A group of southern Illinois fishermen pulled more than one ton out of Lake Kinkaid over the weekend.

None of it was fish.

On Saturday, the Shawnee Muskie Hunters Club cleaned around the coast of Lake Kinkaid and managed to pull out more than a ton of garbage in less than four hours.

The group accomplished this feat during its third-annual lake cleanup amidst cold and rainy weather. Twenty-four people volunteered and 10 boats were used to carry people to different areas of the lake’s 92-mile shoreline.

During the cleanup, the group found numerous car tires, lawn chairs, diapers and an old, medium-size television.

Cheryl Ford, a member of the club, said she found 10 cigarette lighters while she cleaned.

“The variety from leg hair remover, pudding bottles to plastic bobbers and aluminum cans – almost every bit of it could be recycled,” she said while picking up trash in the knee-deep lake water.

Ford, a retired Air Force technician, said she participated in the cleanup to ensure better fishing conditions.

“It makes me feel good that I get to clean some of it,” she said. “That way, I don’t have to look at it the next time I’m out fishing.”

Ford wore her brown water waders during the cleanup. She said the mud and thick brush she walked through didn’t bother her, but the inability to walk in her restrictive waders did.

Not everyone was as accustomed to the adverse conditions of the lake. Walt Krause, a fifth-year member of the group, said the surroundings make the cleanup difficult.

“Getting through the brush, those overhanging limbs and everything else, made it tough – and the rain didn’t help,” he said.

Krause said his boat was completely filled with garbage when they finished, but more work needed to be done.

“If we had 200 boats out here, we still wouldn’t make a dent,” he said.

Moby Barringer, an eighth-grader from Murphysboro, described the conditions as cold, muddy and miserable. He said he spends time at the lake during most summers, and the garbage is a common sight.

“When summer comes around, (the trash) will probably be back again,” he said.

The Shawnee Muskie Hunters Club fishes for muskies – the biggest type of fish found in Lake Kinkaid – all year-round, said Jim Beaty, the organizer of the cleanup. The club has about 18 members.

Jerry Ford, a first-year group member, decided to fish while his wife was cleaning on the coast because someone had to wait in the boat so it wouldn’t drift away. He said some of the garbage wasn’t left by regular visitors and campers.

“A lot of people dump out here. It’s kind of a shame,” he said. “I don’t know why they would want to take the time and hassle just to bring their trash to the lake to dump it.”

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