Beaver Lake, at 330 acres, was sampled by electrofishing in October 2006. Cronin said they only sampled a small number of fish, but they were of very good quality. "This leads me to believe the quality of the crappies is very good," he said. The survey backed this up. Around 77 percent of the fish collected were above 9 inches and 66 percent were above 10 inches. With this sampling done last fall, this is probably a fair assessment of the fishery for this spring because they would not have added much growth over the winter.

All of the lakes on this property are old mining pits and are typically steep-sided and clear. Beaver Lake does have a good deal of variation in depth, however. Anglers can usually look at the slope of the banks and determine the location of some of the shallower areas on these impoundments.

Beaver Lake also has a good amount of woody structure in the form of stumps and logs. Christmas tree bundles have been placed in Eagle Lake, and they are marked on a map available at the site office. One other lake anglers may want to target on the property is Cottonwood, because it's a "sleeper."

The site office can be a big help for angler information, but there are times when no one is home. Anglers may want to call the nearby DNR office at Baldwin Lake from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, and sometimes on weekends, at (618) 785-2555. For area lodging information, start by going to the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce's Web site at , or call (217) 522-5518 or (312) 983- 7101.

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So, if you want to try something different this spring and avoid the crowds on our large lakes, think small for big crappies!