On Saturday, March 31, 2012 The Waterfowlers set out to help clean the lake up for its 2nd annual trash clean-up. There were 18 individuals who put their boats in at Tamalco and Horseshoe boat ramps and picked up and filled two large dumpsters complectly full. CLWA would like to give a big thanks to the U.S. Army Coprs of Engineers for donating the dumpsters and taking many pictures of the event. We hope we can continue this new tradition each year. If anyone has any new ideas for next year please feel free to let us know.   

The 2011-12 hunting season has all but come to a close and many of us are ready for fishing and spring turkey hunting. We have a lot planned once again for 2012. Hopefully we have a dryer spring and early summer so the state can get some crops planted in the subs and around the lake. If weather permits the club plans on assisting the state in clearing brush in the subs sometime in July and August. If anyone has any new ideas for the area I encourage you to attend the spring meeting and share them. We also have the trash clean-up scheduled as well as the golf scramble again for 2012. We are always looking for new Members, Sponsors, and Volunteers to help with these events. For more information you can attend the spring membership meeting on March 22nd, 2012 at The Keys Restaurant in Keyesport. Have a great spring and summer.   Read More...

The Carlyle Lake Waterfowlers Association is pleased to announce the new youth program, and is looking forward to the upcoming year which is filled with new events to help promote and educate youngsters within our organization.  Furthermore, the youth program will help expand and open the door for any new young member that will like to get involved with the Carlyle Lake Waterfowlers.  Likewise, a great way to help jump start or new program would be to team up with IFOR (Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources), which has been successfully organizing a youth camps for the past 16 years at Carlyle Lake.

The IFOR camps help promote and educate children through many different activities involved with the outdoors. For example, some of the activities while at camp are: fishing, duck hunting presentations, horseback riding, archery, shooting events and much more.  This year, the event is scheduled to start the evening of Friday August 3^rd, and the campout will continue throughout the weekend.  Moreover, as conservationists, we need to all put forth the effort to help the young today find excitement with the outdoors, and instill in them our passion for wildlife.

Today, I look back on how I got involved with the outdoors, and I am thankful my dad and brother took the time to take me out on the water.    Even after all these years, I still find the outdoors to be one of my favorite pastimes, and I look forward to passing this onto future generations.  To this day when I am hunting with my older brother, he still lets me have the first shot… most of time.  Thanks for all your support and I look forward to seeing everyone at the next meeting.

Brian Stark   

By Bob Hammel, Site Supt.

Well, another duck season has come and gone and hopefully everyone was able to get out and go a few times.  Here at Carlyle Lake SFWA, like many other waterfowl sites in the state, it wasn’t the greatest season as far as ducks harvested.  But, then again it wasn’t the worst.  With a total of 6708 ducks being taken, it ranks 8^th in the last 12 seasons, with 2001 being at the top with 14,223 and 2008 in last place with 3310.

Not surprisingly, is the fact that the lowest five years of duck harvest have been ‘flood years’ here at Carlyle Lake.

Actually, the first 30 days of this year’s season was better than what I had expected with 75% of the year’s harvest being taken.  The last 30 days were about what I had expected and even though we received the milder temperatures we had hoped for to keep the ducks in the area, we didn’t expect such mild temps up north that kept the ducks from reaching us.  There were several times through the season that we had two or more days of north winds that simply did not produce a new flight of ducks.  It kept many hunters and biologists scratching their heads.  If you look at the bright side, at least you didn’t have to contend with ice this year.   Read More...

Come on out to The Keys Restaurant Thursday, March 22nd at 7:00 p.m. The Keys has great food, appetizers, and cold beer! Everyone is welcome to join the fun including kids of all ages. We will go over upcoming project goals for 2012, harvest data, and fund-raiser information. Hope to see you all there!!!   

On March 10th, 2012, the U.S. Army Corps will be having their annual X-Mas tree drop at The Allen Branch boat ramp located in Hazlet State Park. If anyone is interested in helping or providing a boat please contact the Corps Office at 618-594-2484.