Braidwood Lake has the blues. Big time.
The cooling lake in southwestern Will County reopens to fishing March 1, as usual.
Last year was an off year for the every-other-year fish surveys at Braidwood, but district fisheries biologist Seth Love emailed: ‘‘We did, however, conduct another fall low-pulse blue catfish survey and collected 366 blue catfish with two hours of electrofishing effort. (We ran two boats, and each sampled for 30 minutes.)
‘‘Both sites were out of the South Ramp, and we were sampling east and north of the large island. Similar to last year, fish were stacked all throughout that area. It was very similar to electrofishing silver carp on the Illinois River: Fish everywhere!
‘‘The average length was 16 inches and the largest fish was 38 inches. Size distribution is similar to last year’s survey, with most fish between 16 and 20 inches. I plan on conducting another fall blue catfish survey this October.’’
Blues first were stocked in Braidwood in 2003. Braidwood blues have evolved into a significant fishery.
On another good note, there were ‘‘no major fish kills in 2024, though we seem to always lose some number of fish during hot-water events,’’ Love emailed.
Last year featured only a few hot-water events.
Love expects largemouth bass to continue to be strong, as indicated in the 2023 overall fish survey, noting: ‘‘We collected quite a few fish over 15 inches. Body condition was excellent for all size groups, indicating that fish should have ample opportunity to grow.’’
The 2023 survey didn’t show good numbers of hybrid striped bass, but that might be the quirkiness of electrofishing them, which Love indicated ‘‘can be hit-or-miss.’’
‘‘There is one honey-hole where we historically have collected fish that was not productive,’’ he emailed.
Love didn’t tell me where the honey-hole was, but it’s a place ‘‘where hybrids are stacked like cordwood and are easily electrofished.’’
I suspect some anglers know the honey-hole.
Stockings in 2024 were fairly normal, with about 50,000 largemouth, 23,000 blues and 40,000 hybrids.
Site superintendent Jeff Wepprecht said regulations remain ‘‘the same old thing.’’ Expect lines to start long before the 6 a.m. opening. As Wepprecht put it: ‘‘It’s sure to be busy, and [the opening] is on a Saturday this year.’’
Braidwood will be open daily from 6 a.m. to sunset. Winds may cause it to be closed to boaters.
Mazonia
Wepprecht said the winter weather put work (launch and facility upgrades) on hold around Eagle and Ponderosa lakes at Mazonia South, so those areas remain closed.
Wild things
I am curious to see the final numbers for the Great Backyard Bird Count and whether avian flu and people being cautious with feeders during the outbreak has an impact.
Stray cast
Sneering at diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is the practical and moral inverse of rebranding Asian carp as copi.