canton
Chillicothe (Illinois Valley Central)
Dunlap
East Peoria
Elmwood
Farmington
Glasford (Illini Bluffs)
Pekin
Peoria (P. Christian)
Peoria (Richwoods)
Peoria (Woodruff)
Tremont

Busse Woods Reservoir Sectional (10)

Arlington Heights (St. Viator)
Carol Stream (Glenbard North)
Des Plaines (Maine West)
Elmhurst (Immaculate Conception)
Elmhurst (York)
Maywood (Proviso East)
Mt. Prospect (Prospect)
Roselle (Lake Park)
Wheaton (St. Francis)
Wheaton (W. Warrenville South)

Chain O’Lakes #1 Sectional (13)

Arlington Heights (Hersey)
Barrington
Buffalo Grove
Crystal Lake (Prairie Ridge)
Crystal Lake (South)
Deerfield
Elgin (St. Edward)
Lincolnshire (Stevenson)
McHenry
Streamwood
Vernon Hills
Wauconda
Wheeling

Chain O’Lakes #2 Sectional (13)

Antioch
Fox Lake (Grant)
Grayslake (North)
Gurnee (Warren)
Hebron (Alden-H.)
Johnsburg
Lake Villa (Lakes)
Libertyville
Richmond (R.-Burton)
Waukegan (H.S.)
Woodstock (H.S.)
Woodstock (Marian)
Zion (Z.-Benton)

Clinton Lake Sectional (12)

Argenta (A.-Oreana)
Bismarck (B.-Henning)
Champaign (Centennial)
Champaign (St. Thomas More)
Clinton
DeLand (D.-Weldon)
Fisher
Gibson City (G.C.-Melvin-Sibley)
Maroa (M.-Forsyth)
Monticello
St. Joseph (S.J.-Ogden)
Tolono (Unity)

Coffeen Lake Sectional (13)

Alton (Marquette)
Breese (Mater Dei)
Bunker Hill
Dupo
Edwardsville (H.S.)
Edwardsville (Metro-East Lutheran)
Highland
Lebanon
Mt. Olive
Okawville
Pinckneyville
Waterloo (Gibault Catholic)
Waterloo (H.S.)

Evergreen Lake Sectional (13)

El Paso (E.P.-Gridley)
Eureka
Mackinaw (Deer Creek-M.)
Metamora
Minonk (Fieldcrest)
Morton
Normal (Community West)
Normal (Community)
Pontiac
Roanoke (R.-Benson)
Varna (Midland)
Washburn (Lowpoint-W.)
Washington

Forbes Lake Sectional (13)

Carlyle
Coulterville
Effingham (St. Anthony)
Fairfield
Farina (South Central)
Flora
Louisville (North Clay)
Newton
Salem
Teutopolis
Waltonville
Wayne City
Woodlawn

Heidecke Lake Sectional (12)

Joliet (Twp.)
Minooka
Morris
Naperville (Central)
Naperville (North)
New Lenox (Providence Catholic)
Oswego (East)
Oswego (H.S.)
Plainfield (Central)
Plainfield (South)
Romeoville (H.S.)
Serena

Lake Egypt Sectional (13)

Anna (A.-Jonesboro)
Benton
Carrier Mills (C.M.-Stonefort)
Elkville (Elverado)
Goreville
Herrin (H.S.)
Johnston City
Marion (Crab Orchard)
Marion (H.S.)
Murphysboro
Tamms (Egyptian)
West Frankfort (Frankfort)
Wolf Lake (Shawnee)

Lake Shelbyville Sectional (13)

Atwood (A.-Hammond)
Bement
Bethany (Okaw Valley)
Cerro Gordo
Decatur (Eisenhower)
Georgetown (G.-Ridge Farm)
Macon (Meridian)
Mt. Zion
Paris
Robinson
Shelbyville
Sidell (Jamaica)
Sullivan

LaSalle Lake Sectional (12)

Bradley (B.-Bourbonnais)
Braidwood (Reed-Custer)
Coal City
Earlville
Kankakee (McNamara)
Manlius (Bureau Valley)
Rock Falls
Seneca
Sterling (H.S.)
Sterling (Newman Central Catholic)
Streator (Twp.)
Streator (Woodland)

Pierce Lake Sectional (12)

Byron
DeKalb
Genoa (G.-Kingston)
Huntley
Marengo
Oregon
Poplar Grove (North Boone)
Rochelle
Rockford (Boylan)
Rockton (Hononegah)
South Beloit
Sycamore (H.S.)

Sangchris Lake Sectional (12)

Ashland (A-C Central)
Athens
Beardstown
Buffalo (Tri-City)
Edinburg
Mason City (Illini Central)
Riverton
Rushville (R.-Industry)
Springfield (H.S.)
Springfield (Lutheran)
Virden
White Hall (North Greene)

Shabbona Lake Sectional (11)

Aurora (A. Christian)
Aurora (Illinois Math and Science Academy)
Aurora (Marmion Academy)
Bartlett
Batavia
Geneva
Sandwich
Shabbona (Indian Creek)
St. Charles (East)
St. Charles (North)
West Chicago (Wheaton Academy)

Skokie Lagoons Sectional (10)

Chicago (Holy Trinity)
Chicago (St. Gregory)
Chicago (St. Ignatius College Prep)
Chicago (St. Patrick)
Chicago (Taft)
Oak Park (Fenwick)
Skokie (Niles North)
Wilmette (Loyola Academy)
Wilmette (Regina Dominican)
Winnetka (New Trier)

Tampier Lake Sectional (10)

Burbank (Reavis)
Darien (Hinsdale South)
Downers Grove (North)
Hinsdale (Central)
LaGrange (Lyons)
Lemont (H.S.)
Lisle (Benet Academy)
Palos Hills (Stagg)
Summit (Argo)
Westmont

Wolf Lake Sectional (12)

Chicago (Brother Rice)
Chicago (De La Salle)
Chicago (Harlan)
Chicago (Marist)
Chicago (Mt. Carmel)
Chicago (Simeon)
Chicago (St. Rita)
Chicago Heights (Bloom Twp.)
Grant Park
Oak Lawn (Community)
Orland Park (Sandburg)
Tinley Park (Andrew)

Lake Sangchris, Christian County (2,321 acres)

The Lake Sangchris bass population remains stable but not quite where I would like it to be.  There are excellent numbers but their body conditions are still a concern.  Those fish in mid-range sizes, 10”-15”, are not as heavy as they should be.  For one thing the gizzard and threadfin shad that provide forage for all predatory species in the lake do not spawn as well as I would like to see, so the food base is not there.  And secondly, the bass spawn is typically very high so there are lots of bass to feed.  For that reason, beginning in the Spring of 2008 I implemented a special regulation that allows that angler to take one bass over 15” and two bass under 15” home per day.  This limit does two things.  It reduces the numbers under 15” so those bass that are left will have more food and addresses another problem I see on the lake; by limiting the harvest of bass over 15” to one per day, there should be an increase the numbers of larger fish.  Lake Sangchris used to produce more 4+ pound fish than it does now.  I will leave that regulation on for as long as necessary to change the bass population structure and improve their body conditions. 
On a very positive note, I picked up more crappie in the Fall 2009 fish population survey than I have in 20+ years.  I have stocked from the on-site nursery pond nearly 150,000 fingerling crappie since the Fall of 2004 and I believe they are finally having an impact, not so much by providing fish to the angler but by maintaining their numbers at a high enough level to get off a natural in-lake spawn.  The white crappie numbers were better than the black, with fish ranging from 6”-13”, while most of the blacks were sublegal, ranging from 6”-9”.  Most of the black crappie were the “famous” blacknosed crappie.  Those are the crappie that originally came from Arkansas in a trade in 1985.  Those fish have taken on quite a reputation for being hard fighters and very heavy-bodied.  Anglers lover them, so much so that I have also stocked them in Lake Springfield (I will discuss them later).  They have also been stocked in Clinton Lake and Kinkaid Lake in southern Illinois.  Since I am talking about the blacknosed crappie I should point out that I drained the crappie rearing pond in November and stocked from it 18,000 blacknosed crappie.  While not as many as I usually get from the pond, they averaged 7.2” so most will survive in the lake.  So the crappie are doing very well and should continue for years to come.
The striped bass still are not doing as well, at least in size, as I would like.  We began the striped bass program in 1983 stocking 10 fingerlings per acre of water every other year.  By 1988 there were 18 pound fish in the lake.  By 1994 the state record 31+ pounder was caught and many over 20 pounds were taken.  The numbers of large fish of that size has declined this past decade but overall their numbers are up.  In fact, the 2009 survey was the third best I’ve had for numbers of fish collected per net,  However the largest I weighed was only 11 pounds.  There is a very strong year class ranging from 5-8 pounds.  Those fish were collected last Spring, so they have had another growing season and should average about three pounds above that now.  A very nice sized fish but not what the devoted striper anglers would like to catch.
The lake produces excellent numbers of channel and flathead catfish.  The largest flathead catfish I ever seen in a survey was weighed a few years ago.  It was over 65 pounds and good numbers over 20 are taken every year.  The channel cats are doing much better now than in the early years of the lake when they were overpopulated and “stunted”.  Stunting is a condition where there are too many and not enough food to go around so their growth rates, for all practical purposes, stop.  Today 3-5 pound channel cats are quite common.  So the lake looks very good for both species.
Finally, I hear reports of good white bass from time to time but I seldom see any in the surveys so there is little I can say about them.  The lake was very good for white bass in its early years but has dropped off due to poor spawns.  I expect that population to remain sporadic with an occasional good year or two with several years of poor fishing in between.

Lake Springfield, Sangamon County (4,234 acres)

The largemouth bass population continues to be one of the better populations in the state.  Excellent numbers and body conditions are found in the bass in the lake.  For example, in the past 15 annual surveys we have collected over 100 bass per hour of electrofishing which is very high for a lake of this size, maybe the best in the state.  Also as an example, the statewide average weight for a 15” bass is 1.75 pounds.  In Lake Springfield a 15” bass average 2.25 pounds, nearly 30% above the average.  This holds true for all sizes of bass.  All of this due to excellent spawns and an excellent forage base, primarily in the form of gizzard and threadfin shad.  The only downside to the bass population is the apparent lack of large, 4+ pound fish.  I say apparent because I seldom get any fish over 18” in length but the bass fishermen have begun taking very large fish.  I received pictures of an 8.5 and 7.3 pound bass taken in an early Spring tournament.  In addition, within the past two weeks I saw pictures of two more bass over 7 pounds caught in November.  So anglers are beginning to catch larger fish early and later in the year.

The crappie population continues its rebound.  The lake had an excellent white crappie population throughout the 80’s but nearly disappeared in the 90’s.  In an attempt to recover the crappie I began using a six acre nursery pond just south of town to raise crappie in.  Several adult male and female crappies are stocked in the Spring.  They spawn and the young grow, predator free for two years at which time I drain the pond and remove the young crappie to the lake.  I’ve done that three times now for Lake Springfield.  In the Fall of 2004 we stocked 42,000, 5.2” white crappie from the pond into the lake.  In the Fall of 2006 we drained the pond and took nearly 77,000, 4.2” black crappie with the distinctive black stripe running from just under their chin, across the mouth, between the eyes and up the spine, from the pond and stocked them in to the lake.  We picked up an incredible 271 of those special “blacknosed” crappie in the Fall 2007 survey.  The blacknosed are now reproducing naturally in the lake with many in the 5”-6” range collected in our surveys.  The 2008 nursery pond produced only 14,000 white crappie for stocking.  As you can see, those numbers were not as good as previous years but the fish averaged 5.6” so they were not as vulnerable to bass predation as a smaller fish would be.  The crappie appear to be coming back nicely not to the levels I would like yet but we hope to keep this up.  The nursery pond will be drained in November of 2010 and the blacknosed crappie now in it will be stocked into the lake to keep that population going. 
   
Walleye were initially stocked in 1988 and did very well in their early years.  By 1994 there was an excellent population.  That population began dropping off in the late 90’s and into the early past decade even though the stocking program remained exactly the same.  I decided to try stocking their cousin, the native sauger, in 2003.  They are more acclimated to our climate and waters in central Illinois.  There hasn’t been much success with them.  Their population would, to date, would be rated only fair.  I hear of some being caught, especially this time of the year.  They concentrate to feed on the shad in the hot-water area of the lake.  However, I haven’t collected even one in the past three years, so they can’t be doing very well.  The program may be discontinued.  I hate to burden our, already over-taxed, hatcheries for no apparent reason.
   
The channel catfish and flathead catfish populations remain near the top in the state and have so for decades.  Numerous channel catfish are caught annually ranging from 1-10 pounds.  Flatheads range from 1 pound to 50 pounds.  For the state fair display this year I managed to get a fish that weighed nearly 60 pounds, so big fish are quite common in the lake.  And there is excellent spawning and recruitment.  We see numerous small flatheads in our surveys, which bodes well for the future. 
   
In the late Winter of 2005-06, with the help of the Lake Springfield Catfish Club, we began a blue catfish stocking program.  Blue cats are a species of large catfish that are found in the Mississippi, Ohio and Illinois Rivers.  The Springfield Club held tournaments near Alton on the Mississippi and brought back in their livewells blue cats for stocking into the lake.  From January 2005- April 2005 they stocked 137 blue cats ranging in size from 3-57 pounds.  They appear to be doing well in the lake, with a 70+ pounder caught this past Fall.  To date there are no signs of reproduction and that’s what interests me.  I don’t know if they will spawn.  If so, great, if not, those already stocked will do very well and provide a fishery for a very large catfish.  The current world record for blue cats is 124 pounds, so they do get big.  It was caught in the Mississippi River near Alton, IL.  In early 2010 the Catfish Club, with the help of CWLP and the IDNR, will stock several thousand dollars worth of blue cats from hatcheries to maintain the fishery that’s been created.
   
The white bass remain very good.  The numbers may be down a little but high quality fish (>14”) are present.
   
The bluegill population is still very good with large numbers of very fat fish found in the rip-rap along the highway and railroad bridges.
   

Lake Taylorville, Christian County (1,286 acres)

The Lake Taylorville largemouth bass population remains quite strong although the Fall 2009 survey was not as good as the previous three years.  This was probably due to the late survey in the last week of October when the water temperatures had dropped and the weather conditions were poor.  Good numbers, of 88 bass per hour, were collected but only 5% were over 15” and 1% over 18”.  The numbers of larger fish were down but again, the weather probably moved the larger fish off shore making electrofishing difficult.  As with Lake Springfield, the bass are in excellent body condition due to the strong gizzard shad forage base. 
The crappies continue to be the big draw to this lake.  For years now the crappies have been excellent.  The population has both excellent total numbers and is especially good numbers of fish over 10”.  The crappie population would have to be rated the best in central Illinois but this is not a large lake so it cannot take a great deal of fishing pressure. 
The channel catfish are excellent too, both in numbers and size structure.

Beginning in the Winter of 2005-06 commercial fishermen began a bigmouth buffalo harvest program.  These buffalo are captured live and shipped live to the markets in New York.  The first year harvest yield was 60,000 pounds of live buffalo.  That number dropped significantly in 2007 but as long as the fish are free from contamination and the commercial fishermen want them, the program will continue.

Jim Edgar/Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area

Prairie Lake, Cass County (210 acres)

Prairie Lake, one of the new lakes built on the old Commonwealth Edison ground known as Site M, remains a very good largemouth bass lake.  It was excellent a few years after the initial stocking but it is hard to maintain that very high level.  The initial bass year class moved through the fishery providing excellent fishing in 2003-2006 but those old fish are gone now.  The Spring 2009 survey revealed a very good bass population.  Eighty-eight bass were collected per hour with 82% over 15” and 12% over 18”, so large bass are still prevalent in the lake.  I’m a little concerned about the apparent lack of small fish but we have seen population structure indices that look like this for years so the smaller fish must be there just not susceptible to our electrofishing.  In the Fall of 2009 the on-site nursery pond was drained and 720 smallmouth bass were stocked into the lake from it.  Those numbers are not what I had hoped for but the fish averaged 9.2” so their survival should be excellent.  In 2010 I will continued to raise the “smallies” in the nursery pond and will also supplement their numbers by stocking fingerlings from our hatchery.  I hope to build up their numbers within three years to provide and additional species for the bass anglers.  They probably won’t reproduce naturally so they will always need to be stocked.
The muskies are doing well.  The 2009 survey was the best to date so far as number of fish collected per hour of electrofishing.  The largest was only 41.5” long however.  I have reports of fish over 50” being caught but I haven’t seen anything approaching that yet.  We will continue the current stocking regime of 200- 10” fingerlings every other year to maintain that fishery.
The channel catfish are excellent, in numbers, population size structure and body conditions.  The bluegill and redear sunfish are not good at all and probably never will be for reasons to long to go into in this forum.  For large bluegill and redear sunfish go to Drake and Gridley lakes. 

The lake is open to boats with motors over 10hp but there is a lake-wide no wake zone. For those boats with 10hp motors or less, they can operate full throttle if desired.  There is a concrete ramp, parking lot, restroom, handicapped fishing pier, playground, pavilion, camping area including rental cabins, docks near the campgrounds and a 17 mile hiking trail around its perimeter.

Gridley Lake, JEPCSFWA, Cass County (25 acres)

I’m not very happy with this lake.  It started out pretty much textbook in 1997 when it was first stocked.  After a couple of years the bluegill and redear sunfish were very good-to-excellent.  The bass and channel catfish were very good as well.  Over the past several years however things have been falling off.  The largemouth bass are stunted (stopped growing due to high density), which is not good for the bass angler who wants large fish, but having such high densities creates heavy predation on the sunfish(bluegill and redear) keeping them thinned out.  By thinning out the sunfish population those not eaten by the bass have more food and space so their growth rates improve.  In a nutshell, lots of skinny little bass mean big bluegill and redear sunfish which is the management goal of this lake.  The bass are stunted as desired but we are not seeing the large bluegill and redear we should.  In the Spring 2009 survey we collected some redear up to 9.5” and a handful of bluegill 7” long.  So things aren’t as good as we would like. 

The channel catfish population is very good. 

Gridley Lake has a handicapped fishing pier, concrete ramp, rest rooms and parking lot and a walking path around the entire lake for bank access.  No gas motors, only electric trolling motors are allowed

Drake Lake, JEPCSFWA, Cass County (35 acres)

Drake Lake, the last lake built on the site, is progressing as expected.  It, like Gridley Lake, is being managed for large sunfish (redear and bluegill).  The largest redear collected in the Spring 2009 survey were nearly 10” and the largest bluegill were about 9”, so they look good.  The bass started out great but growth rates are starting to slow indicating an overpopulation.  As mentioned in the Gridley Lake narrative, stunted bass lead to high quality pan fish so with a little luck we should get there.  Drake Lake is, in my mind, the prettiest of the lakes on the site.  It is completely surrounded by mature hardwoods.  It has developed a severe underwater vegetation infestation.  I will treat that with herbicide but it will still be hard to control.  Fish this lake in the Spring for the big panfish.  There is a 10 fish per day limit on bluegill and redear.  It too has a concrete ramp, rest rooms and parking lot.  No gas motors, only electric trolling motors are allowed.

Gurney Road Pond, JEPCSFWA, Cass County (1.5 acres)

 
The Gurney Road Pond has a catchable trout program in the Spring at this site.  The first Saturday of April at 5:00 am the pond will be open to trout fishing.  An Inland Trout Stamp is required of all licensed anglers.  There are also some bluegill, largemouth bass and channel catfish in the pond and can be caught anytime.
 
The IDNR Heavy Equipment Crew renovated several of the ponds on the site during the Winters of 1999-2001.  Because the fish populations in most of those were out-of-balance or had undesirable fish species, i.e. carp bullheads they were eradicated and restocked.  Those ponds completed and fishable are: Geiss Road Pond, Gridley Road Pond, North Bike Trail Pond, Philadelphia Road Pond, Otter Pond, Bullfrog Pond, South Highway 11 Pond, Edward Lane Pond, Painter Pond and Herrmann Road Pond.  For more information on pond location contact the site office.

Chautauqua U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuge, Mason County (1,200 acres)

Management of this site has taken a new direction.  If you have any questions about Lake Chautauqua contact me for up-to-date information.

Lake Jacksonville, Morgan county (475 acres)

I had always included Lake Jacksonville in my report since I had the lake for 20+ years but seven years ago the Division of Fisheries realigned the districts and I no longer have Morgan county.  The biologist that now manages Lakes Jacksonville, Waverly and Mauvaise Terre is Mike Jones in our Pittsfield office.  For more information on the lakes in Morgan county, please contact him at 217.285.2221.  I will say, in a nutshell, Lake Jacksonville has a excellent bass population.  It remains one of the best in the state, although changes in the amount of underwater vegetation from the preferred coontail to the invasive species, Eurasian milfoil, appear to be impacting the bass.  The city of Jacksonville has hired an aquatic applicator to treat the milfoil and they are making every effort to fight it.  Excellent total numbers and excellent numbers of bass over 4 pounds remain.  The white crappie population is coming on nicely as well.  And as with nearly all the lakes in the state, the channel catfish are excellent.

Gillespie New City Reservoir, Macoupin county (~200 acres)

This lake is not in my district but I worked with Jeff Pontnack.  It may well be THE best largemouth bass lake in the state and has been that way for years.

Coffeen Lake, Montgomery county (1,100 acres)

This is one of the best largemouth bass lakes in the state.  Excellent crappie and striped bass too.

Other smaller lakes

The following lakes are minor public lakes in my district that might be of local interest.

Virginia City Reservoir, Cass County(18 acres)

This small lake in Cass County was drained, killed out and then re-stocked with bluegill, redear sunfish and channel catfish fingerlings in the Fall of 2007.  The largemouth bass will be released into the lake in late June of 2008.  Based on the 2009 survey, the lake is progressing very well. Fishing should be good-excellent in a year or two.  Fish grow quickly in new lake situations. 

Ashland New and Old City Reservoirs, Cass County (10 and 5 acres respectively)

Largemouth bass- High density, no size

Bluegill- Good-to-excellent.  New reservoir- The largest and most I’ve seen on the lake in 22 years since the complete rehabilitation.  Up to 8.5”

Redear sunfish- Very good-to-excellent.  New reservoir-Same as the bluegill.  Up to 11”

Channel catfish- Very Good

A new sunfish regulation allowing for only 10 per day went into effect April 1, 2008 on the New Reservoir only.

IDOT Lake, Sangamon County (17 acres)

Largemouth bass-Excellent.  Surprisingly, one of the best you’ll find anywhere.

Channel catfish- Good

Bluegill- Above average

Rainbow trout- Begins the first Saturday in April and the third Saturday in October at 5:00 am. 

Washington Park Pond, Sangamon County (1 acre)

Rainbow trout- Begins the first Saturday in April and the third Saturday in October at 5:00 am.

Hybrid sunfish, channel catfish and bullheads- In association with the Springfield Park District the IDNR has been conducting an Urban Fishing Program for kids at this small pond since 1996.  From mid-June through mid-August the pond will be stocked weekly with bullheads, hybrid sunfish and channel cats.  The Kid’s Fishing Clinics are held in the morning but the general public is allowed to catch these fish at any time.  For more information contact my office or the Springfield Park District 217/ 544-1751.

Loami City Reservoir, Sangamon County (10 acres)

Largemouth bass- Average

Channel catfish- Average

Bluegill- Average

Mt. Pulaski Township Park District Lake, Logan County (21 acres)

The fish population (bass, bluegill and redear sunfish) would be considered below average. The bass are not great but they are the best I’ve seen since the IDNR took over management of the lake but the sunfish species are not very good.  We did see a few 8” redear in the Spring 2009 survey however.  The maximum depth of the lake is only 6 feet and there have been a couple of Summer kills on it, so there is really very little we can do.  We will continue to treat the nuisance aquatic vegetation and stock it with non-vulnerable size channel catfish to provide angling opportunities.  It makes a nice little fishery for the locals and kids.

Kincaid City Reservoir, Christian County (31 acres)

There is a slightly above average bluegill population and a below average bass fishery.  The IDNR stocks non-vulnerable (8”-10”) channel catfish to create a fishery for that species.  A (very) few nice crappie are caught each year too. A significant fish kill took place in May of 2009 that took its toll too so the lake is not where it should be but does provide a fishery for the local population. Overall a below average fishing lake.

Lake Williamsville, Sangamon County (17 acres)

Largemouth bass- High density, no size

Bluegill- Good- very good

Channel catfish- very good  

Taylorville Park District pond, Manner’s Park, Christian County (2 acres)

This pond provides a little fishing for the local area, especially for kids.  There are bass, bluegill and channel catfish.  In addition there are Spring and Fall rainbow trout seasons.  Trout fishing begins at 5a on the first Saturday in April and the third Saturday of October. Harvesting trout two weeks prior to those dates is illegal.  Licensed anglers must have an Inland Trout Fishing Stamp.  There is a five trout per day limit.

The annual Lake Camelot ice fishing tournament saw a smaller crowd than usual (272 adults, 21 youngsters) but more fish than last year.

Several anglers weighing fish said this was their best year on the frozen waters of Lake Camelot and Lake Lancelot, which offered between 6-8 inches of good ice.

Crappie bit well on the cold, sunny day. So did bass. And while bluegill were not as abundant as usual, the winning weight of 1.93 pounds by Ty Heberer of Green Valley was certainly respectable.

“We were fishing about 12 feet deep right off the bottom and caught most of them by 9 a.m.,” Heberer said. “And I’ll tell you our secret if you don’t tell anybody. We keep our waxworms in our mouths to keep them warm.”

Not really. But fun and games is part of ice fishing—even in such a serious event as the first leg of the Triple Crown.

With that in mind, here are those skillful anglers still alive to compete for the coveted title as Triple Crown winner.

Bluegill (best 3)
1.93—Ty Heberer
1.89—Nate Eckhold
1.74—Mark Miller

Crappie
1.01—Adam Fess
.99—Jimmy Golden
.97—Aaron McClanahan

Catfish
2.42—Landon Dunbar

Youth
1.25—Savanna Cooling (pictured above)
1.09—Andrew Kubolt
1.04—Ben Meinders (pictured below)

Bass
2.84—Jim Hayden, Peoria
2.39—Ralph Carmichael, Peoria Heights
2.36—John Hughes, Washington (pictured below)

The last category was the most exciting, as Hayden’s fish was at first improperly recorded. During the prize presentation, Carmichael was at first announced as the winner before Hayden produced his fish for a second weighing and order was restored.

“I’ve been coming here for years. I’ve got drunk and just about beat up and now they are taking my money back,” a laughing Carmichael said. “Oh well.”

Hayden was so unfazed by the whole turn of events that he donated half his winnings back to the Lake Camelot Sportsman’s club.

“That bass was the first fish that came out of our hole this morning,” he said. “He spit the lure out and was headed back to the hole and my buddy (Rich Bowles of Peoria) raked him back out.”

Next up for Peoria-area ice anglers is Saturday’s event at Wildlife Prairie State Park. Here are details.

Wildlife Prairie Park tournament

Action continues Saturday at Wildlife Prairie State Park, beginning at 8 a.m. at the 10-acre lake located across Taylor Road from the entrance to the park.

This will be the first opportunity for ice fishing at the Park since the fishing lakes were open to the public. This particular lake, which runs behind the Parkside Pavilion, is well-stocked with Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Black Crappie, Bluegill and Redear Sunfish and is rarely open for public fishing.

Scott Carlson, tournament coordinator remarked “we are hopeful that this event will renew public awareness of the Park’s recreational features available to them every day.” Future tournaments are expected to follow in the spring and fall.

Registration is now $16 per person 16 and over and $5 for ages 15 and under.

Carlson said cash prizes will be awarded for:

largest fish overall;
largest bluegill;
largest crappie;
largest bass;
largest catfish;
largest other fish (if any others are weighed-in).

Prizes will also be awarded for:

largest two fish caught by youngsters age 15 and under;
youngest to catch a fish;
oldest to catch a fish;
largest fish caught by a woman;
farthest traveledto compete and catch a fish.

Concessions will also be available throughout the tournament.

For more details or additional information please call the park at (309) 676-0998 or click here.

That’s particularly true at Lake Camelot, which for the past 30 years has held the area’s biggest ice fishing party — I mean tournament.

Actually, it’s hard not to view ice fishing as a party. And few places have more fun on the hard water than Camelot, which on Saturday will attract several hundred revelers to the subdivision southwest of Peoria off Lancaster Road.

After a few worried days last weekend, when temperatures soared and rain and wind melted ice, conditions have improved. Edges that opened at Lake Camelot and Lake Lancelot are frozen closed again. Participants can expect to drill through 7-8 inches Saturday during the competition, which runs 7 a.m. to noon.

Sign-ups start tonight from 6-9 p.m. and then again Saturday starting at 6 a.m. at the Lake Camelot clubhouse. Cost is $7 for adults, $4 for children 12 and under. Bait will be sold and cash prizes are awarded.

Unlike most years, though, Camelot is not a standalone event thanks to two other tournaments on the winter schedule.

First is an event at Wildlife Prairie State Park on Feb. 6.

Then comes a tournament on Feb. 13 at the Big 25 Club near Victoria.

This has created an intriguing scenario. With three consecutive tournaments, we’ve got the potential for a Triple Crown of local ice fishing.

Why? Well there seems to be a Triple Crown of just about everything else from surfing to horse racing.

And this fall Disney is going to release a new movie about Secretariat, the greatest Triple Crown winner of all time. The movie has me so jacked up that I regularly watch YouTube clips of Big Red’s Belmont win in 1973. If that amazing race doesn’t get your spine tingling nothing will.

Now this is not to suggest that winning three ice fishing tournaments can approximate the impact or accomplishment of Secretariat.

But it’s cold out. We need to invent ways to have fun and to beat living room fever.

Offering a prize for anyone who wins — or even places — in all three events is an attempt to make frigid temperatures enjoyable.

To place at Camelot means a top-three finish in any of the different species categories. Placing at Prairie Park requires a top-five finish in terms of big fish. Placing at the Big 25 will be toughest of all: A top-three finish in total weight.

Pull that off and we’ll lavish praise on you as our Triple Crown winner and set you up with some nice prizes. Who knows? You might even get your own YouTube moment.

Securing the money was among several steps agreed on by lawmakers from the Great Lakes region during a meeting Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, who hosted the session, tells The Associated Press the bipartisan group did not resolve a disagreement over whether to close shipping locks and gates at Chicago that could give the carp a pathway to Lake Michigan.

Several states are suing to close the locks, which Illinois officials and the Obama administration oppose.

But Durbin says the lawmakers endorsed other measures, including working with the Army Corps of Engineers to strengthen an electronic barrier on Chicago-area waterways.

Tens of thousands of sport fish were lost in the Rock River fish kill event first reported on June 20-21, 2009.  At that time, dead fish were discovered in the Rock River in an area from two miles north of Grand Detour to 50 miles downstream at Prophetstown.

The IDNR stocked the river with smallmouth bass and northern pike last summer and channel catfish last fall in the aftermath of the fish kill.

“At a recent meeting of area anglers, we again heard loud and clear how important the Rock River fishery is to them and to all of those who enjoy fishing from throughout the region,” said Dan Sallee, regional administrator for the IDNR Division of Fisheries. “The Rock River fishery is very important to the local anglers and to the communities along the river.  Although the fishery is expected to fully recover, the public would like to see all possible efforts made to speed this recovery.”
 
IDNR fisheries biologists this spring plan to collect and relocate up to 100 pairs of flathead catfish into areas of the Rock River that were affected by the fish kill.  At the same time, IDNR personnel will relocate pre-spawn channel catfish to the same area of the Rock River, and further supplement the channel catfish population by stocking small fish from state hatcheries.

“Individual female flathead catfish may lay 100,000 eggs or more.  If only one in 1,000 of these eggs survives and thrives, this stocking level would result in an increase of up to 10,000 flathead catfish in the population,” Sallee said.  “This number of spawning pairs should speed the recovery of the fish kill zone.  The channel catfish stocking will also be beneficial.”

Anglers with questions about the Rock River fishery can contact IDNR District Fisheries Biologist Ken Clodfelter at 815/454-2759.

The Democratic governors of Michigan and Wisconsin requested the summit Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Michigan’s request for a preliminary injunction to temporarily shut the shipping locks near Chicago and work out a way to stop the carp.

On Wednesday, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s spokeswoman called the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s proposal to hold a meeting the first week of February in the Midwest or Washington a welcome move.

“The Obama administration clearly understands the urgency of this critical issue, and we look forward to meeting with them on the threat the Asian carp poses to the Great Lakes,” Megan Brown said.

Concern about the progression of the Asian carp toward the Great Lakes increased this week after DNA samples taken beyond the final barriers between Chicago-area waterways and Lake Michigan tested positive for the aggressive fish.

A Michigan congressman introduced legislation Wednesday to immediately halt the potential entry of the carp into the Great Lakes.

U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, titled his bill the CARP ACT, which he said stands for Close All Routes and Prevent Asian Carp Today.

“The failure of the Supreme Court to act yesterday jeopardizes the future of the Lakes and it is clear we must take additional steps now,” Camp said in a statement.

Under his bill, the Army Corps of Engineers would be directed to close the O’Brien Lock and Dam and the Chicago Controlling Works until a controlled lock operations strategy is developed. Additional barriers would be erected in nearby waterways to keep the carp from getting into Lake Michigan.

The corps would be directed to develop a strategy to mitigate the effects of closing the waterways on the state of Illinois and the businesses that use them, and also to figure out how the effects on Chicago flood control can be addressed.

Camp said the state of Illinois has legitimate concerns over having to block off nearby waterways, but “they do not outweigh the potential loss of a $7.5 billion industry and ecological devastation of the entire Great Lakes region.”

Brown said Granholm has not had time to review Camp’s legislation, but supports doing everything possible to protect the Great Lakes.

Schafer and entrepreneurs like him advocate aggressive fishing of Asian carp as a way to make money and save the Great Lakes, where environmentalists fear the voracious fish would starve native species by consuming their food. But several of them say such efforts can’t get going without government help, and that’s been in short supply as states face budget problems.

The question of how to fight the carp has become more urgent as the invasive species originally imported to cleanse ponds and sewage lagoons in the Deep South works its way north through waterways such as the Illinois River. The fish’s DNA was recently found in Lake Michigan, although no Asian carp have been spotted there yet.

Schafer’s family owned business once dealt solely in Mississippi River catfish, but he expanded into carp about a decade ago and found it lucrative: In just the past year or so, he’s upped his production by several million pounds.

Little goes to waste. About one-third of each carp is turned into fillets Schafer exports overseas. The rest get converted into fertilizer, much of it sent to California vegetable farms.

“We’re up to using about a million pounds a month of Asian carp, and I think we’re just getting started,” said Schafer, noting that his operation and one in Spirit Lake, Iowa, are the nation’s only two Asian carp processors.

Aggressive fishing and processing does seem to reduce the carp population, he said: “In the areas we’ve taken those large quantities out, we’re seeing a depletion of the species there.”

Others are angling to get in, although they say government subsidies are likely needed to make it viable.

John Holden, a Rockford, Ill.-based reproductive endocrinologist and his business partner tested running a fish processing plant last year in Havana, Ill., that turned carp into a powdered protein supplement for animal feed and into Omega-3 oil. Now they’d like to build eight plants along the Illinois and Upper Mississippi rivers. Each one could process up to 2 tons of carp per hour, Holden said.

With the abundance of carp in the rivers, “I’m guaranteed to get my money back and then some,” Holden said. “I just want to get rid of the carp. They don’t belong here.”

But Holden said he needs $20 million to build the plants and perhaps another $750,000 for a fishing fleet equipped with nets and power hoists to handle the carp, which can weigh up to 100 pounds. He and his partner, Tim Leeds, an Iowa-based obstetrician, met with Illinois lawmakers on Monday, telling them they need taxpayer help - perhaps grants - to get going.

That seems unlikely given Illinois’ budget proble ms. In August, Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law a measure allocating up to $3 million to the state Department of Natural Resources for a one-year pilot study to see if overfishing the Illinois for carp could meaningfully shrink their numbers. But that money still hasn’t been disbursed.

Jim Sneed’s business received a $100,000 grant from Illinois a few years ago to see what it could do with the tens of millions of pounds of carp it said it could pull from Illinois rivers every year. One of the things Sneed learned is that more marketing is needed to convince Americans that carp aren’t just bony bottom-feeders unfit for eating.

“You don’t just go into a restaurant and say, ‘Should I have salmon or the bighead carp?’ The fish has an image problem,” Sneed said.

Sneed, of Hollywood, S.C., had planned to build a processing plant to turn the fish into an extract used to make flavored seafood products common in Asia and elsewhere overseas. He believed he could get a $3 million to $6 million return on his investments. But the plans stalled, partly because the recession made investors more cautious about putting their money in what they saw as a risky venture.

Sneed suggested the government could get such efforts going again by putting a bounty on the fish, essentially subsidizing the harvest.

“It’s a money issue,” he said. “That’s what’s stopped me.”

Gen. John Peabody of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says one sample of genetic material from the invasive carp has been found in Calumet Harbor, which is part of Lake Michigan.

He says the Army Corps of Engineers still doesn’t intend to close the locks and gates that form the final barrier between waterways near Chicago and the lake.

The U.S. Supreme Court had refused earlier Tuesday to order the immediate closure of the shipping locks.

Illinois officials and industry representatives are relieved after the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to allow the immediate closure of shipping locks to prevent the Asian carp from infesting the Great Lakes.

The office of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan opposed Michigan’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have ordered the locks in the Chicago area closed. They argued the move would deal an economic blow to Illinois.

American Waterways Operators also welcomed Tuesday’s court decision.

Industry group spokeswoman Lynn Muench (MUHNCH) says she expects legal challenges to continue. But she says working together to find a way to stop the invasive fish would make more sense than spending so much money on lawsuits.

Here’s a press release on the subject from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Agencies accelerate action to new test results suggesting Asian carp presence in Calumet Harbor

The multi-agency Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC) has received information from the University of Notre Dame about one positive environmental DNA result for silver carp in Calumet Harbor approximately one-half mile north of the Calumet River and one more at a location in the Calumet River north of O’Brien Lock.  These samples were collected on December 8 and recently processed. Two previous tests of multiple water samples from this area were negative.

Dr. David Lodge, director of the eDNA project at the University of Notre Dame, said that only a portion of the samples collected have been analyzed, but he cautioned that there is no known correlation between the number of positive samples and the quantity of Asian carp.  “Our current eDNA process provides indications of likely presence, but it does not yet provide information about Asian carp quantity that may be present, age, size, how they got there or how long they may have been there,” said Lodge. Lodge further iterated that if Asian carp are present it is vital to keep the barriers operating in a continued defense.  “It is important to keep additional fish from migrating into the lake to lower the possibility that a self-sustaining population will result,” said Lodge.

“Clearly this is not good news,” said Major General John Peabody, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Great Lakes and Ohio River Division.  “But eDNA technology provides the advanced warning of the possible presence of Asian carp, so that all agencies supporting the RCC can focus their efforts and resources to optimal effect.  The Corps of Engineers will continue to collaborate with our partners to urgently execute already planned actions, and further develop other multi-agency measures that will defeat this threat to the Great Lakes,” said Peabody.

The Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC) is comprised largely of agencies that participated in last month’s successful “rapid response” action.  It is now working to respond to the most recent eDNA results, including consideration of:

• Rapid deployment of intensive netting, including electrofishing and specialized netting alternatives, in the area near O’Brien Lock to reduce the possibility that a self-sustaining population might be established.

• Continued research into scientific advances to apply detection systems that will allow participating agencies to pinpoint the exact location and numbers of carp. Current eDNA testing does not yet provide this information.

• Planning to develop the concept of how existing structures, such as locks, could be operated in a way that would minimize the risk of carp migration while the U.S. Coast Guard, local public safety and emergency responders, needed cargo, and other traffic transits the waterway;

• Expedited construction of new electric dispersal Barrier IIB to complement existing barriers, and severance of culverts and other bypass routes in the event of flooding, that might allow carp entry from adjacent waterways.  Interim obstructions will be completed this year;

• Accelerate development of possible biological controls for Asian carp; and

• Continued efforts to assess “ecological separation” as a long-term strategy that blocks invasive species from transferring between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds while still allowing cargo and “clean traffic” to pass, leveraging the Corps of Engineers’ Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Transfer Study.

“The IDNR is committed to working with all of our partners in the coming weeks and months by using conventional sampling methods in the Chicago waterway system and near shore areas of Lake Michigan to help determine locations and abundance of Asian carp and try to confirm this new Environmental DNA evidence,” said John Rogner, Illinois Department of Natural Resources Assistant Director.

Participating agencies will continue using eDNA and other monitoring methods to provide early warning about possible Asian carp presence. The cooler water during the winter months reduces the likelihood of Asian carp detection because of reduced algae and other food sources, and fish tendency to slow down their activity and reside in deeper waters.  With decreased metabolism Asian carp are less active and, therefore, harder to detect. Still, participating agencies continue to view their top priority as keeping Asian carp from becoming established in Lake Michigan.

“From what we have seen in other parts of the country, Asian carp could out-compete our native, sport and commercial fish in southern Lake Michigan,” said Charlie Wooley, Deputy Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We call them an aquatic vacuum cleaner because they filter important food resources out of the water and turn it into carp biomass,” said Mr. Wooley.

“The Service remains committed to supporting our partners by assisting in intensified field monitoring and focused fish sampling, exploring new methods of Asian carp control, and engaging community stakeholders.”

“Defeating Asian carp will require working together,” said Cameron Davis, senior advisor to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson on Great Lakes issues. “We have a strong, committed team in place that acted collaboratively and
successfully during December’s rapid response action. That’s what it will take now.”

“The Great Lakes Fishery Commission has more than 50 years experience controlling the invasive sea lamprey” said Dr. Michael Hansen, chair of the commission. “The commission fully recognizes the necessity to prevent Asian carp from establishing populations in the Great Lakes and strongly supports the efforts of the participating agencies to this end.”
 
Additional information about the recent sampling efforts is available on the Army Corps of Engineers’ website at http://www.lrc.usace.army.mil.

Additional information about multi-agency efforts is at http://www.asiancarp.org/rapidresponse.

While you need sub-freezing temperatures to form hard water, you often need warmer weather for fish to really start biting well.

So it was Wednesday afternoon, on a day when the mercury inched well above freezing and driveways and sidewalks finally reemerged.

After several slow outings on the ice, we finally slammed the fish at a Peoria County strip-mine lake. And trust me, if Journal Star co-workers Danielle Hatch and Gary Panetta can catch fish, the bite must really be good.

Danielle is our entertainment editor and spends much of her time writing about movies and food. Gary is our fine arts columnist and is an expert on opera, symphonies and theater.

That’s not exactly on-the-job training for ice fishing. But the novice anglers fared well, as you can tell from their River City Roundup video below. In 1½ hours they hooked enough bluegill and crappie to keep me plenty busy with the filet knife.

The same thing is being reported by anglers across northern Illinois, as the last few days have delivered on expectations from earlier. On Wednesday, Dale Bowman of the Chicago Sun-Times said anglers were awaiting warmer weather. Click here to read that column. Well, it’s here.

And as if on cue, bluegill, crappie and bass are biting well in the last hour before sunset and after the sun sets. Of late, even midday fishing has been productive.

“It seems like any time we get down to the zero mark, the bite slows,” said Al Hayden of Al’s Sporting Goods in Galesburg. “Then when it warms up again the fish bite better.”

Tim “Head Worm” Presley said warmer weather also helps by melting off the blanket of snow covering many lakes. “That gets the fish livelier,” he said.

One drawback is that the resulting slick surface will make ice cleats or creepers a welcome addition to anyone fishing early mornings.

Myself, I’d rather wait for late afternoon, even if you likely have to wade through a slop of slush and water.

Don’t let that wet stuff worry you, yet. Most lakes have 6-8 inches of clear ice plus a few inches of slushy stuff on top.

Where to go?

Farm ponds are your best bet for panfish, bass and even channel catfish, which have turned on in recent days.

Strip-mine fishing has also improved in the past week, as has action at most area lakes.

Hayden said crappie are good at Lake Storey, with evenings best and minnows working well. Bluegill are not as strong.

Jason Grider of Riverside Bait in Pekin reports crappie have also been good at Spring Lake and said all species are good at Evergreen Lake, with saugeye the best bet. But Evergreen Lake and Comlara Park are closed today through Sunday during the late-winter deer season. Ice fishermen can fish only in
Campground Cove or Jone’s Pond.

Wherever you go, don’t wait too long to drill some holes. A continued warm spell and a forecast calling for rain could bring a hasty end to safe fishing.

And if you head to the Emiquon Preserve, be careful what you bring. Reader Dan Cebulko correctly notes that alcoholic beverages are not allowed at the Emiquon Preserve. He sent an e-mail following my column last Sunday referring to me bringing homemade wine for my next ice-fishing outing.
Surely Dan knew that I was referring to non-alcoholic homemade wine.

The DNA - but no live fish - was found in three different spots along the Chicago River near the Wilmette pumping station north of Chicago, said Major Gen. John Peabody with the Corps’ Great Lakes and Ohio River division. The sample was taken in October, and the Corps received the results Thursday.

That discovery has renewed environmentalists’ calls for emergency measures to keep the voracious fish out of the Great Lakes, including immediately closing three shipping locks that separate Lake Michigan from the Mississippi River basin to prevent the giant fish from destroying the lakes’ $7 billion fishing industry by out-competing native fish for food.

The news comes two months after officials said they found carp DNA in a shipping channel several miles from Chicago.

The pumping station, however, is on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, making the need for action urgent if there is hope of halting the carp’s advance, said Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes.

“We’ve got to start making management decisions that should have been made a couple of months ago,” Brammeier said. “We’re definitely playing catch-up. We’ve been waiting and waiting while these positive samples continue to turn up.”

Peabody said the Corps was looking at all its options given the new information.

The biggest Asian carp can reach 4 feet in length and weigh 100 pounds while consuming up to 40 percent of their body weight daily in plankton, the base of the Great Lakes food chain.

Michigan and other Great Lakes states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to order the locks closed immediately.

In a response to the lawsuit, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan countered that the states don’t have the legal authority to demand the closing of canal locks within Illinois. Madigan on Thursday was among officials attending an Asian carp briefing sponsored by U.S. Sen. -- -- -- Durbin and U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert, both of Illinois, at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium.

Officials at the briefing said while they don’t want the Asian carp to enter Lake Michigan, they worry shutting the locks could cause flooding in the Chicago area and hurt commercial shipping.

“At a time when we’re working to put our economy back on track, we should not be doing anything that is really going to compromise our efforts at putting people back to work,” U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson said.

The Obama administration also opposes closing the locks. Solicitor General Elena Kagan told the Supreme Court environmental DNA, or “eDNA,” testing was experimental science. Discovery of genetic material from carp doesn’t necessarily mean the fish were there, she said.

David Lodge, the University of Notre Dame ecologist who developed the Asian carp testing method, has said his team considered other ways the DNA might have ended up north of the barrier but believe the most likely explanation is that carp are or have been there.

The Alliance called previously for permanently severing the link between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River. The presence of additional carp DNA above the electric barrier, Brammeier said, “is a reminder that relying on a single technological solution to this problem isn’t sustainable.”

The electronic barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, about 20 miles downstream of Lake Michigan, was designed to prevent the carp from entering the Great Lakes by giving them a nonlethal shock that would deter their progress upstream.

John Sellek, spokesman for Michigan Attorney General’s office, said Illinois offici als “massively underestimated” the outrage in the other Great Lakes states and are focusing on the interests of their state and the Chicago area.

“They’re basically holding all the other Great Lakes states in their hands because they don’t want to close those locks,” Sellek said. “Their interests are very narrow to the point where the entire rest of the Great Lakes basin is at risk.”

Months of anticipation had inflated dreams of how many and what species would flop onto the ice through that first hole.

Fifty bass? Another state-record pumpkinseed? Fat crappie? Chunky bluegill?

All are real possibilities in The Nature Conservancy’s fish-filled Emiquon Preserve northwest of Havana. That explains why I actually welcomed the frigid cold that has gripped central Illinois.

That also made what happened next all the harder to take. While fishing buddy Gordon Inskeep and I found plenty of ice (most 6-8 inches thick) we did not find a fish in more than two hours of drilling holes, changing jigs and wetting lines at depths from 4-14 feet.

To my knowledge, we may have made history as the first anglers to leave Emiquon without catching a fish.

In the chilly aftermath I was left with one recourse: a call to Dave Genz, alternately known as Mr. Ice Fishing and The Godfather of Modern Ice Fishing. As expected from a man who has for nearly 40 years made a living talking about ice fishing, Genz had sensible tips.

His advice should come in handy in the weeks to come since most lakes in the northern two-thirds of Illinois are frozen.

“The biggest thing for people is the timing of when you go ice fishing,” said Genz, who hails from St. Cloud, Minn. “You want to go one hour before sunset until sunset. That’s the golden hour. Fishing around sunset can also be good. But you generally want to avoid midday.”

Why? Genz explains that as the sun starts to set, zooplankton rises from the bottom and fish start moving and eating more.

“That’s the time when you can sit at one hole and have the fish come to you instead of having to go find the fish,” Genz said.

During the middle of the day, the zooplankton sinks to the bottom and fish are much less active.

For those who do fish during the day, Genz says the key to success is to be mobile and to use electronics.

That’s why he invented the Fish Trap, a movable shelter on a sled that makes it simple to change locations. That’s also why he was among the first to bring electronics onto the ice. The most popular ice fishing electronic system is called the Vexilar, whose lighted screen lets you see a lake bottom, any fish present and your fishing jig or lure.

“That’s going to make you a much more successful angler, especially in the daytime hours,” Genz said. “The biggest thing it will tell you is there aren’t any fish here.

“Many ice anglers are changing lures and doing all this stuff but there’s no fish down there. Keep moving until you find fish and then concentrate on your presentation.”

Beyond that, Genz underlined the need to re spool with new line each year. “The weight of your jig has to take the kinks out of your line so you can feel those light bites,” he said.

And he stressed the need to have a good sharp auger, a portable ice house and warm clothing like his Ice Armor brand.

“If it’s easy and comfortable to move spots, you will move,” he said. “If it’s too hard, people don’t move as much. Then they don’t catch as many fish.”

So what did I learn?

For one thing, any return visit to Emiquon will come closer to sunrise or sunset, not at midday. I’m also going to re spool my rods and borrow a friend’s Vexilar unit.

And I’m bringing a jug of homemade wine, even though Genz didn’t mention that. Wine might not help catch crappie, but it takes the sting out of the cold and makes any fishless hours pass easier.

Ice fishing info

Anglers who want to ice fish at the Emiquon Preserve are reminded they must first obtain a free permit at Dickson Mounds Museum. Permits are good for the entire year and can be obtained daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

In addition to the Emiquon Preserve, several other central Illinois sites are open to public ice fishing.

Popular spots include Evergreen Lake, Banner Marsh, Spring Lake, Lake Storey, Anderson Lake and the Fulton County Recreation Area near St. David. Snakeden Hollow opens to fishing on Feb. 1.

The area also has two ice-fishing tournaments this year. The first is Jan. 30 at Lake Camelot from 7 a.m. to noon. One week later on Feb. 6, Wildlife Prairie Park will host its first ice-fishing tourney from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Call (309) 676-0998.

Finally, Herman Brothers Pond Management offers guided ice fishing trips for $75 per person and $50 per child. For information call Nate Herman at (309) 303-5691.

But for those who enjoy the outdoors, ice fishing on Lake Storey on Saturday was a chance to get away to a peaceful winter wonderland that felt more like Canada than Galesburg.

There was plenty of sunshine and blue skies; a pleasant color contrast to the covering of white snow atop the frozen lake. It felt more like living in a painting than the reality of a dangerously cold morning in west-central Illinois.

Kurt Miner of Joy, bundled up from head to toe, was out in the elements, his combination boat/tent shelter down as he prepared to move to another spot on the lake. Miner, who has gone ice fishing for about 20 years, was asked if the fish were biting.

“They’re kind of slow,” Miner said. “They’re down on the bottom, that’s where I’m fishing , about 6 inches from the bottom.”

Dean Sheldon of Coal Valley, another ice fisherman, estimated the lake’s depth at about 30 feet where about five tents were set up on the west end of the lake, near the levee. While the subdivisions on West Lake Storey Road were only a few hundred feet away, on the lake civilization disappeared, a world away.

Miner said that’s what he likes about ice fishing.

“I don’t know, just getting out, being away, I suppose,” he said.

Crappie are the fish of choice this time of year at Lake Storey.

Miner, who goes ice fishing at least once a weekend, sometimes twice, also uses his auger to cut holes in the ice at area farm ponds. Shotgun deer season made this a bad weekend to choose that option, however.

“I don’t want to go out on a pond with a bunch of people shooting slugs around my head,” Miner laughed.

He said to not be fooled by his folded-up shelter as he prepared to move it to the northeast. He pointed out the boat portion has bench seats.

“I like the comfort, I suppose,” Miner said. “I’ve got a little heater that’ll keep you pretty warm. It’s pretty much the wind that will kill you.”

Speaking of comfort, Sheldon was zipped snugly inside his 7-foot tall, 4-foot by 8-foot tent, fishing in two holes he cut. With the tent and a propane heater, it was downright toasty inside Sheldon’s little piece of outdoor heaven.

Although he had caught seven, 6-inch crappies, Sheldon agreed with Miner that the fish were not biting much.

“They’re biting really soft,” he said. “There’s a lot of crappie in this lake.”

Sheldon used a Vexlar radar system that showed the bottom of the lake, where the fish and his line were.

“Where it’s solid, that’s the bottom,” he said. “It shows the fish like that.”

Right on cue, Sheldon pulled another crappie from the lake.

Another veteran of fishing when most people won’t come out of the house, he’s been ice fis hing for about 30 years.

“Me and my dad fished all over for years and years,” he said.

What is it about the sport that he enjoys?

“It’s quiet. Nobody bothering me. It’s peaceful, it’s fun,” Sheldon said. “I do a lot of fishing in the summer, but ice fishing is the best.”

Sometimes he and friends will fish on the ice at night. He has a light to shine into the holes, which he said sometimes attracts the fish.

This day, he started out using minnows as bait, then switched to wax worms and “then there are these little marshmallows called crappie nibbles,’ ” he said.

Sheldon said ice fishing is always good in Lake Storey. He also likes farm ponds.

“We go up as far as Maquoketa (Iowa). We went up there Friday and did pretty good. We all caught about 40 fish,” he said.

While he said the 6-inch crappie make for good eating, fishermen like catching the big one.

“They say there are some big ones here,” he said, adding that he once c aught an 18-inch, 3 pound, 4 ounce crappie at Fire Lake, near Sherrard.

As the temperature rose from minus 8 to 0, Miner said there was one good thing about Saturday’s intense cold.

“You don’t have to worry about the ice melting today,” he said, estimating the cover at Lake Storey at 4 to 5 inches.

“I enjoy taking people out the first time. They hear the ice popping and get worried. I tell them that’s a good thing, the ice is growing,’ ” Miner said.

As 11 a.m. approached, more ice fishing aficionados appeared, many carrying their gear on sleds. Soon, the only sound was the crisp crackle of the runners of a sled sliding across the snow and ice of Lake Storey, a place this day a world away from the cares of the world.

And as is so often the case when it comes to panfishing, smaller farm ponds are so far producing many of the best catches reported.

Ice thickness is ranging from 2-12 inches across the northern two-thirds of the state.

In the Decatur area, Joanne Lowe of Mike’s Tackle World said fishing has been very good in smaller ponds and gravel pits for crappie and bluegill. Most ice she has heard of is from 3-5 inches thick.

Further north near Galesburg, Al Hayden of Al’s Sporting Goods said smaller ponds are his top performers so far.

“I’ve heard some near nice panfish reports out of farm ponds and smaller lakes,” Hayden said.

At nearby Lake Storey, typically a hotbed of public ice fishing, crappie action has slowed. “They’re catching some nice crappie, some even 12-14 inches, but the numbers aren’t there,” Hayden said.

At Evergreen Lake, ice fishing is underway. Mike Steffa reports 5-8 inches in many coves but notes that all ice fishing is at your own risk. Dirty water has slowed fishing some, though anglers report a few smaller crappie and bluegill. Writes Scott Richardson of the Bloomington Pantagraph: “Most were targeting crappies in the bays, where reports were that 5- to 8 inches of ice had formed, he said. Beware. Snow, which is expected today, is an insulator and can slow the ice-making process.” Click here to read the rest of Richardson’s ice-fishing article.

In the Chicago area, Dale Bowman of the Chicago Sun-Times reports: “Ice is safe almost universally, the only exceptions are the few current areas strong enough to fight off the cold or a few spots swam open by Canada geese determined not to move.” Click here to read his report, which includes information on good action at the Chain O’Lakes and ice forming in Lake Michigan harbors.

We plan to start a weekly ice-fishing report next Wednesday. Sorry for the delay this week.

Solicitor General Elena Kagan told the U.S. Supreme Court that heeding the states’ request would endanger public safety while disrupting cargo and passenger vessel traffic.

While acknowledging the carp pose a threat to the lakes and their $7 billion fishery, Kagan said it was unclear that closing the locks immediately was necessary to keep them out.

“In a host of ways, the federal government has demonstrated its commitment to protecting the Great Lakes from the expansion of Asian carp,” she said in a written memo. “Nothing in federal law warrants second-guessing its expert judgment that the best information available today does not yet justify the dramatic steps Michigan demands.”

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox filed a lawsuit with the nation’s highest court last month. It asked that several locks on waterways south of Chicago be closed immediately as a first step toward eventually severing a century-old artificial link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basin.

The waterways, including the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, are infested with bighead and silver carp that have been migrating northward in the Mississippi and Illinois rivers for decades. They can grow up to 4 feet long and 100 pounds and are notorious for starving out other fish species.

Officials poisoned a section of the canal in December after discovering genetic material that suggested at least some carp had eluded an electric barrier and could be within 6 miles of Lake Michigan. If so, the only other obstacles between them and the lake are shipping locks and gates.

Minnesota, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin and the Canadian province of Ontario have filed documents supporting Michigan’s position.

Illi nois, named as a defendant in the lawsuit along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a Chicago agency, submitted papers Tuesday saying Michigan had not made a convincing case for an immediate court order.

Kagan said closing the locks would require using more expensive means to haul coal and other commodities between the lakes and the Mississippi River system. Switching to land transportation would cost shippers nearly 10 percent of their cargo’s total value, she said.

The locks also provide essential access for Coast Guard crews responding to recreational boating emergencies and environmental crises such as oil spills in the waterways, Kagan said.

She contended there was insufficient evidence that enough carp had slipped past the electric barrier to pose an imminent danger.

Michigan officials say any economic losses from closing the locks would be small in comparison to the damage a carp invasion would wreak on the lakes.

John Selleck, spok esman for Cox, said Michigan officials had hoped the federal government “would agree that the status quo is putting the Great Lakes at great risk. We must act now to ensure that thousands of jobs and our greatest natural resource is protected.”

Midwest Generation installed protective rip rap around a dewatering structure on Heidecke Lake, reducing the need to significantly lower the lake water level during winter months to protect the structure from ice floes on the lake.  As a result of the project, water levels can be maintained that allow easy access to the popular lake for fishing and waterfowl hunting programs managed by the IDNR.

“Midwest Generation has always been a good partner in working with the Department to provide recreational opportunities in Illinois, and this project at Heidecke Lake is another example of the benefits of the company and the IDNR working together,” said IDNR Director Marc Miller. “Heidecke Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area is an incredibly important resource for fishing and hunting with its location close to the Chicago metropolitan area.”

Outdoor recreation enthusiasts, especially those who live in northern and northeastern Illinois, have made Heidecke Lake a destination for more than 30 years due to its reputation for outstanding fishing and waterfowl hunting opportunities. 

Heidecke Lake is a reservoir that provided cooling water for the former Collins Station generating plant.  The Collins Station was operated and later decommissioned by Midwest Generation.  The IDNR has leased valuable recreational land and water at Heidecke Lake since 1978 to allow public access to more than 1,300 acres of the lake for fishing and hunting. 

Because the Collins Station is no longer in operation, the three-and-one-half mile long reservoir is not fed with warm water.  As a perched impoundment, Heidecke Lake was designed specifically to catch the cooling effects of prevailing winds. 
Due to icing lake water, a lake dewatering (or blow down) structure used to control the water level in the lake was damaged by drifting ice in 2008. 

To protect the structure and preserve the recreational use of the lake, seasonal reductions of the water level in Heidecke Lake by nearly 30 inches were needed previously to protect the blow down structure from further damage. This reduction of water level created difficulty for waterfowl hunters due to reduced water depth at the boat launch.  It also required pumping to return the lake to normal depth for the fishing season. 

Employees of the Midwest Generation engineering and environmental staffs worked in collaboration with IDNR Land Management and Water Resources personnel to develop a solution that will permanently protect the blow down structure while retaining access to the lake for the sporting public.  Construction was completed this month on a protective “ice breaker” rip-rap stone reef that will prevent ice floes from reaching the blow down structure and eliminate the need to draw down the water level in the lake. 

“Heidecke Lake makes an important contribution to the quality of life in this state,” said John Kennedy, Midwest Generation’s vice president of Operations and Maintenance.  “We’re pleased we’ve been able to work with IDNR to make these improvements that benefit outdoor sportsmen and recreational enjoyment of the lake.”

Heidecke Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area is located approximately one mile south and eight miles east of Morris, between Ill. Rt. 47 and I-55 south of the Illinois River on Pine Bluff/Lorenzo Road.  The fishing season opens on or about April 1 and closes prior to waterfowl season.  For more information on the hunting program and other recreation opportunities at Heidecke Lake, contact the site office at 815/942-6352.

While that probably won’t happen before the next record pumpkinseed is caught out of the Emiquon Preserve, someday an Illinois angler will top Jody Harris’ 78-pound monster cat.

And I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if that record comes from Powerton Lake, one of central Illinois finest trophy catfish destinations.

The earliest that could happen is Monday, when Powerton reopens to bank anglers. Fishing hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and there should be a crowd on hand when the gates swing open.

But unlike years past, the main attraction is no longer smallmouth bass or white bass. For years those two species lured anglers from across Illinois to Powerton’s warm waters.

Heading into this year, biologist Wayne Herndon said the best fishing will likely be for catfish and for redear or bluegill.

First to the big cats. Herndon agreed there’s a possibility Powerton could someday produce a record flathead, though the largest he’s seen out of the lake went 60 pounds.

“It’s possible because they’ve got enough food and they like the habitat there,” Herndon said.

The other whiskered option at Powerton are blue cats, some of which will be topping 50 pounds this year.

“They are fat and hard to handle because they are so chubby,” Herndon said.

Look for several big cats to be caught in the next few days. Mid-January is a prime time for flatheads, with live bluegill fished in the warm-water discharge a good bet. Many anglers say afternoons are best for flatheads.

Live bait works well for blue cats, which will also take fresh cut shad or Asian carp and even balls of waxworms.

The next highlight at Powerton are bluegill and redear, which are rated as excellent. Anglers can expect plenty of shoreline action from plump redears of one-third pound or more and good numbers of 7½-inch bluegill.

Another hard-biting option are hybrid striped bass. First stocked in June of 2008, the hybrids started showing up in good numbers last winter and have been biting ever since.

Anglers are reminded the daily limit is 10 white bass or stripers per day and only three over 17 inches. This year there should be several stripers topping that size limit.

That’s the highlight for bass, though. The once-mighty smallmouth population is “a shadow of its former self.”

“The smallies are a problem this year,” Herndon said, noting 2009 was the second straight year of bad reproduction for bronzebacks. “Numbers were down in the fall population census and what’s there is mostly under 15 inches and a few legal fish (over 18 inches).”

Herndon said he’s uncertain what is causing problems for smallmouth bass, though he suspects the arrival of Asian carp is a factor. “There’s an issue with (Asian carp outcompeting) gizzard shad and I’m sure that’s affecting the entire fishery,” Herndon said.

He hopes to come up with some remedy to help smallmouths later this year. “I think smallmouth bass fishing there was super and I think it was good for the bass fishermen,” Herndon said. “There was a tremendous density of smallmouth and I think it can be there again depending on what happens with the forage base and some other issues.”

In the mean time, largemouth bass have been stocked and the bulk of those largemouths will be 14 to 15 inches this year.

All in all, that’s a good mix of fishing options at the Tazewell County cooling lake that typically provides the first open-water
fishing action of the new year for many anglers.

Their use was already old when the splendidly named Wynkyn de Worde published “Treatyse of Fysshynge With an Angle” (hook) in London in 1496. And the weapons mankind loves the most he loves to decorate, so it’s little surprise the techniques for beautifying fishing rods have been practiced to perfection as the long years unwound.

The state of the art is currently on display in the “Xmas ARTicles” artists’ gift shop open through December in Decatur’s Madden Arts Center. Decatur angler and rod-builder Patric Nielsen has several pieces of his piscatorial artistry for sale there and, whether you are fishing for Christmas gift ideas or not, they’re well worth a look.

There will, of course, be those among you who know not of what they speak and cast aspersions that a fishing rod is just a fishing rod at the end of the day. These are the same people who probably would have urged Pope Julius II to have Michelangelo forget his sketches and just finish the Sistine Chapel ceiling in a nice shade of teal.

Nielsen, on the other hand, believes that those who venture into the handiwork of God deserve to be armed with something worthwhile.

“Even if you are not catching anything,” he explains. “You are out there in the sun, on the water, out with nature, having a good time and fishing with something pretty.”

Pretty doesn’t begin to describe it. Catch a glimpse of his 6½-foot-long smallmouth bass rod, built from scratch from graphite blanks (plain hollow tubes of the material) which appears to weigh nothing at all. Its cork handle is hand-assembled, hand-glued and hand-shaped by Nielsen, who does all his work at the commandeered kitchen table in his house.

Then comes the attachment of the line guides, the metal rings the fishing line runs through, and the artistry hits warp drive. The guides are bound on by strong thread, called wraps, and Nielsen plays with colors and patterns that dazzle the eye. The smallmouth bass rod uses a white “underwrap” to nicely offset heavier weight red “guide wrap” thread that actually holds the guides in place. This in turn is finished at the ends with finely-executed wrappings of gold.

Each wrapping is applied by twisting the rod in his hands and winding the thread on to create tight, perfect circles with no visible end or beginning: the ends are pulled underneath, out of sight, using a thread loop buried beneath the coils.

On and on the work marches up Nielsen’s creations, a set of guides taking maybe six or eight hours to finish. Just above that handcrafted cork handle, where there is some room to let the artist’s imagination play, he reaches deeper into his pool of talent. Crisscrossing metallic threads, called diamond wrap, weave up and down here in impossibly complex patterns that might involve six different colors.

Nielsen’s rods are adorned with a little picture of the species they’re aimed at and sometimes will boast other touches of whimsy: The walleye rod, for example, features a tiny real feather from a bird called the jungle cock, which has an eyelike pattern on its plumage. Fly tying is another Nielsen specialty, and he also likes using the little jungle bird feathers in dressed-up hooks that frequently fool fishes.

When everything on the rod is as fine as he can make it, guide wrappings and applied feather decorations are entombed deep and forever in a tough epoxylike clear coat.

“Once that is applied, the rod has to be laid down horizontally and turned to stop the coating sagging while it dries,” said Nielsen, 62. “I like to do the turning by hand, too, and it may be two or three hours before it quits trying to sag. Someone might say I am crazy for doing that (turning machines are available) but that is the way I was taught, and it’s part of making the rods unique; it’s what helps make them different.”

He arrived at this quiet pursuit of perfection after a working career as a tire inspector amid the roaring noise of the former Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. plant in Decatur. He put in 33 years there before the factory ran out of road and closed in 2001, and Nielsen decided to park himself in retirement. Already a fisherman, fly tier and natural artist handy with a pencil, he was fishing around for other artistic outlets and had bumped into a late great Cerro Gordo angler and rod builder named Charles Reeves, who took him under his wing and taught him the artistry of rod building.

Nielsen launched his “Wilderness Rod & Tackle” business eight years ago and builds custom rods, costing from $60 to more than $300, for fishermen customers who like to specify everything they want in the same way they would order a tailor-made suit. Rod action (the way it bends and reacts), the type of species it’s aimed at and the fishing method being used all make a difference. Other considerations are catered for, too: Do you want the rod one-piece or able to break down into two or even four pieces so you can stow it in the helicopter that drops you off in the Canadian wilderness? Nielsen can satisfy every need.

“And do you want the wrap colors to match your Ranger bass boat? Or the Illini colors, or your truck or in the Harley-Davidson colors of orange and black?” asks Nielsen. “People who take their fishing seriously like to have a nice fishing rod.”

Watching the epiphany moment as a customer calls to collect his finished masterpiece is always exciting. “People just love what he can do, they absolutely love it,” said Marcia Nielsen, 53, his wife and a keen angler herself. “He just spends so much time on them, and he tries to make them all different, all special.”

She’s fly-fished with her husband’s rod artistry in Arkansas and on the mighty Colorado River in Arizona amid bucolic splendor like a scene from the movie “A River Runs Through It.” ‘‘Just beautiful,” she recalls.

Some fishermen grow more cautious when they see what her husband has done for them and are tempted to hang his work on the wall and leave it there like fine art. The creator, however, would much rather his rods didn’t gather dust.

“Oh, I like it when they send me pictures of what they’ve caught with them,” he said. “And I want to hear all their stories.”

The East Alton teenager muscled in the massive fish over 45 minutes while fishing the Mississippi River near Alton, using shad on his hook. He was fishing in late November.

The Alton Telegraph reported that the fish was a blue cat, but pictures would seem to indicate that this was instead a flathead catfish. The state record flathead is a 78-pounder caught by Jody Harris out of Carlyle Lake on Aug. 11, 1985. Click here to read more about Harris’ fish.

McEwen says he knew the fish was huge, and he didn’t want to lose it. His mission was to simply wear out the fish he later dubbed “Old Faithful” enough to reel it in.

McEwen snapped photos of his large catch and contacted his wife, who hustled to the river with McEwen’s 2-year-old daughter to see the catch.

But the fish caught a break. McEwen released it back into the water to fight another day.

Jeff Lampe contributed to this report.

State Attorney General Mike Cox filed a lawsuit Monday with the nation’s highest court against Illinois, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan
Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. They operate canals and other waterways that open into Lake Michigan.

Bighead and silver carp from Asia have been detected in those waterways after migrating north in the Mississippi and Illinois rivers for decades.

Officials poisoned a section of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal this month to prevent the carp from getting closer to Lake Michigan while an electrical barrier was taken down for maintenance.

But scientists say DNA found north of the barrier suggest at least some of the carp have gotten through and may be within 6 m iles of Lake Michigan. If so, the only other obstacle between them and the lake are shipping locks, which open frequently to grant passage for cargo vessels.

Fifty members of Congress last week joined environmental groups in urging closure of the locks - the same demand made in Michigan’s lawsuit.

“The Great Lakes are an irreplaceable resource,” Cox, who is seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Michigan, said at a news conference in Detroit. “Thousands of jobs are at stake and we will not get a second chance once the carp enter Lake Michigan.”

He likened the fish to “nuclear bombs.”

Cox went directly to the Supreme Court because it handles disputes between states.

Michigan is seeking to reopen a case dating back more than a century, when Missouri filed suit after Chicago reversed the flow of the Chicago River and began sending sewage-fouled Lake Michigan water south toward the Mississippi River.

After that issue was resolved, several Great Lakes states - including Michigan - renewed the suit with a new complaint: Chicago’s diversion of water away from the basin was harming the lakes by lowering water levels.

The high court has ruled on the matter numerous times, setting ceilings on the amount of Lake Michigan water Chicago could divert. The present limit is 2.1 billion gallons per day.

Michigan’s suit argues that continued operation of the locks represents another potential injury to the lakes. It asks the court to immediately order them closed, and to create new barriers to prevent the carp from entering the ship canal from nearby waterways during floods.

Obama administration officials last week pledged $13 million to prevent carp from bypassing the electronic barrier by migrating between the Des Plaines River and the canal.

The lawsuit also asks the Supreme Court to require a study of the Chicago waterway system to define where and how many carp are in those waters and t o eradicate them.

Noah Hall, an assistant professor at Wayne State University’s law school, said Michigan has a good chance of prevailing if it can show the potential harm posed by Asian carp would outweigh the benefits of keeping the locks open.

“The carp invasion is a good textbook example of irreparable harm,” Hall said.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office was reviewing the suit and had no immediate comment, spokeswoman Natalie Bauer said.

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District spokeswoman Jill Horist called the lawsuit “unfortunate.”

“It’s unfortunate that there would be an assumption that this would make some positive resolution come sooner than is truly feasible,” Horist said. “Even if the locks were closed there’s still a variety of ways for DNA or Asian carp to enter Lake Michigan.”

Messages left with the Army Corps of Engineers seeking comment were not returned.

Rep. Candice Miller, a Michigan Republican, praise d the lawsuit.

“There is nothing more pressing than stopping this aggressive invasive species from entering Lake Michigan and threatening our lake’s environment and all the states’ economies in the Great Lakes Basin,” Miller said.

Environmentalists said closing the locks would be a temporary fix, but the only long-term solution would be restoring the natural separation between the Great
Lakes and the Mississippi River system.

“The Chicago diversion was a 19th century solution to an environmental problem. Now it’s causing a 21st century emergency,” said Andy Buchsbaum, director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes center.
___
Associated Press Writers Ed White in Detroit and Carla K. Johnson in Chicago contributed to this story.

Anglers are reporting 4-8 inches in the Pool 13 backwaters of the Mississippi River, with South Sabula Lake and Mickelson’s Landing both producing bluegill. There is also 4-6 inches in many Pool 14 backwaters.

Here’s the full report for Pool 13 from the Iowa DNR:

Ice conditions at most backwaters are good with reports of 4 to 8 inches at most lakes.  Ice conditions in sloughs with flowing water will be considerably less and travel on them is not recommended.  River stage in Bellevue is forecast to rise to 4.5 feet, and then remain stable.  Reports of fish being caught in South Sabula Lake and Mickelson’s Landing.  Bluegill - Fair: Bluegills are biting on ice fishing jigs tipped with wax worms. Anglers are sorting through a lot of small fish.  Crappie - Slow: Not a lot of crappie reports, yet.  But fish jigs with soft plastics or small spoons like L’il Micks for best results.

In Pool 14 backwaters, ice conditions are good with reports of 4 to 6 inches at most lakes.  Ice conditions in sloughs with flowing water will be considerably less and travel on them is not recommended.  River stage in Camanche is stable around 9.35 feet.  Reports of fish being caught in the Rock Creek area.

Dale Bowman of the Chicago Sun-Times reports plenty of ice fishing action on the Fox Chain O’ Lakes. Elsewhere lakes are rapidly forming safe ice and should be fishable this weekend. That may include Shabbona Lake. There is also some fishing at Wolf Lake. Click here for his full report.

At Lake Storey, Al Hayden of Al’s Sporting Goods in Galesburg reports groups of up to 10 anglers have been fishing around the water tower. Hayden has also heard of famr ponds with 4-7 inches of ice in the Galesburg area.

Action has been slower in the Peoria area, as many strip-mine lakes in the area have only locked up in the past few days. But brave anglers were out drilling holes in small ponds on Thursday with reports of 2-4 inches of ice.

Also, now that duck hunting is done at the Emiquon Preserve, that bass-filled lake will be open to hard-water fishing once there is safe ice.

Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the money will be used for engineering projects to prevent the carp from slipping into Lake Michigan near Chicago. They include closing conduits and shoring up low-lying lands between the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal — which leads to the lake — and other waterways.

The ravenous carp have been migrating northward in the Mississippi and Illinois rivers for decades. Scientists say if they get into the Great Lakes, they could gobble up plankton, interrupt the food chain and devastate the $7 billion fishery.

Federal and state officials poisoned a six-mile section of the canal this month to prevent the carp from getting closer to Lake Michigan while an electrical barrier was taken down for maintenance. They have promised to consider other measures.

Michigan officials are preparing a lawsuit demanding at least temporary closure of shipping locks on the canal, part of a roughly 300-mile waterway linking the lake with the Mississippi. That’s opposed by tug and barge companies that haul millions of tons of iron ore, coal and other cargo on the waterway.

While debate on a long-term plan continues, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will use some of the newly designated funds to block potential bypasses between the sanitary and ship canal and two nearby waterways believed already to have Asian carp: the Des Plaines River and the I&M Canal.

Scientists fear the carp might be washed from those waterways into the sanitary and ship canal above the electrical barrier during flooding caused by heavy rains.

The rest of the money will provide DNA testing in hopes of determining how far the carp have advanced, Army Corps spokeswoman Lynne Whelan said.

Congress this fall appropriated $475 million to kick off a comprehensive restoration of the Great Lakes, including cleanup of contaminated harbors, wildlife habitat improvements and crackdowns on runoff pollution and species invasions.

The $13 million to battle the Asian carp will be drawn from that fund, which President Barack Obama requested.

The fund has “given us what we need to significantly and immediately reduce the risk of Asian carp reaching the Great Lakes and destroying such a valuable ecosystem,” Jackson said.

Officials with federal agencies involved in the carp battle met last week with members of Congress who pushed for spending up to $30 million over the next year.

“I want to be clear that our work on this is not done and we’ll continue to aggressively work to protect the Great Lakes from this dangerous creature,” said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. “Allowing the Asian carp into the Great Lakes is simply unacceptable.”

Henry Henderson, Midwest director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the planned spending was worthwhile but a stopgap measure. Environmental groups want to sever the link between the Great Lakes and Mississippi systems created by engineers more than a century ago.

“We need a permanent solution, not a series of ad hoc barriers,” Henderson said.

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York urged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Friday to close two locks near Chicago that could provide a pathway for the carp to reach Lake Michigan and eventually spread to the other Great Lakes.

“I believe that temporarily sealing this waterway as we analyze the situation at hand and decide on a long-term management strategy is a reasonable course of action,” Gillibrand said in a letter to federal agencies working to limit the carp’s migration.

Other lawmakers were seeking money for further steps, including more testing in areas where Asian carp DNA has been detected in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the Calumet-Sag Channel. Both are part of a 300-mile linkage between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River.

Big head and silver carp, both Asian species, have been moving up the waterway since escaping from Deep South fish farms and sewage lagoons in the 1970s. Recent DNA sampling suggests at least some may have gotten past an electrical barrier on the ship canal designed to halt their advance, and could be within 6 miles of the lake.

Scientists say if they reach the lakes and multiply, they could outcompete native species for plankton and disrupt the food chain, decimating popular sport and commercial varieties such as salmon and whitefish.

Army Corps officials told members of Congress on Thursday they needed $13.5 million during the 2010 fiscal year for immediate measures, said Rep. Dave Camp, a Michigan Republican.

Those could include sealing off culverts, constructing berms and otherwise attempting to block off the Sanitary and Ship Canal from the nearby Des Plaines River, already infested with Asian carp. Scientists fear carp could be washed from the river to th e canal during flooding.

The Army Corps plans to construct a third segment of the electrical barrier and says it will consider long-term solutions that could include severing the link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basin, as environmentalists have requested.

Such a proposal would draw opposition from shippers who haul millions of tons of iron ore, coal and other cargo on the waterway.

Michigan’s attorney general is drawing up a lawsuit to demand at least temporary closure of the navigational locks, as Gillibrand proposed. Camp said he wouldn’t support that idea without further study of the locks’ importance to commerce and flood control.

“If we shut them down and flood homes, that’s not a good step forward,” he said.

During the meeting Thursday, federal agencies pledged to develop a plan for fighting the Asian carp over the next year, said Cameron Davis, senior Great Lakes adviser with the Environmental Protection Agency.

“The agencies are moving very quickly to identify what needs to happen, by whom, when and how it will be funded,” Davis said.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved a bill Thursday sponsored by Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, that would require a permit for further imports of bighead carp - a requirement already on the books for silver carp.