Lily pads frustrate anglers in Moline park

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By Dustin Lemmon | Saturday, September 6, 2008 12:58 AM CDT | () comments

Lilipads cover the surface of the Riverside Park pond in Moline, Ill. (Andrew Link/Quad-City Times) Buy this Photo

Lily pads have taken over the pond at Moline’s Riverside Park, and fishermen are getting frustrated with the broad-leaved plants.

City officials say they don’t have enough money to dredge the pond this year, but Mayor Don Welvaert wants to find a solution soon.

“I’m going to push extra hard to get Riverside pond cleaned up this winter, so the lily pads are gone by next spring when it’s time to go fishing for the kids,” Welvaert said.

The small pond is located between 4th and 5th avenues, just east of 27th Street.

Milt Hand, Moline’s director of parks and recreation, said dredging the pond to a depth of 9 feet could cost up to $700,000.

“The big issue is funding,” he said. “It needs to be dredged, that’s obvious.”

Welvaert said the detention pond used to be several feet deep, but over time has filled in with silt. For many years, the city used a backhoe, but it couldn’t reach the center of the pond where it’s now about 2 feet deep, an ideal depth for the lily pads.

While the pond still has fish, it’s difficult to cast a fishing line with all of the plants in the way, Margaret Pankey, owner of Carbon Cliff Bait and Tackle Shop, said.

“I’ve had a lot of (customers) say they can’t fish there because of the lily pads,” Pankey explained.

She said the pond was a favorite for many customers.

“There are a lot of elderly people who like to fish there, and I used to recommend it to people who have young children because it’s level there and there aren’t a lot of hills,” she said.

Welvaert said it’s possible the city could dredge the pond to a lesser depth, maybe 6 feet, for about $500,000.

“That’s just kind of an estimate, if you will, of what it might cost to do that,” the mayor said, noting they haven’t taken bids.

Hand said the city has done a full dredging of the pond twice, but not since 1992 when they removed 3,000 yards of materials. In the 1980s, they also dredged the pond after someone found a pacu, which they mistook for a piranha, Hand said.

He said if the pond is dredged, the fish will be picked up as the water is removed and will be relocated.

The City Council discussed the cost of the work at a budget study session this week, but didn’t reach any consensus on what to do.

Welvaert said the city considered using chemicals to kill the lily pads, but that would also kill the fish.

“We’ll wait and see where the funding comes from,” the mayor said.

In the meantime, ice skaters might be the next group affected. When the lily pads die off this winter, Welvaert expects them to get caught in the ice.

“There is a lot of vegetation out there right now,” Welvaert said. “I’d be very hesitant to say it will be available for skating.”

Dustin Lemmon can be contacted at (563) 383-2493 or dlemmon@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.