BENTON, IL- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District will be installing 100 new fishing structures in the Jackie Branch Boat Ramp area. The staff at Rend Lake will partner with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to install 50 spider bocks and 50 porcupine balls along the shoreline and breakwater in the cove. This will improve fishing from both the shoreline and by boat.
The new habitat improvement program, in addition to the yearly installation of donated Christmas tree sets, has been prompted by a $10,000 grant from the Reservoir Fisheries Habitat Partnership Grant and the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service. The grant has allowed Rend Lake to purchase the supplies needed to build 700 spider blocks and 150 Porcupine balls. This will improve over 28 more locations with structure for the fish to hide in. Half of these locations will address improving popular shoreline fishing locations.
The team will meet at 0830 on Friday, June 16th in the Jackie Branch Boat Ramp parking area. By 0900, they should be ready for the first trip out. We expect the installation to take a total of 4 hours. Jackie Branch Boat Ramp is located on the north side of Hwy 154 and is the first Corps recreation area west of the lake heading towards Sesser from I-57. Please contact the Rend Lake Project Office if you need further directions.
Photographs and video should be possible from the shoreline and from the habitat barge doing the installation. The Corps of Engineers will have life jackets for those who want to go out on the boat.
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For more information, email the Rend Lake Project Office & Visitor Center at [email protected] or phone 618-724-2493.
For more information on Rend Lake, visit the Rend Lake Homepage at, www.mvs.usace.army.mil/rend and Facebook site at Rend Lake Project Office/ Visitor Center.
