Illinois Fisheries Department Looking for Muskie during Trap Net Survey

Autumn enjoying the survey

Fishing is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your going to catch. This past week the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Department was looking for the ever-elusive muskie. On March 20 - 22nd members of the Fisheries Department set the net traps at Jim Edgar Panther Creek's Prairie Lake. Over the next two days they came back to check the nets and Autumn and I were there to watch. We were informed that we would have the opportunity to observe them checking nets and surveying the fish, so we jumped at the opportunity.

As the IDNR and other observers launched Autumn and I headed to the back side of the lake to the first net location. Last year there were over 100 muskies surveyed, so everyone's expectations were high. After checking the first net excitement turned to disappointment when not a single muskie was caught. The water temperatures were in the high to mid forties and with another 47 nets to check anticipation and enthusiasm were still in the air.

After the completing the net checks the IDNR headed back to the boat ramp with a total of 44 muskie to weigh, measure and identify the sex.

Here is the results of the muskie survey reported by the IDNR over those two days:

A total of 44 muskie were collected in 48 trap net nights (8 females and 36 males). Female muskie ranged from 39.4 – 46.6” and 18.4 – 30.7 lbs, while male muskie ranged from 29.4 – 40.2” and 6.4 - 18.5 lbs. All muskie collected were in excellent body condition. A muskie PIT (Passive Integrated Transponder) tag study began in 2016. The 2017 survey resulted in the recapture of 15 muskie (2 females and 13 males) that were tagged last year and 29 newly tagged fish.

Here is a video that shows how quick these surveys are. The first thing they do is measure, then check to see if there's a PIT tag already in a fish. You can see them use the yellow gun device to check for a transponder. If not they would inject a PIT right next to the dorsal fin. I asked how long the IDNR has been using PIT and it's been over 15 years. Who pays for all this you might be wondering? The Shawnee Muskie Club paid for the nets and PIT tags. Thank you very much, your efforts in helping the IDNR in their time of need is much appreciated by Capitol Outdoors and countless other anglers across the state.

Not a muskie fishermen! While the DNR states that there are not supposed to be crappie in Prairie Lake there is a population. The Fisheries Department reported that:

'The trap net survey also resulted in a good black crappie and sunfish species sample. The largest black crappie in the survey measured 14.6” and 1.8 lbs.'

It's also not a secret to bass anglers that there are some monsters swimming around the lake. During the survey there was one big bass caught that we just had to share. According to the survey:

'A few larger bass were starting to move as well. The largest bass collected measured 20.8” and 5.9 lb.'

All in all the weather was windy, cold and a little wet but I am glad that we had the opportunity to see our Fisheries Department in action. While I have seen a lot of this on TV, it was amazing to see how the science is done on sight. We can't wait until next year. A big thank you goes out to Nerissa McClelland and the entire Fisheries Department for their hard work. If you ever get the chance to watch the IDNR survey fish, I highly recommend it because it was pretty cool and Autumn really enjoyed it.