March, 1963 Larimore & Smith: Fishes of Champaign County 



357 



chubs, sunfishes, or bullheads. The 176 

 miles of Large Creeks provide good fishing 

 for anglers interested in catching chubs, 

 sunfishes, bullheads, and, in the spring, a 

 variety of suckers. The 58 miles of Small 

 Rivers produce large numbers of suckers, 

 sunfishes, bass, carp, and catfishes. The 

 lower Sangamon River is an especially 

 good fishing area for channel catfish, suck- 

 ers, and carp, and, according to Dr. Gold- 

 man, offers a better opportunity for an- 

 gling than any other stream in the county. 

 The lower Salt Fork is good for suckers 

 and carp ; channel catfish become impor- 

 tant a few miles before the stream leaves 

 the county. The Middle Fork in Cham- 

 paign County produces three species of 

 bass and the channel catfish. 



Creek chubs, hornyhead chubs, black 

 bullheads, yellow bullheads, several sun- 

 fishes, and many species of suckers can be 

 taken in most streams of the county. The 

 most commonly used baits are worms, 

 minnows, crayfish, and especially prepared 

 cheese baits, blood baits, and doughballs ; 

 relatively little casting is done with arti- 

 ficial lures. 



Approximately 125 ponds and small 

 lakes provide angling. These waters are 

 formed by artificial dams and by flooded 

 gravel and borrow pits. Most of the ponds 

 are privately owned. 



The fishes commonly found in these 

 ponds are the bluegill, green sunfish, red- 

 ear sunfish, orangespotted sunfish, war- 

 mouth, black crappie, white crappie, large- 

 mouth bass, black bullhead, yellow bull- 

 head, channel catfish, golden shiner, and 

 bluntnose minnow. 



Commercialized Sport Fishing 



Three privately owned lakes in Cham- 

 paign County have been licensed to oper- 

 ate as daily fee-fishing ponds. Great 

 numbers of fish are purchased from com- 

 mercial fishermen and fish dealers along 

 the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, on 

 some northern lakes, and even on Lake 

 Erie as far east as Ohio. These fish are 

 hauled alive by truck and released in the 

 fishing ponds at intervals during the fish- 

 ing season. Anglers pay a daily fee to 

 fish. Because the fish are of many spe- 

 cies and because some are brought from 

 distant waters, the ponds are potential 

 sources of species new to the streams of 



the county. The following species have 

 been taken from Champaign County fee- 

 fishing ponds: bowfin, bluegill, green sun- 

 fish, white crappie, yellow bass, carp, 

 channel catfish, brown bullhead, yellow 

 bullhead, black bullhead, largemouth bass, 

 quillback, gizzard shad, goldfish, and a 

 few minnows that probably were not de- 

 liberately introduced by the pond owners. 



Bait Collecting 



Large numbers of minnows suitable for 

 fish bait may be taken from many reaches 

 of Champaign County streams. Crayfish 

 also are taken from the streams. 



Although in 1959 there were no li- 

 censed wholesale minnow dealers in Cham- 

 paign County, there were eight retail 

 minnow dealers who sold minnows to 

 sport fishermen. Their minnow supplies 

 were either purchased from sources out- 

 side the county or were seined by the deal- 

 ers themselves from local streams. Because 

 of the great labor and cost involved in pro- 

 curing a sufficient number of minnows 

 from local streams, most dealers found 

 it more economical to purchase stocks 

 from wholesale dealers. 



Many fishermen take relatively small 

 numbers of minnows for their own use. 

 They may take bait from the streams with- 

 out a commercial fishing license in seines 

 not larger than 6 feet deep and 20 feet 

 long and having a mesh of one-half inch 

 or less. Many fishermen have favorite 

 minnow "holes" where they can seine 

 enough minnows for a 1-day fishing trip. 

 Such small-scale bait collecting is a jus- 

 tifiable use of minnows and does not en- 

 danger the natural populations. 



SUMMARY 



1. Two investigations of fishes in the 

 streams of Champaign County, Illinois, in- 

 vestigations approximately 30 years apart 

 (modal years 1899 and 1928), provided 

 an incentive for a third investigation, in 

 1959, aimed at evaluating the effects of 

 ecological changes that occurred over a 

 period of approximately 60 years in an 

 area that included both intensive farming 

 and urbanization. 



2. In less than a century, most of 

 Champaign County was converted from 

 marshy prairie to well-drained farmland. 

 In recent years, population growth and 



