Of Time and the River
The Period 1972 to Present
 

  Fish Status (continued)

Stinauer conducts a fish survey of the Illinois River and its backwater areas in 1974. Twenty-eight stations are established: 20 in the river channel and 8 in backwater lakes (Table 31).

Table 31: Sampling Station Locations (Stinauer 1974)

 
Station No. Water Area County Nearest Town 
1 Illinois River La Salle Marseilles
2 Illinois River La Salle Marseilles
3 Illinois River La Salle Ottawa
4 Illinois River La Salle Utica
5 Illinois River La Salle Utica
6 Illinois River Putnam Hennepin
7 Illinois River Marshall Lacon
8 Illinois River Marshall Lacon
9 Woodford Co. Cons. Area  Woodford Chillicothe
10 Illinois River Peoria Peoria
11 Illinois River Tazewell North Pekin
12 Illinois River Tazewell Pekin
13 Clear Lake Mason Liverpool
14 Goofy Ridge Ditch Mason Liverpool
15 Illinois River Mason Havana
16 Quiver Lake Mason Havana
17 Illinois River Mason Havana
18 Bath Shute Mason Bath
19 Sanganois Area Mason Browning
20 Myers Bay Cass Beardstown
21 Illinois River Schuyler Beardstown
22 Illinois River Brown LaGrange
23 Illinois River Brown LaGrange
24 Illinois River Scott Naples
25 Illinois River Greene Pearl
26 Dark Shute Calhoun Hardin
27 Illinois River Calhoun Batchtown
28 Illinois River Jersey Rosedale


Water quality is examined at each sampling site. The pH is considered normal for all stations, ranging from 7.4 at Marseilles to 8.8 at Quiver Lake. The average pH is 8.0. Transparency is also tested using a Secchi disk. Rates ranged from 3 inches in Upper Peoria Lake to 14 inches at seven stations (2, 3, 4, 13, 14, 16, and 19), with the average being 8 inches. All waters are considered to be very turbid. Table 32 shows the results of the survey, including for each site the number of species collected, the degree and type of pollution found, the history of fish kills, pH, alkalinity and transparency (Stinauer 1974).

Table 32: Results of Fish Survey (Stinauer 1974)

Station No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17* 18 19* 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
No. of Species Collected 14 21 16 16 27 23 23 25 32 24 22 18 14 15 14 18 8 13 12 14 14 12 12 15 19 12 16 21
Pollution Severity:                                                        
None                                                        
Slight                                                        
Moderate                                                        
Heavy         X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Chronic X X X X                                                
Types of Pollution:                                                        
Mining X X X X X                                              
Industrial X X X X X X       X X X         X                      
Municipal X X X X     X X   X X X         X X     X              
Agricultural X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
History of Fish Kills X X   X X           X X             X         X X X X X
pH 7.4 7.6 7.6 8.0 7.6 7.9 7.9 8.4 8.4 8.0 8.3 7.8 8.6 8.4 8.4 8.8 8.0 7.8 7.8 8.0 8.0 8.1 8.1 7.6 7.9 8.0 8.0 8.0
Alkalinity 170 176 170 174 176 180 160 280 176 180 176 158 200 210 244 200 224 212 235 214 200 220 220 162 170 198 192 170
Transparency (Secchi-in) 13 14 14 14 12 7 8 4 3 4 8 4 14 14 4 14 8 5 14 4 6 6 6 7 4 6 6 6

*Electro-fishing gear not used at this station

Sampling for this study is conducted between July 11 and October 19. A total of 11,917 fish are collected, consisting of 50 species and 3 hybrid species (Table 33). The gizzard shad is the most common, making up 34.3% of the total. The largemouth bass is the second most numerous at 15.5% of the total catch, carp is third at 12.0%, followed by black crappie at 6.1%, and bluegill at 5.2%.