Whats The Dept Of Conservation Deal

[Greasy B]

With the exception of the trout parks I can't imagine any small waters getting more pressure than Busch. It's hardly worth going now, if it were any less restrictive they might as well close it.

[WHARFRAT]

Don't knock Busch. You got to take it for what it is. It serves a purpose for all types of fishermen. It's not far from my house in St.L and I don't mind plucking down the 5 bucks for a leaky jonboat. People that frequent there know what to expect.

Sure I wouldn't mind being able to put in my own jon boat, kayak or bellyboat. But those are the rules and I accept it.

To say its now worth going,,,,, depends on your expectations. I know people that catch some really nice bass out there. Spring and Fall I can catch all the crappie I want.

Seems like the majority of people catfish from the banks, and there are quite a few lakes that are stocked weekly.

Yeah it does get a lot of pressure, but you can still have a good time.

[blue79]

JamesAReed was always pounded hard and they were always draining the lakes and Barney Fife was always asking for my FL.It was worth the $5 to rent their boat and get the lures out of the trees and then go to the next lake and get more.I dont live up there no more so i will tell you i used to find alot of mushrooms there when they popped up.

[WHARFRAT]

It was worth the $5 to rent their boat and get the lures out of the trees and then go to the next lake and get more

That's Great!!!!

[blue79]

I got alot of lures in a couple of years.The last time i was there the office had a big display of lures that were sold for charity for kids or something like that.I havent been there for atleast 10-15 years but the way i looked at it was city folk dont know how to fish cause there was so much stuff in the trees.Looked like a bunch of christmas trees with all the stuff hanging on-em.

[jdmidwest]

Controlling invasive species on Busch Wildlife area is a hoot. If anything, they are preventing you from taking any of the toxic stuff out of the old munitions dump.

[Jerry Rapp]

trying to prevent "invasive" species of any kind to invade into a waterway is an effort in futility. Unless we eliminate all water fowl (ducks, geese, herons, etc). The dreaded flying carp DNA has already been found in Lake Michigan, although billions have been spent trying to stop it and study how to prevent it. I was part of a multi million dollar study to "prevent" zebra mussels from invading further back in the 90's. Hell, the biologists couldn't even come up with a paint/coating to prevent them from attaching to water intakes, dam machinery, etc. But..... if they had more money they could do more research. And yet today the Z's are making fishing better according to many sources. You got to love tree huggers. Sometimes you just have to live with it and adapt. Thank God there were no Greenies when the dinosaurs roamed. We would be dodging T Rex's instead of deer(and Elk).

[Wayne SW/MO]

JAR has always been that way, long before invasive were seen as problems. Wrench is right, it was always about allowing maximum usage by a large population.

[mjk86]

Busch is in my opinion an incredibly under rated fishery. Lake 35, and lake 33 have excellent numbers of 18inch+ fish. I have caught several 4+lb fish from lake 35, never fished 33 hard, but its supposed to be an even better big bass lake. You will certainly have to wade through a dozen dinks though. Milfoil is all over lake 35, in the summer time. It is almost unfishable by july. Busch gets a bad rap, cuz it gets hit really hard, but its hit hard by mostly sub-par fisherman. It really does produce very nice bass, and crappie.

[drew03cmc]

Hi

I am a small water fisherman and an avid Float tube fisherman. Whats the deal on some conservation area's. James A Reed= no camping, no private boats or float tubes. But you can rent(pay) for dept boats,usually rowing john boats. How can folks properly fish these, besides ground pound fishing, now that's fishing unfreindly. And what about August Bush near St. Louis, have you seen those regulations? Usually only 2 bass on all these area's, makes it worth the trip right. Now I know I'm complaining, but I have fished other states with their kind fishing regs, Kansas is wonderful.. So my ask is why of these things are allowed in Missouri where I live? Any answers from anyone?

Kansas is wonderful? Do you fish rivers at all? Not in Kansas you don't. The access laws suck, management isn't great and our licenses are about 65% more per year than Missouri with less available water. I don't mind our small lakes, they fish well, but I want river access.