Peoria, Illinois — Birds and Fish

Yesterday we had a long travel day from Ottawa to Peoria, 80 miles. 

We started the day with one lock, which was uneventful, although we did have to raft up three boats. 

We went through some beautiful river scenery, but what really made our day was the wildlife.  

Remember the electric fish barrier in Lemont, Illinois?  Asian carp are the fish they are trying to stop from heading farther north.

One of the locals here in Peoria told Fred that the Asian carp jump all the time and land on their swim decks. They are slimy and get blood everywhere!  He says you can’t just pick them up as they slide out of your hands, so you have to pick them up in a towel and throw both towel and fish overboard. 😱 

Because the carp are here, the Illinois River now has American White Pelicans who eat the carp. There were literally thousands of white Pelicans feeding on the Asian carp.

Here are videos of both the carp jumping in the boat’s wake and the Pelicans. 

Fish —  https://youtu.be/kqtOXfSHt78

Pelicans —  https://youtu.be/G9nym84QZxE

We also saw some duck blinds. For those of you unfamiliar with these, as I was, they are places hunters build to camouflage themselves so they can shoot the ducks. 

The sports fishermen here take their boats out in the river. The carp jump in their wake, and they try to shoot the jumping carp with an arrow. I’d try that!  Better than the carp sliming all over the back of the boat. 

We finally got to our marina in Peoria. Look what the sign says!

It is awesome to feel so welcome!  Taurus was the first of many Loopers to arrive for this Labor Day weekend.  Yesterday was wings and sliders at the on-site bar. So we took advantage and had dinner out for a change. We met a few of the Club members who all wanted to know about the Great Loop. 

Here is Taurus in the slip yesterday evening.

The Illinois River is the water behind the boats on the other side of the rock wall.

In 1945, the charter members of the Illinois Valley Yacht and Canoe Club created the harbor and marina. The Club is still going strong today. 

Back in the 1970’s an old barge just showed up in this marina.  I know, I questioned it, but that’s the story. No one alive knows what happened. Anyway, they turned this barge into a dock and it’s the party dock on weekends. The dock fingers between boats are hung from the roof that they added to keep it cooler in the summer. It’s on the left in the picture. Taurus is the second boat from the right on the other side (without a roof).

Due to a lack of rain this spring and summer, the water levels in this area are way down. Added to that, the tows with barges push silt towards the opening of the harbor. We kicked up silt coming in yesterday and will, undoubtedly, kick some up when we leave tomorrow.