Volunteers hard at work creating artificial spawning beds for largemouth bass at Crab Orchard Lake. - USFWS photos

A completed artificial spawning bed.

Spawning beds placed in Crab Orchard Lake.

During March, Carterville Fishery Resources Office (FRO) biologist Colby Wrasse assisted the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), and volunteers from a local fishing club, with the placement of largemouth bass spawning structures at Crab Orchard Lake. 

Largemouth bass are nest spawners, creating the nest by fanning away silt and other fine materials and then laying eggs on a firm clean substrate.  Lakes with heavy silt loads often experience diminished spawning success for largemouth bass, as the eggs are suffocated in the silt.  Over the past several years recruitment of largemouth bass at Crab Orchard Lake has been lower than desired, requiring supplemental stocking to maintain the bass fishery.  Biologists believe that the soft silt substrate that makes up large portions of Crab Orchard Lake is not conducive to successful largemouth bass spawning. 

One potential solution is the creation of artificial spawning habitat for the bass.  Chris Bickers of the Illinois DNR spearheaded the effort to create and then place these structures in Crab Orchard Lake.  The structures consisted of 55-gallon plastic drums cut in half and filled with concrete, with loose rough rock on top of the concrete.  It is hoped that these structures will give largemouth bass the firm substrate needed to ensure a successful spawn.  This project is another example of the Carterville FRO, the Illinois DNR, Crab Orchard NWR, and local volunteers working together to ensure the continuation of quality sport fishing at Crab Orchard Lake for years to come.