Students from Benton take part in effort to improve Rend Lake fishing

Rend Lake anglers need to get their GPS fish finders ready. The lake is about to grow a whole new batch of fish attractors.
On the last Saturday in February, the shop just behind the new Rend Lake Administrative Visitor Center was full of activity. Students from Benton Consolidated High School's agriculture classes were busy building about 100 crappie sets to place in the huge reservoir to attract and hold fish in ideal locations.
Benton High instructor Scott Page brought several students out from his ag classes to help pour concrete into cement blocks where they secured three sizes of plastic tubing in a pattern to mimic sunken brush and trees. The Corps of Engineers, in cooperation with IDNR fisheries personnel, already carries out a program of collecting and submerging natural Christmas trees in the lake to improve habitat that lacks deeper water structure. The officials and volunteers responsible have to refresh those sites every three years, however. Besides hiding crappie, these natural sets harvest a good many crappie jigs.
The habitat items the kids created will have a life span of around fifty years and will provide some great fishing for future anglers. The structures are called "spider blocks," and the teens were very efficient at creating the sets with an assembly-line process going in the Corps' big repair and machining building.
When submerged, the algae that grow on the tubes will provide a natural feeding and shelter area for fish of all sizes in the food chain. The added advantage of using the long-lasting plastic hose is that lures won't snag as readily as they do on natural underwater brush. The sets will consist of 20 to 30 of the spider blocks. Later on, other youth groups will be building "porcupine balls," which are collections of stiffer pipe in round shapes. These additional structures enhance the entire attractor location.
Ranger Tim Bischoff of the Rend Lake U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing the project with help from IDNR district fish biologist Mike Hooe, who has worked hard to improve all fisheries at Rend Lake. Adult volunteers will undoubtedly be involved in the placement process as well.
The Corps secured a $10,000 Reservoir Fisheries Habitat Partnership Grant through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The funds will have a big impact in improving the quality of fishing on Rend Lake. Bischoff was very pleased with the grant, the student volunteers, and the contribution of scrap pipe and whole rolls of conduit to provide the size of attractor strands necessary. Clearwave Communications donated scrap plastic conduit and some entire rolls of smaller gauge tubing.
When the clusters of fish attractors are placed in the lake, maps showing their location with GPS coordinates will be available to the public. One focus of this first series of habitat placement will be near areas that offer shoreline fishing access to deeper water, such as the rock-lined breakwater area in the Jackie Branch Cove on the west side of Rend just north of Route 154. The long reach of land out into the cove has been improved through mowing and phragmites removal as an ideal bank fishing location. Shoreline anglers who don't have or use a boat will find these attractors enhance their fishing. Other area,s such as the Sailboat Harbor and walk-in areas on the lake extending outward from the spillway cove, will also be considered.
The youth from Benton High took time out of their late-winter Saturday to improve fishing quality and access for anglers. Ranger Bischoff expressed appreciation for their work. All the adults involved seem to feel there are few better place for kids to be than the outdoors, especially when they are doing positive things. It's a sure thing that future fishermen will appreciate their efforts as well.