Thread: wassup with butla???

Originally Posted by slabin

go fish it then you tell me what you think

What I think is that the "trollers" raped the lake so bad the past year that when the MDWFP did their 2012 fall electroshocking they found good numbers of white crappie in the lake.

What I also think is that its a joke that "trollers" are used as the crutch for every problem in crappie fishing. Low water levels were the problem last year and its not the first time nor will it be the last time that water levels are the problem. Please google the article from the Commercial Appeal as this very same thing happened to Arkabutla in 2007. Title of the article is: Drought of 2007 makes catching keepers tough at Arkabutla, Sardis.


But whatever u do please disregard this information and keep blaming the trollers cause its what u guys do best.

3-4 years they'll be back with a vengeance.

I just moved into the area. Been riding and checking it out. With all the good reports from the other big lakes I figured the crappie would be on the banks here also. Haven't moved my boat here yet. When I do I plan on fishing it.

Originally Posted by gcor

I just moved into the area. Been riding and checking it out. With all the good reports from the other big lakes I figured the crappie would be on the banks here also. Haven't moved my boat here yet. When I do I plan on fishing it.

Butla is a completely different lake from the other 3, others are starting to hold water and Butla wont till May 1st. Much smaller lake and more effected by an inch of run off from up stream.

I don't say much, but here it goes I have hear of people catching fish on Butla this year , I fished it last Saturday did fair 3 keepers out of 5 before wind picked up . notice most the coves has a lot of buck brush in them , I didn't even try to fish them . Lot of people that fish big 4 lakes won't say much, I know why I have read a fishing report on here and next day I was there along with 50 other people and didn't get a bit . Now I don't do that anymore. Only thing I look for now is what depth they catch them at. last year I found the fish at butla and had a good day , went back next day no luck.

Trollers killed the lake this summer when it got down to a ft below winter pool. Sad deal. Last yr in the middle of march we were catching huge females on butla right on the bank. It's gonna take several years to recover. This is coming from locals who have fished the lake for there whole lives.

Originally Posted by bird down

Trollers killed the lake this summer when it got down to a ft below winter pool. Sad deal. Last yr in the middle of march we were catching huge females on butla right on the bank. It's gonna take several years to recover. This is coming from locals who have fished the lake for there whole lives.

So glad you could join in the debate bird. I would give your opinion some value if you did not already despise trollers but since u do I think you opinion may be a little biased.

I also think its a sad deal that you accuse trollers of killing a lake when u are out doing the same thing with your single pole but only want to call trollers out on it.


Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

Originally Posted by Handicrappie

So glad you could join in the debate bird. I would give your opinion some value if you did not already despise trollers but since u do I think you opinion may be a little biased.

I also think its a sad deal that you accuse trollers of killing a lake when u are out doing the same thing with your single pole but only want to call trollers out on it.


Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

Information is a mighty sword.

Originally Posted by bird down

Trollers killed the lake this summer when it got down to a ft below winter pool. Sad deal. Last yr in the middle of march we were catching huge females on butla right on the bank. It's gonna take several years to recover. This is coming from locals who have fished the lake for there whole lives.

If you really talked to the locals who have fished the lake their whole lives, I'm sure you would get a different story. I fished it regularly from late-May til mid-Oct and think I have a pretty clear picture of what happened there last year. Lake was below winter pool depth from late May until July 10 when the Corp finally got the spillway closed all the way. We didn't get any rain during that time and the lake continued dropping cause the Corp could get the spillway closed all the way. Believe it had a chunk of tree lodged in it but that's another story. Lake rose back to winter pool depth by July 19 after they got the spillway closed but stayed fairly low all summer. You're right that crappie were easy to find and catch during the low water time but not many people were fishing it due to the really hot weather. I would estimate that the average number of people fishing it during that time was 10-15 boats, most of them had only one person and most were gone by noon due to the heat. It's hard to make a case that the lake was hurt really badly during that time cause there just wasn't much pressure on it. The lake did get hammered for three weeks in May but lake was still above 210 feet during that period. The game wardens down there estimated that about 10,000 crappie were taken out during that period.

The lake had risen to 213.5 in early September and crappie had really turned on starting right after Labor Day. There were a few more boats fishing during that time but still not a lot of pressure. Then we got a report posted on internet on September 14 or 15 with pictures and the lake filled up with boats. We went from a few boats to full ramps and 60-80 boats per day and the lake took a major pounding for about 4 weeks. I believe the estimate was about 25,000 crappie taken out during those four weeks.

It sounds good to blame the trollers during the time when lake was below winter pool but it just ain't so!