Crab Orchard Lake was once known as a "bass factory." But there came a time in the late 1990s when the bottom dropped out in terms of size and quality of the bass being caught and the fishery as a whole.

Subsequently, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) entered into a cooperative management agreement. The FWS continues to own the lake, while the DNR will continue to manage the fishery.

Crab Orchard Lake is a roughly 7,000-acre impoundment within the boundaries of the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge in the southwest corner of Williamson County near Marion. Two other lakes are found nearby in the refuge: Devils Kitchen (810 acres) and Little Grassy Lake (1,000 acres).

Crab Orchard Lake is known for being shallow and relatively without structure, except near the shoreline. The bottom is mostly clay and silt from Crab Orchard Creek, which feeds into it from the east.

The lake was probably in its poorest condition in 1999 to 2000. Around that time there may have been an outbreak of bass virus. This suspected virus could have contributed to larger bass dying in the summer. The virus was documented as being in the lake. But no dying fish were diagnosed as having died from the virus.

Biologists saw symptoms of the virus in 1999 and 2000. Over that time, it ran its course. When a virus runs its course, some of the fish that are left are immune to the disease. You have carriers, but you don't have anything that actually succumbs to the disease.

"In 2001, we had a public meeting at John A. Logan College in Carterville," explains Chris Bickers, a DNR District 22 fisheries manager. The meeting was well attended. "I think the attendance was good because the fish quality was poor."

There was a genuine interest among anglers in improving the fishing. Back then, the DNR proposed changing the bass limit from six per day, 15 inches long to three per day, 16 inches long. That would give the bass one more of year in the lake, one more year to spawn. Also, fishermen would take only half as many fish as they could before the limit. The change in regulations went into effect April 1, 2002.

DNR officials also met with refuge officials regarding fishing pressure. With numerous fish offs and tournaments, the FWS decided to limit bass tournaments and fish offs to one fish off per club per year. That is one on each of the three lakes within the refuge.

"I don't know if that was actually having an impact or not, but they decided to do it," explains Bickers. The dates on the three major tournaments also were moved back to earlier in the spring.

When bass are handled and placed in livewells, the warmer water causes higher mortality. Even if the bass are released alive after being stressed out in a livewell, they experience delayed mortality. They might die three or four days later.

The three major tournaments on the lake were moved to the middle of April, the middle of May and the first of June. They use to be about three weeks later. Bickers has found cooler temperatures make a big difference in the number of fish that survive.

The stocking of bass in the lake was stepped up. The DNR began stocking 7,000 to 10,000 fish from the Illinois fish hatchery each year. The stocking was increased to somewhere around 30,000 bass stocked per year, dependent upon the year. These are advanced fingerlings from 4 inches long up to 7 or 8 inches.