Another article about the LAKE from 1933.., Draining of Becks Lake .. Becks Lake was the original source of the Kankakee River in St. Joseph County, Ind. This account of its draining was published June 16, 1933, in The Tribunes Out-A-Doors column by George Stephenson -- The editor To finish a large sewer project in the western part of South Bend a few years ago, it became necessary to drain Becks Lake. The Izaak Walton League of South Bend became interested in saving the few fish that might be left in the lake as it was drained, although the water was considered fished out. They furnished a handful of workers, one truck, two landing fish nets and six milk cans to transfer the fish. From the time the water sank to the three-foot level until the pond was virtually dry, the tiny crew worked like Army Engineers constructing a bridge under enemy fire. The workers secured three more trucks and enough milk cans to run a dairy, and kept them busy day and night. Landing nets broke up like so much kindling. Only two milk cans could fit into a boat at one time, and two dips of an ordinary hand net filled a can to capacity. Dip the net any place, and it filled with so many fish, the workers had to grab it with both hands at the rim or they couldnt lift it out. Occasionally something would hit the net and nearly ruin things. But that turned out to be carp, which were well taken care of the last night. The largest bass I caught weighed slightly more than 5 pounds, but one of the other workers reported a pair of 6 pounders. In a deep pocket of water made by the drainage, 2- and 3-pound bass jumped into the boats in wild efforts to get away. Bluegill and bass were in the majority, with a few perch and thousands of small grass pike. The workers left the grass pike to die since grass pike destroy other game fish. Toward the end, they lost a few bass because of the muddiness of the water. Between 10 that night and 2 the next morning, the crew brought into camp every carp in the lake. They started using pitch forks, but that proved too slow; it was easier reaching down and tossing them into the boat. They filled a boat in 10 minutes work, the fish averaging from 3 to 25 pounds in weight, then shoved the boat to shore. Men not on the crew were allowed to take the carp from the boats for their use. They were not made to pay 11 cents per pound live weight as planned, but had they done so, the Izaak Walton chapter could have paid cash for a new summer resort. The crew placed the bass, bluegill and perch into the milk cans and hauled them off to Hudson Lake, Chain OLakes, Chamberlain Lake and several others. After the first few days, the fish did not remain in good enough condition to go far, so it became necessary to dump them quickly into nearby water -- unfortunately not being able to meet many lakes requests. All in all, 117,000 game fish were transferred, and fewer than 500 of them died after reaching their new homes. As for the workers, it was weeks before any of them wanted so much as to see a fish in a fish market.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 00:55:06 +0000
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