Big Hill Update

According to the Independence District Fisheries Newsletter, Big Hill has not and is not expected to have any reported Largemouth Bass Virus kills. This is theoried to be a result of low densities of black bass.

Butler State Fishing Lake

Another favorite among Wichita bass fishermen, Butler SFL lies at the end of crisscrossing country roads, surrounded by the flint hills, about an hour away from central Wichita. The lake was built in 1955 and would probably be almost completely silted in if not for its renovations in 1980. The lake was drained for rehabilitation, refilled, restocked, and opened to the public a few years later. Since its rehabilitation, Butler has been known for its consistent population of 4+ lb fish and continues to yield impressive numbers in the fishing forecast year after year. It is one of ten state fishing lakes that the KDWP has rated as excellent for largemouth bass.
Despite good bass populations, Butler SFL is not a popular location for Kansas clubs and is consistently left off most schedules with the exception of a few small local clubs within an hour or two of the lake. This is probably due in part to the skinny dirt roads you must traverse to get to the lake and the small size (120 acreas) of the lake. I would recommend doing some research on google maps and getting some quarters for a car wash before heading out.
The boat ramp is decent, but the dock has many sharp, abrasive points that have fiberglass tearing potential written all over them. Watch out for those.
The lake generally has two to three feet of clarity, but can get muddy. It sports a healthy population of coontail and other types of aquatic vegetation including sparse lily pads in a few coves.
Past the big pier on the West end, the lake gets shallow and weedy, but the main body of the lake remains relatively deep. Depending on where you are, the bank generally drops to 8-10 feet fairly quickly.
Despite its close location to El Dorado Reservoir, Butler SFL has managed to avoid both zebra mussels and white perch. Judging by the way that these nuisance species have spread around Region 4 in the past few years, Butler's days nuisance specie purity are numbered. The fact that it has avoided them to this point adds further proof that Kansas bass anglers are not responsible for the spread of nuisance species, but that's another story. For now, Butler remains one of the only boat accessible lakes within two hours of Wichita that remains free of nuisance specie burdens.

Largemouth
Population: Good
General size: 16-20"
Big Fish: 6lb (KDWP FF) 7lb (network) 8lb (rumored)
Location: There is always a few fish to be caught right around the boat dock area
Cover: Lily pads, coontail, riprap, lardowns, earthen piers, other aquatic grass
Bait: The main forage at this lake is shad, so shad imitations work well. Spinnerbaits, crankbaits, lipless crankbaits, walk baits, buzz baits, senkos, jigs, texas rigs, carolina rigs, jerk baits

(I rated Butler's bass population as good. KDWP rates this as excellent, and looking at the forecast, I can see why. However, I have nothad the kind of days on Butler that I have had on lakes like Perry).