November, 1954 
spaces on the outside. Any fin mark 
(clipped fin) was noted, both on the fish- 
ing permit card and on the scale envelope. 
After all pertinent data were recorded, 
the fisherman was given his state license 
and the legal-sized fish of his catch and 
allowed to make a future reservation. 
Fishermen were very co-operative, once 
the system was known, particularly those 
who lived within a radius of a few miles 
and fished the lake often. 
Previous to 1946, fishermen were not 
allowed to take largemouth bass of less 
than 10 inches. But in 1946 and follow- 
ing years, they were asked to bring in all 
bass, as well as all bluegills, they caught, 
regardless of sizes. Bass of less than 10 
inches in length were not considered in a 
fisherman’s limit of 10 legal-sized fish; so 
that a fisherman was allowed to catch 
and bring to the boat dock 10 legal-sized 
bass and any number of illegal-sized ones. 
The bass of less than 10 inches in length 
were left with the census taker at the 
boat dock. No creel limit was placed on 
bluegills, but no one fisherman ever ex- 
ceeded the Illinois Fish Code limit of 50 
in a single day. Since July 1, 1939, there 
has been no length restriction on bluegills 
taken by fishermen in Illinois. 
Prior to 1945, the use of live minnows 
for bait was prohibited by regulation at 
Ridge Lake. This regulation, the object 
of which was to prevent the introduction 
into the lake of undesirable species of 
fishes, resulted in much _ dissatisfaction 
among fishermen. In 1945, and thereafter, 
fishermen were allowed to fish with live 
minnows after their minnow buckets had 
been inspected at the boat dock for young 
carp, suckers, and goldfish, which were 
removed when found. 
The periods in which the lake was 
open to public fishing during the years 
1942 through 1950 (this report does not 
extend into the 1951 fishing season) were 
as follows: 
1942—June 17 through October 31 (5 
days a week, but fishermen were present 
on the lake on only 15 days in September 
and October) 
1943—No public fishing 
1944— August 9 through October 1 (5 
days a week) 
1945—June 20 through August 31 (5 
days a week) 
BENNETT: LaRGEMOUTH Bass IN RIDGE LAKE 231 
1946—April 6 through August 31 
(week-ends, 2 days a week, during April 
and May; 5 days a week in other months) 
1947—June 11 through August 31 (5 
days a week) 
1948—June 10 through August 29 (5 
days a week) 
1949—June 15 through August 31 (5 
days a week) 
1950—June 15 through August 31 (5 
days a week) 
The Draining Census 
In March of 1943, and thereafter at 
intervals of 2 years (1945, 1947, 1949, 
and 1951), Ridge Lake was drained, the 
fish population was censused, and selected 
fish were fin-clipped and returned to the 
lake as soon as a sufficient amount of wa- 
ter had collected behind the dam. Through 
such an operation, the population was 
culled of small or otherwise undesirable 
fish. Draining was usually done during 
the latter part of March, when the water 
was cold and fish could be handled with 
little or no loss. In most years, spring 
rains could be counted upon to refill the 
lake basin within a few weeks, often be- 
fore the exposed bottom had had _ sufh- 
cient time to dry out below a_ surface 
crust. Only in 1949, when local spring 
rains were less than normal, did the lake 
fail to refill by May 15, following a 
March draining. In that year, the water 
covered an area of about 11 acres on June 
1 and remained practically constant until 
November. 
For the 1943, 1945, and 1947 censuses, 
a temporary fish screen was built, about 
100 yards below the dam, across the sec- 
tion of Dry Run Creek that served as 
the outlet channel for the lake, fig. 8. 
This screen was made of 1-inch-mesh 
poultry netting, two 4-foot widths long 
enough to extend across the outlet chan- 
nel. The two 4-foot widths were over- 
lapped 1 foot on one edge and fastened 
with small hog rings to make a single 
strip of netting 6 feet wide. One edge of 
the netting was supported 3 feet above 
the stream bed on steel fence posts driven 
at intervals across the stream channel; 
the free or lower edge of the netting was 
brought well upstream from the posts and 
staked in the bottom of a 1-foot trench 
