Location: Located in Central Illinois, the Rice Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area lies adjacent to the Illinois River, 4 miles south of Banner, Illinois, along Route 24 in Fulton County.

Description: The Big Lake section of the Rice Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area is a very shallow backwater of the adjacent Illinois River.

Currently, Duck Island Main Lake is connected directly to Big Lake. Due to the annual inundation of Big Lake and then Rice Lake by the Illinois River and summer water level drawdown for moist soil plant management, fish species management on this small scale is a difficult objective. The associated sedimentation, loss of lake water volume, annual introduction of carp species and the loss of aquatic plants have all negatively impacted the sportfish habitat present in the Rice Lake SFWA Complex. However annual documentation of the fish populations is very important in our understanding of how these backwater lakes function with the Illinois River. The water quality of the Illinois River has drastically improved over the last twenty years, and with this improvement, the fish community has also drastically improved. The key for the future will be the restoration of habitat. In the Illinois River valley, Rice Lake and Anderson Lake are two of the deepest lakes that remain and are predicted to have the longest “half-life” of the remaining bottomland lakes.

The current emphasis on habitat restoration in the Illinois River valley is a strong reason to continue and maintain the fish population documentation in these two lakes. Restoration projects need baseline data, and data that shows the historical potential of the resource, if a good comprehensive project is to be completed. Future backwater lake restoration projects should continue to complement the function of the Illinois River ecosystem and not be focused on single-minded management goals. The data collected now will be needed to evaluate and improve the design for future restoration projects.

The current fishery in Rice Lake is definitely hindered by the lack of deep water habitat for the winter and the summer stress periods. An accessible deep water refuge of 7 to 10 feet of water in approximately 20% of the Rice lake/Big lake complex would be a goal for a future restoration project at this site. The current function of the site is not always beneficial for the fishery of the Illinois River and often may be a death trap.

The Duck Island Main Lake contains a deep water gravel pit that could be utilized now that this 1200 acre land parcel has been obtained by the State of Illinois. This 166 acre lake has a maximum depth of 23.5 feet and an average depth of 10.2 feet at the drawdown level in Big lake.
with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was undertaken after the state’s land acquisition of Duck Island was been completed.
The 2008-2011, and 2013 fish surveys of the Duck Island Main Lake showed a much higher diversity and sportfish density compared to the surveys in 2003-2005 and 2012. The density of silver carp has remained very high since 2005.

History and Status of the Sport Fishery: The largemouth bass, bluegill and black crappie populations had been collected at good densities with good body condition ratings until 2012 and then decreased through 2013. In 2016 thru 2019, their levels have increased and reflected an improvement. From 2021 thru 2024 the black crappie and largemouth bass numbers have all decreased, while the white crappie has remained consistently low.

The buffalo, common carp and Asian carp populations continued to be present at high densities and selectively sampled due to the high biomass that was present for sampling.

In 2005, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2016 thru 2023 both grass carp and silver carp were sampled.

In 2019, 37 species were sampled and represent a backwater/riverine fish community. This level is the highest in the past 20 years. Since the 2003 survey, over 40 different species have been collected in the annual surveys.

In early July 2003, a severe fish kill occurred in the drawdown
water basin of Rice Lake. A conservative estimate of 38,044 fish were killed due to low dissolved oxygen and high-water temperatures. The main fish species in the kill were common carp, bighead carp, brown bullhead, black bullhead, bigmouth buffalo, gizzard shad, freshwater drum, mosquito fish, white crappie, channel catfish and shortnose gar.
No fish kill was observed in 2004.

In late July and early August 2005, repeated low dissolved oxygen fish kills occurred on Rice Lake. Most of the fish killed were large Asian and common carp. The estimated total number killed was 50,000.

And a low D.O. fish kill was noted in Rice Lake in late May

2018. Fish kills have now been documented on almost an annual occurrence in mid-summer in Rice Lake from 2018 thru 2023.

No fish kill occurred in Big Lake or the attached gravel pits during these same time frames. These fish kills indicate that once again, that without a deepwater refuge and/or escapement and with the current water level management, Rice lake will serve as very poor habitat for aquatic life. The proposed HREP project was supposed to alleviate this problem, however all the project features were not completed as designed!

The high-water levels have historically been a positive for the sportfish and the overall fish communities in the backwaters along the Illinois River. However, 2017 and 2018 had very low late summer water levels after very high spring levels, and the trend was not so positive for the Rice Lake section of the complex.

Contact Information:
Rice Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area
(309) 647-9184
IDNR Fisheries Biologist, Rob Hilsabeck
(309) 370-5296