Willow Slough to thick?

[ultraguy]

Wondering if the ice is going to get to thick again like a few years back and cut off the oxygen levels in the lake? Remember watching the DNR guy walking around the lake checking the oxygen levels and telling me the levels are very low and a die off will most likely occur at ice out. Maybe the DNR will pull the limits and make the lake a free for all once again? Any thoughts?

Poorboy

[hunting junkie]

The water was left alot higher this year...so lets hope not

[Slough gill]

They need to stop flooding Salisbury when there is not enough water to do so.Or don't be lazy get a pump and pump most of it back for winter

[northrn-duck-assassin]

they only flooded rookery, didnt have enough to flood salisbury except for one spot. (the heck with the fishery, place built for ducks) but i was there yesterday i didnt have my tape on me for an exact measurement but surely there was 12" of ice. the likely hood of pulling limit restriction... i doubt it, but maybe if we can get enough voices heard down there they might. petition? stand'-in? i mean how far does a guy want to take it to be heard?? i agree if the fish are going to die, let them go to good use.

[Slough gill]

I agree they don't care about the fishery if they did they would have dug some holes when it was drained and the excavator sat in the hole for 2years.I deer hunt there every year were not going to flood it not enough water but they do why politics .

[abishop]

They have a new manager now and from what I have heard----look out.

[denhar]

Best public Gill hole year after year. Big gills and lots of them. Some one knows what their doing. Good job Willow slough staff

[slipbobber]

They have a new manager now and from what I have heard----look out.

     Have a friend I used to work with at the mills that retired, worked at Lasalle after retiring than they had a opening at the Slough, went there , says the  new manager is doing at lot of good things for the Slough. Hope he keeps up the good work with having to take over Lasalle also.

[coho333]

     Have a friend I used to work with at the mills that retired, worked at Lasalle after retiring than they had a opening at the Slough, went there , says the  new manager is doing at lot of good things for the Slough. Hope he keeps up the good work with having to take over Lasalle also.

I believe the new manager is mike that use to be the manager at Kankakee f&w.

[abishop]

I believe the new manager is mike that use to be the manager at Kankakee f&w.

YES

[wheatfield Tom]

Best public Gill hole year after year. Big gills and lots of them. Some one knows what their doing. Good job Willow slough staff

Well said.

[sprkplug]

Best public Gill hole year after year. Big gills and lots of them. Some one knows what their doing. Good job Willow slough staff

What are they doing? As in, what steps have been taken to produce those big gills?

[wax_worm]

What are they doing? As in, what steps have been taken to produce those big gills?

LOL....hmmm...maybe the 25 fish limit has something to do with it   Seems to be a fertile BOW with lots of cover for the young gills to hide in and grow and has periods each year where no fishing is not allowed because it is a waterfowl hunting area first and the fish are just an added bonus.

[sprkplug]

LOL....hmmm...maybe the 25 fish limit has something to do with it   Seems to be a fertile BOW with lots of cover for the young gills to hide in and grow and has periods each year where no fishing is allowed because it is a waterfowl hunting area first and the fish are just an added bonus.

25 fish limit, limited access..........intere sting.

[northrn-duck-assassin]

LOL....hmmm...maybe the 25 fish limit has something to do with it   Seems to be a fertile BOW with lots of cover for the young gills to hide in and grow and has periods each year where no fishing is allowed because it is a waterfowl hunting area first and the fish are just an added bonus.

i never thought of that actually, but that is an interesting point. the fish have zero pressure and are able to put the feed bag on right before winter and then at ice off there is little to no pressure until the spawn starts to approach.  but also yes, tons of cover to hide from predetors but also so much cover produces tons and tons of food. the gene pool was established and able to be maintained by limits. a good 3 1/2-4 months a year the fish have little to no pressure.

[lafjiggler]

Fish aren't going to die boys. Water has a good level compared to past. And even with cold temps the ice making is going to slow in Feb. Sun is drawing closer which should make for nicer days on ice. Longer days in Feb. Its seems to be hard to make ice in Feb when we didn't have ice the last to years. Ice making will slow and fishing will be good. Just enjoy the moment before its over for nine mouths. I have my jig in as much as possible.

[JPjunkie]

I agree they don't care about the fishery if they did they would have dug some holes when it was drained and the excavator sat in the hole for 2years.I deer hunt there every year were not going to flood it not enough water but they do why politics .

I know where that stand is 

[Dahouse]

I was out at mormon hill between 10:00-1:00 and caught my limit. I didn't get into the 9-10 " range gills but action was steady. I caught 8-9 " gills on Orange tear Drop and a plain Black 2 dot spoon tipped with Waxies. There is a solid 12 " of ice wherever you go on Mormon Hill. The boys got the snow packed down real good as it is a easy pull with the shack. Have fun hope this helps. I met a gentleman coming off the ice at 10:00 and he had his limit of the big gills. We fished out about 400 yards on the left just before the cat tails. Most of the guys I talked to did little right in the cat tails. I talked to Rosie at the bait shop and they are doing well out front but you got to find them. Tight Lines.

[RynoIceMan]

Was out yesterday from 330-530 only drilled 3 holes, second one I fished was the winner, was at HQ, sure I coulda had a kimit but threw quite a few back kept 12 nice 9-9.5" fish, thats all i wanted to clean!! catchin fish on a red and chart. jig tipped with a beemoth

[TeacherPreacher]

Slough has always been a "fish factory."  As Wax stated, When they built it for a duck marsh there was no plan to fish it. The fish just came along as a bonus and there was never a plan to do anything to make it into a fishing sight. And as I was told a couple years ago, "We never will." The State actually controls what will or won't be done. Past manager was a friend of mine and he took a lot of flack about what transpired but he was pretty much told what to do!!
Back when they first started to fish it, in the late 50's - 60's, it took a couple seasons for the gills to reach the 8-9" size. I remember people caught hundreds of 3"-4" gills and just threw them up on ice, "So there would be more food for the big ones." Made it great for early morning crow hunts before we had a crow season!
How thinking has changed!
Back when we had to fill out a daily "Harvest Card" there was no limit and I saw buckets of 8"-9"gills taken out. We would fish 2 hooks on a line, hook the first fish, keep a tight line and pull out two 8"-9" gills. Then at dark we would stay and catch dandy crappies.
Each time it was drained the buck brush and weeds would grow back which provided the needed food. It definitely is a fish factory.
Teach

[hunting junkie]

was at mormon late yesterday afternoon,,,,the big boys turned on big time for the last hurrah

[Joe2727]

This mite sound a bit strange, but I have a friend that has a 10 acre pond and was worried about the oxygen levels also. He told me he took an old air compressor out there drilled a hole and put some weight at the end of the hose and propped it in the hole and turned it on and hope it works. He spent a lot of money on this pond.

[sprkplug]

This mite sound a bit strange, but I have a friend that has a 10 acre pond and was worried about the oxygen levels also. He told me he took an old air compressor out there drilled a hole and put some weight at the end of the hose and propped it in the hole and turned it on and hope it works. He spent a lot of money on this pond.

Hoo boy.....Aeration has got to be one of those topics that confuses a lot of folks. It seems simple, and easy to understand on the surface, but there is actually a lot going on that you don't see. The air that is added during the aeration process, those bubbles that you see, don't account for very much new O2 themselves. Rather all those bubbles, (and the smaller they are the better), set up a current of sorts....bringing water up from the depths to the surface, where it offgases, and is introduced to oxygen at the surface "boil". That's where the benefit comes from, in the mixing of the entire water column.

But during winter, the warmest water is found at the bottom, at 39 degrees. And this may provide a refuge of sorts to some fish that are intolerant of extended colder water, such as Redears. If you aerate the deepest part of the BOW in winter, the same way you do in the summer, you run the risk of bringing that warmer bottom water up to the surface and chilling it. A process known as supercooling. Typically, winter aeration is done at much shallower depths, say 1/3 to 1/4 of total max depth.

One of the most important factors to consider when thinking of possible winterkills, is depth...the deeper the lake, the more O2 is stored in reserve.  10 acres is pretty good sized, if it's deep enough it may be OK, depending on how much snow is on the ice, and what amount of vegetation is present.

At any rate, the airline dropped through a hole will probably enlarge the hole considerably, and that's the main thing.....open an area to allow sunlight down into the water. I would however, caution against aerating the deepest part of the lake.

[northrn-duck-assassin]

anyone looking to gonto slough this afternoon/evening? im just sittin around

[fishinator]

Good luck with that, wind is a bit too much.