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ILLINOIS WCIA) — The Illinois Department of Public Health has updated its annual advisory on sport fish consumption, and a lake in Central Illinois is among the latest additions.
Wavery Lake in Morgan County was added to IDPH’s Illinois Site-Specific Fish Consumption Advisories list. This is part of a yearly update by IDPH of advisories related to the consumption of sport fish caught in Illinois waterways. These advisories are based on routine testing conducted by the Illinois Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program.
Additionally, IDPH maintains an interactive Fish Advisory Map that includes consumption advisories for over 100 publicly accessible bodies of water across the state — including many in Central Illinois. The advisories detail how often specific kinds of fish from a number of waterways can be consumed without posing a health risk.
According to the IDPH, there are currently no known immediate health hazards from eating contaminated fish from any in-state body of water, but there are concerns about the effects of long-term exposure to polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and methylmercury in fish.
Additional information about this can be found on the IDPH website.
“Fishing in Illinois is a terrific recreational activity that often leads to delicious and nutritious meals,” said IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra. “To make sure those catches are the safest possible, please visit IDPH’s Fish Advisory Map to get the most up to date information on Illinois’s consumption advisories.”
Specifically, under this year’s advisories, the five bodies of water added to the list include Duck Creek Lake, Schuy-Rush Lake, Rock Run Rookery, Waukegan South Harbor and Waverly Lake in Morgan County. Advisories for six bodies of water have been updated as well, with the majority of updates associated with mercury and continued PFAS testing, which was incorporated into the statewide monitoring in 2023.
Those bodies of water include:
- Cedar Lake
- Chaminwood Lake
- Dongola Lake
- Dutchman Lake
- Illinois River (partially in Morgan County)
- Wolf Lake and Indian Creek
On top of that, advisories were relaxed in four bodies of water including Big Muddy River, Lake Bracken, Monee Reservoir and Randolph County Lake. More details on these changes can be found here.
The Central Illinois bodies of water on the IDPH advisories list include:
| Water Body and County | Fish Species | Size | Non-Sensitive Population | Sensitive Population | Chemical of Concern |
| Crystal Lake (Champaign County) | Largemouth Bass | All Sizes | 1 meal/week | 1 meal/month | Mercury |
| Embarras River (Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Jasper, Lawrence and Richland Counties) | Crappie | All Sizes | No Advisory | 1 meal/week | Mercury |
| Evergreen Lake (Mclean County) | Crappie *Largemouth Bass | 10″ or Longer *19″ or Longer | No Advisory *1 meal/week | 1 meal/week *1 meal/month | Mercury |
| Illinois River (Brown, Cass, Calhoun, Fulton, Greene, Jersey, Mason, Morgan, Peoria, Pike, Schuyler, Scott and Tazwell Counties) Peoria Dam to Mississippi River NEW ADVISORY | Black Crappie *FRESHWATER DRUM **Bighead Carp ***Channel Catfish | All Sizes *ALL SIZES **All Sizes ***16″ or Longer | No Advisory *No Advisory **1 meal/week ***1 meal/week | 1 meal/week *1 MEAL/WEEK **1 meal/week ***1 meal/week | Mercury *MERCURY **PCBs ***PCBs |
| Kaskaskia River (Champaign, Coles, Douglas and Moultrie Counties) Above Lake Shelbyville | Common Carp | 18″ or Longer | 1 meal/week | 1 meal/week | PCBs |
| Kickapoo State Park (Vermilion County) | Largemouth Bass | All Sizes | 1 meal/week | 1 meal/week | Mercury |
| Lake Decatur (Macon County) | Channel Catfish, Common Carp *Flathead Catfish | All Sizes | 1 meal/week *1 meal/month | 1 meal/week *1 meal/month | PCBs *PCBs, Chlordane |
| Lake Fork Creek (Douglas and Piatt Counties) | Common Carp | All Sizes | 1 meal/week | 1 meal/week | PCBs |
| Lake Jacksonville (Morgan County) | Largemouth Bass | 15″ or Longer | 1 meal/week | 1 meal/month | Mercury |
| Lake of the Woods (Champaign County) | Largemouth Bass *Common Carp | All Sizes | 1 meal/week | 1 meal/month *1 meal/week | Mercury *PCBs |
| Lake Sara (Effingham County) | Largemouth Bass | 14″ or Longer | 1 meal/week | 1 meal/month | Mercury |
| Lake Taylorville (Christian County) | Channel Catfish | 21″ or Longer | 1 meal/week | 1 meal/week | Chlordane |
| Little Wabash River and Tributaries (Clay, Coles, Edwards, Effingham, Gallatin, Richland, Shelby, Wayne and White Counties) | Bluegill, White Crappie *Common Carp, Largemouth Bass, Spotted Bass, Yellow Bullhead, Smallmouth Buffalo | All Sizes | No Advisory *1 meal/week | 1 meal/week *1 meal/month | Mercury |
| Pana Lake (Shelby County) | Crappie *Largemouth Bass | All Sizes *16″ or Longer | No Advisory *1 meal/week | 1 meal/week | Mercury |
| Sangamon River (Cass, Macon, Mason, Menard and Sangamon Counties) Lake Decatur to Illinois River | Channel Catfish | Less than 21″ *21″ or Longer | 1 meal/week *1 meal/month | 1 meal/week *1 meal/month | PCBs |
| Spring Creek – Sangamon River Basin (Sangamon County) | Common Carp | All Sizes | 1 meal/week | 1 meal/week | PCBs |
| Vermilion River – Wabash River Basin (Vermilion and Champaign Counties) | Channel Catfish *Common Carp | 16″ or Longer *26″ or Longer | 1 meal/week | 1 meal/week | PCBs |
| Waverly Lake (Morgan County) NEW ADVISORY | COMMON CARP | ALL SIZES | No Advisory | 1 MEAL/WEEK | Mercury |
A statewide methylmercury advisory remains in place for all in-state waters in addition to the 2025 site-specific updates. The advisory cautions women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant, and children less than 15 years of age to eat at most one meal per week of predatory fish: bass, walleye and salmon.
