Boys Lake

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This assessment was done in cooperation with Cook County water planning staff, as part of a water quality study on Mink, Kimball, and Boys Lakes. It was also done to monitor performance of stocked trout, and to determine whether yellow perch or rock bass had become established in Boys Lake.

Boys Lake lies at the head of the Kimball Creek watershed,above Mink and Kimball Lakes. Yellow perch were reported by anglers in Mink and Kimball Lakes in 2008, and were found in both lakes in fairly high numbers in assessments done in late summer 2009. In addition rock bass were found in Kimball Lake in 2009. By 2013, both species were abundant in both lakes.

Yellow perch were apparently abundant in Boys Lake in 2013. The gill net catch was above average for the lake class, and many small yellow perch were taken in minnow traps. Yellow perch may have provided some angling opportunities, since the gill net catch included fish as large as 12 inches in length.

No rainbow trout from any recent stockings were collected in 2013. There should have been fair numbers of fish from the 2011 stocking present, but none were taken. It appears that all stockings of rainbow trout in this lake since 2007 failed.

Although none have been stocked in this lake since 2006, the 2013 assessment, like the 2009 assessment, captured fairly high numbers of brook trout. The 2013 gill net catch exceeded the median (6.00 fish/set) for fall assessments of stream trout lakes in this area. Four year classes were represented in the catch, and all must have been naturally produced. Growth appeared to have been about average for the area, despite the presence of large numbers of yellow perch. Two-year-old brook trout reached an average length of 9.4 inches by the end of their second year.

Brook trout in Boys Lake must have been produced in or upstream of that lake, or have migrated to the lake from Kimball Creek. No brook trout have been stocked in any lakes connected to, or near, Boys Lake since 2006. There is a resident brook trout population in Kimball Creek, in areas below Kimball Lake and between Mink and Kimball Lakes, but brook trout have rarely been seen in Kimball or Mink Lakes (unless stocked). Regular stocking of Boys Lake with brook trout would have masked any evidence for prior movement of brook trout from Kimball Creek into the lake; however, if they've rarely been seen in Mink Lake, it seems unlikely that much higher numbers of brook trout would have moved all the way upstream into Boys Lake.

Natural reproduction, in Boys Lake or in one of its small inlets, may have occurred. There are known to be some springs in the north end of Boys Lake. Three inlets were identified in the 1974 survey; two were spring fed and one of those had some gravel present. Inlets to Boys Lake were examined in 2013, and temperature monitors were placed in the only two flowing inlets found (both in the NW corner of the lake. Flows in both inlets were low, but cool water temperatures in one suggested it was probably fed by springs or cool seeps. However, neither inlet seemed to provide any spawning habitat for brook trout (no gravel).

A temperature-oxygen profile obtained in Boys Lake on 27 August 2013 found conditions at the surface that may have been lethal for brook trout, while conditions at all depths would have been stressfully warm. Temperature monitors were deployed in Boys Lake, at depths of 1.7 and 6.6 feet above the bottom, from February 2013 through October 2013. Water temperatures that would have been stressful for brook trout (over 68 F) were recorded by the deeper of the two monitors during two prolonged periods: over the first two-thirds of July and the last half of August. Although temperatures were warmer near the surface (6.6 feet above the bottom), and periods of stressful conditions slightly longer, periods of potentially lethal temperatures were brief. Conditions in the lake appeared to have improved rapidly after 27 August. Relatively high brook trout catches seen in this September assessment indicated that brook trout were able to survive the warm lake conditions measured in 2013.

Boys Lake is scheduled to be rehabilitated for stream trout management in the fall of 2014, with the goal of eliminating yellow perch. All fish present at that time would be killed, and the lake would be restocked beginning in the spring or fall of 2015.

Are there any state parks near Boys Lake?