Staff from Carterville FRO, Illinois DNR, and volunteers team up to collect largemouth bass from a rearing pond for stocking into Crab Orchard Lake. - FWS photo

Carterville FRO technician Adam McDaniel displays a healthy largemouth bass collected from Crab Orchard Lake. Fish such as this are a direct result of the supplemental stocking program. - FWS photo

This year CFRO personnel Rick Echols and Adam McDaniel provided assistance in harvesting and stocking approximately 8,000 largemouth bass advanced fingerlings, at an average size of 6.4 inches.  This was a successful year for the rearing pond largemouth bass, which will ultimately lead to improved bass fishing at Crab Orchard Lake.

Crab Orchard Lake is a 7,000-acre impoundment on Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in southern Illinois. It is a popular destination for anglers, host to several fishing tournaments each year, and important to the local economy.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Carterville Fishery Resources Office (CFRO), and Crab Orchard NWR cooperatively manage this recreational fishery. The lake is popular among largemouth bass anglers and supplemental stocking is essential to maintain a quality bass fishery. 

A small pond located on Crab Orchard NWR is used by the Illinois DNR to raise bass, which are later stocked into Crab Orchard Lake.  Allowing the bass to grow in the small pond before stocking ensures better survival rates. The bass fingerlings are supplied by Little Grassy Fish Hatchery, and every fall the Illinois DNR, CFRO, Crab Orchard NWR and numerous volunteers drain the pond, collect the bass fingerlings, and stock them in Crab Orchard Lake.