Thread: Lookin at Butla

Originally Posted by Gomer Snerd

just because a fish is a year older it is not for sure that he'll be bigger.

Are you serious? If so, you may want to work with us on habitat day so you can talk the the MS biologist.

Originally Posted by Handicrappie

What are you talking about? I simply posted wording from an article that explained why fishing was tough in the past. Please explain to me again why no fish under 12 are being caught. I missed your last explanation.

I will bite on this and try to give my opinion. I think the lake absolutely got pounded last summer by fisherman. I also think a good many fish died when the water got so low. I could smell them from the mud hole off of interstate 55. It may have been land locked at the time but that is the same fish that swim in butla. I think a lot of fish went through the spillway due to extremely low water. With that what is left? I honestly believe there is only 15 percent of the crappie population compared to the prior year. You take all that and then give them a place to hide and there you go. Fishing sux. Btw handi, the year you spoke of that water was so high I actually did really well. This year I have only been 4 times, in prime conditions, and caught one fish.

Originally Posted by bird down

I will bite on this and try to give my opinion. I think the lake absolutely got pounded last summer by fisherman. I also think a good many fish died when the water got so low. I could smell them from the mud hole off of interstate 55. It may have been land locked at the time but that is the same fish that swim in butla. I think a lot of fish went through the spillway due to extremely low water. With that what is left? I honestly believe there is only 15 percent of the crappie population compared to the prior year. You take all that and then give them a place to hide and there you go. Fishing sux. Btw handi, the year you spoke of that water was so high I actually did really well. This year I have only been 4 times, in prime conditions, and caught one fish.

I can respect that line of thinking. At least it is plausible as to why there are very few fish being caught whether or not they are over or under 12.

Oh My God y'all can't be serious another butlas done soap opera. There are crappie in there not saying you can catch em right now but they didn't all die and they didn't all go thru the spillway. For now tho bird u keep catching your 4 fish on Sardis and big c u stay mad cause everybody fishes more than you and handi you quit stirring the pot

Handi I'm not really pay attention sorry.pitts your right too I stay mad.Between St. Louis and these kids I'm going crazy.Handi I'm stopping at grizzly tomorrow I'm buying you a prize.

Originally Posted by Gomer Snerd

just because a fish is a year older it is not for sure that he'll be bigger.

There may be a situation where that logic applies, but it isn't Butla

That lake is so full of tiny shad you wouldn't believe it. The stained water color stunts their growth (the shad) a little and they make perfect crappie forage as such. When you filet a crappie at Butla it is normal for a pile of those little shad to fall out of the gut. Those are arguably the best fed crappie in the nation, and as Stan alluded that info is straight from Keith Meals mouth and backed up by my filet knife!!!

The breakdown they give on the big four is that Butla and Grenada have a similar ecosystem in terms of the shad having a slower growth rate, meaning multiple year classes of shad are small enough for crappie to eat, and therefore providing a better food source for the crappie, this is owing primarily to the stained water color. My guess is that the stained water inhibits algae blooms which are the forage for the shad themselves.
As far as Enid and Sardis, the water is somewhat clearer, the shad grow faster and provide a better forage base for Bass, meaning only the youngest shad are small enough for most crappie to forage on, which is why you will catch larger Bass at those 2 lakes and larger crappie at Butla and Grenada.

As far as ranking the lakes, I think a 12" crappie would be heaviest at Butla, then Grenada, Sardis and Enid last. That is why the 3 lbrs. come from where they do

13.5 inch fish from Sardis. It had 8 or so shad in it.

BD, I'm not saying that Sardis crappie don't eat shad, reread the post. I am saying that the shad stay smaller for a longer period of time in Butla and Grenada, meaning maybe 1-3 year classes of shad are in the crappie forage base, as opposed to only the youngest shad at Sardis and Enid.

What this means is that the crappie at Butla are able to eat shad from a younger age because they are smaller and the younger crappie can catch and swallow them. When a crappie gets to 13.5 inches it can eat and catch some of the larger shad anyway, but even then they have to expend more energy to catch those, especially in the clearer water at say Sardis or Enid where the shad are shooling more in open water and are much harder to catch.
At Butla, they are just sucking in mouthfuls of those little suckers and not burning any calories to catch them either. Just look at a Sardis crappie next to a Butla one, if they are the same length, ,the Butla fish will be thicker and probably about 20-25% heavier every time. Period. The Butla fish are so fat they almost feel squishy in your hand, especially if you've fished Sardis for a while and then go fish Butla, you notice the difference immediately on the first fish you catch.

Also, the Sardis shad in your picture are much larger than the ones I typically see crammed into the bellies of Butla fish. There will be about 10-15 minnow sized shad in there on a decent sized crappie from Butla, they look like they are full of eggs (bellies swollen) even in the summer.

You are free to disagree with what I wrote, but it is not an opinion, just reality. Like the electro fishing data cited so many times in these Butla threads lately.... And the historical data from old fishing reports during high water summers.
I have monthly reports from Butla dated back all the way to the mid 90's from MSHFN and every year there was high water in the summer (over 220), every report is the same - "fishing is tough, dead sea, nobody catchin, wait for the water to fall," etc. etc. I will add also, the guy supplying most of those reports is a devout single poler, if they were easy to catch in the trees and grass he would have found them. They just scatter, and it is giving the lake a good rest. Even when it gets high during the spawn, people complain about not catching fish, but those always end up being some of the best spawning years.

Butla is just tough to fish during high water.