Up And Down Success @ Busch This Year

[WHARFRAT]

As far as size goes, was one of the better years. I think numbers were down, plus didn't fish there too much during the heat.

I only fish for crappie. Myself and who ever I was fishing with, caught more fish 9" and larger. This bite has been better since Labor Day.

Started fishing the bank at 33 late January thru February. Didn't catch a whole lot, but wasn't catching the 6-7 inch crappie that normally bite on that lake.

When the boats came out, shifted to Lake 35 and it was either on or off. But, was catching 9 to 10" fish.

Fished a small lake, either 20 or 21, (some guy at the outpost said he was catching nice ones from the bank), thought I'd give it a try b/c one of my buddies wanted to take his kid out there for an hour or so and was looking for some action. We caught a lot of crappie, but none over 7.5". Maybe

Lake 38 in late spring didn't produce much, fished hard for about 5 hours and maybe caught a dozen fish. All but one was about 8" the good one was almost 11".

Tried 6 around that time, and nothing big, but a lot in the 8+" range. Don't remember anything getting to 9"

Also fished 36 the same day and caught more small bass than small crappie. That's not a bad looking lake, seems like it would be really good for crappie.

Early June before it got really hot, went back to 6 and 35. 6 was a bust, and 35 was still decent, but really mossy. Hard to get your boat thru. But where you could, we managed good fish in the 9" range. Not bad for Busch.

Didn't go back from middle of June until the Middle of August. Went by 35 and it was really low. So decided to fish 34. It was still pretty hot outside, and fishing stunk. Probably only caught 4 or 5 crappie in the 8" range.

Went back around Labor day when it cooled down a little, and 34 was pretty good to us. Caught a lot of crappie in the 8.5 to 9.5" range. Also hooked a couple of nice bass that you could have kept.

The last two weekends of Sept, fished 35. Started out one morning with a snake in the boat, but first 4 fish were 10" crappie. Thought it would be pretty good, but then the under 9's started showing up.

The last weekend was the best, Lots of 10" fish and one was 14.5". Best one in many years from Busch. My personal best at Busch is 15" on lake 33, but that was probably 20 yrs prior. Really hadn't caught one over 12 between those years.

So all in all, the size seems to be improving. I'm catching fewer and fewer of 6 - 7" crappie. Now the small ones seem to be 7.5 to 8". Don't know if thats a trend or what.

Didn't get to try 37 this year, just not enough time. Looks good for crappie, but I've never fished much for them at that lake. I don't know how long 33 will take to fill back up. Plus, not sure if they lost a lot of fish, (which could be a good thing). 33 is so full of small crappie it's not funny. I don't normally fish there unless it's with someone who doesn't care about size, just wants to catch fish. Hoping this change will help this lake.

Didn't try any of the C&R lakes. Only fished one of them once in the past and only caught bass, so don't know much about crappie in there.

Hope everyone else did good this year!

[gramps50]

Nice report, thanks

Do you rent boats at Busch or can you take your own?

[moguy1973]

You have to rent theirs. You can't bring your own. They do allow your own trolling motor though.

[gramps50]

You have to rent theirs. You can't bring your own. They do allow your own trolling motor though.

Thanks Jim

[BredMan]

Busch is a tough place to fish in general but a quick fix when you don't want to drive hours to fish somewhere else. I never expect too much and enjoy the few hours of fishing I usually get in. Although there are times that it can be very rewarding. One bad thing would be the seasonal biting critters (ticks, chiggers, and mosquitos). Seems to be an abundance of them.

[WHARFRAT]

Most of the time I rent boats. I do go out early in the year and walk the banks b4 they put out the boats. I did walk lake 6 during bug season, but when I do, I normally wear hip boots and spray myself down pretty good. Seems to work real good. I've learned the hard way, believe me. It can be bad for chiggers and ticks.

Not sure when they are taking up the boats. It's about time they take them all in. Which is a shame, The water temp is just right for some good action. I think 34 would be taking off right now. 35 is good, just have to fight the moss all the time.

[BredMan]

Yea, the moss is a problem on most of the lakes plus there are lots of sunken Christmas trees and cut cedar trees to get snagged on. Fish have plenty of cover in many of the lakes. This summer's drought provided a good view with the water being so low. I walked around lake-32 back in late August and the shallow end was completely dry. Exposed lots of old stumps and root wads where I have lost many lures over time and yes I scavenged around for lures. Mostly old line and weights without anything attached of any value.