SHELBYVILLE, Ill.—Camping at Lake Shelbyville in early June for the high school bass fishing finals reminded me what a multi-use lake it is. Shelbyville was once the destination for Illinois muskie, then numbers and size dissipated before beginning a slow rebound.
“We made some recent changes to our stocking practices that have shown to be successful at Lake Shelbyville, and we’re beginning to see a healthy population of muskie in the lake again,” fisheries biologist Jim Garavaglia emailed.
Now muskie and walleye time is in the tailwaters around winter drawdown.
The flood-control lake on the Kaskaskia River in Shelby and Moultrie counties, was dedicated Sept. 12, 1970. The Army Corps of Engineers list 11,100 acres in its many fingers and coves.
“There’s a lot of crappie in the lake,” said Big John Wright, who fished more tournaments than anyone on Shelbyville. “The bigger ones are caught on the north end. Numbers are good on the south end. Bass are coming back as more structure is put in the lake.”
Since the Lake Shelbyville Fish Habitat Alliance (see Facebook) formed in 2017, more 2,000 artificial structures and more than 350 tons of offshore rock pile habitat have been added. Artificial habitat maps are at mvs.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/Lake-Shelbyville/Recreation/Fish-Attractor-Maps/.
Wright mainly fishes crappie and bass, but he does walleye when they turn on. Crappie anglers pile into Shelbyville from mid-March to mid-May. Wright likes fishing crappie later in the year, “fishing them deep when they are piled up out there.”
“Since they put all those structures in, a person can just about catch them any time,” said Steve Summers, who started as gate attendant for the Corps in 1973 summers while a teacher and ended up retiring in 2013 after 25 years as head of the Corps visitor section overseeing all rangers.
“I don’t have hard numbers to be able to say what species draws the most anglers, but I know that I’ve spoken with or seen reports of anglers from Chicago fishing for crappie, white bass, largemouth bass, walleye, sauger, and muskie,” Garavaglia emailed. “One of the wonderful things about Lake Shelbyville is that there are plenty of different species to target, and no matter the time of year there are usually at least a few different species biting!”
Shelbyville offers many miles of bike rides and hosts major cycling events.
“Camp just about time the leaves change; a lot of days are balmy, nights are cool,” Summers said. “I tell you right now, people who don’t come in fall are missing out.”
