Busch Update and Questions

[HavingTheBigTime]

Hello All,

I've been fishing Busch lakes 35 and 33 from the bank recently, with good success. On lake 33, I had the most luck on the northeast corner very close to the turnaround with a 2" Electric Chicken tube with a chartreuse crappie nibble. The usual hundreds of 7"ers plus the occasional 1.5 lb-er to keep it interesting.

The time to be there is power hour between 7pm and 8:15, the crappie are currently going crazy on the mayflies and will attack anything on the surface. When that starts up I switch to a teeny, tiny Rapala floater. They will hit it extremely violently within moments of it touching down, and often snag foul. You can catch a limit in 30 minutes of smallish fish with this technique right now. It sure is fun!

On lake 35 I've been fishing from the dam. Facing the lake, a little bit to the right of the first "crappie bed" sign, there's a really nice submerged tree. You might see a floater where I, uh, totally intentionally marked the brush pile. Only the occasional hit, but they're much, much larger. I pikced up 3 good size crappie in about two hours during the day on april 27th. I imagine it's really, really good at dusk. The beauty of lake 35 is that the largemouth bass are also hitting hard, so you'll get the occasional surprise.

Does anyone have any experience with redear there at Busch? I've been wanting to try catching some and they should be picking up in a week or two. I've heard there are Master Angler sized fish to be had. If anyone has any idea of a past hotspot from one of the banks or jettys I'd be very grateful. Feel free to PM.

Here's a couple photos. These are all lake 33 fish, except for that nice bluegill which came from 35.

[dfar]

Congrats on your catches. Good report and nice pics. Thanks for sharing.

[HavingTheBigTime]

Tried lake 38 for the first time tonight. The dam is set up very similar to Lake 33, where you can just park right on your spot. Makes it really easy in-and-out. Fished midway down.

Caught about two dozen baby crappie and several big bluegill, and one 10" crappie in about two hours of fishing. Again with the 2" Electric Chicken tube on a 1/32 oz chartreuse eye jig head, with a chartreuse crappie nibble. Simple slow retrieve. Seems like a really nice lake, I might fish that one more often. I'll probably increase to a 1/16 oz jig with a bigger hook and tube.

[ripnlips]

Looks like a good time was had congrats and welcome.

[LSL Angler]

Thanks for the report and pictures. Everyone is always asking how Busch wildlife lake fishing is.

[south point]

welcome to the site from Washington. I gave up on those lakes years ago, but maybe I should go back and try again. judging by the pics, your ready for a fish fry!