Located in the Ned Brown Forest Preserve, Busse Lake is an easy lake to access. Busse lake is located between Golf and Biesterfield Roads along Illinois Route 53 and Interstate 90.
The lake has a total surface area of 590 acres and depths to fourteen feet. The lake is comprised of three separate bodies of water. The north pool covers 25 acres; the South Pool, 146 acres; and the main pool makes up the majority of the surface area with 419 acres. Sailboats, canoes, and rowboats are permitted on the main lake and on the south pool. The lake is equipped with wheelchair ramps from the parking lots to the fishing walls. The lake is inhabited by largemouth bass, bluegill, bullhead catfish, northern pike, walleye, sunfish, crappie, and channel catfish. Boat rentals available at the main pool only (although the map shows the southern pool also).
There is plenty of shoreline to fish with different types of structure. There are fishing walls and three dams. The lake has many laydowns, submerged stumps, and rocky shores near the dams. See the detailed map here at http://pages.ripco.net/~jwn/busse.gif.
My favorite technique at Busse Lake is fishing for bass with buzzbaits. They react well to them. I have caught many bass on the buzzbaits, followed closely byspinner baits. It is very hard to use crankbaits here because of a muddy bottom and many downed trees. Texas-rigged worms in the colors of motor oil or pumpkinseed seem to work well also. Being an urban impoundment, the fishing pressure here is extremely heavy. Most of the time I walk through the woods to go and find a spot where it hasn’t seen much fishing (caught poison ivy doing that in 2005!). It is convenient to Chicago and it’s northwest suburbs. It can get very crowded there on weekends due the amount of people that visit Ned Brown Preserve for the varied activities from rollerblading to picnicking. There are 11.2 miles of paved bicycle trails that wind through the forests, meadows, and Busse Lake. All in all, Busse Lake is a good place to take your family for a picnic and some fishing.
Boats rented and bait here: Forest Preserve District Of Cook County Boat & Canoe Rentals, Phone: (847) 228-5253 This establishment contains limited bait and tackle, and has a small snack shop.
Bait can also be bought here: Lee’s Bait & Tackle
49 Arlington Heights Road
(at Higgins, across from Busse)
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
Phone: (847) 593-6424
Fax (847) 956-8744
Lee’s specializes in many hard to find lures and tackle such as Megabass, River2Sea and Evergreen. They also have a wide variety of live bait and some European tackle.
