Champlain at it's best!

May 15th, 2010

I was back on Lake Champlain this weekend with Marc for another shot at these big green fish often referred as largies! Before we even got there, I told Marc that if the water temp was under 50 we would go for smallies.... We were both very surprised to see that the water temps had climbed to 54. Needless to say we started flipping right away and we were hooking fish almost instantly. Wind was blowing quite a bit at 20km/h coming from the NW and made it very difficult to position the boat properly but the fish were biting well so we just sticked with the pattern we had. By noon, we had around 15lbs of largemouth caught and released but I knew we could do better then that. By then the water temps had climbed 57 so I decided to try another area and I started hooking some very decent fish. Marc was a bit rusty with his flipping but still managed to boat a few decent looking bass.

At the end of the day we had at least 22lbs of largemouth and decided that since the wind had died down it was time to try to get a few nice smallies. On our first 2 casts we both had a fish on with Marc's fish being a better one. We caught a few more but nothing over 3lbs...

I'm starting see how tremendous this fishery is... I'm used to fish river systems and I like not having to fight with current for once! We will definitely have a few more trips to champlain this season.

First time on Lake Champlain

May 11th, 2010

I was out with Ben today for my first time on Champlain. Coming off a big cold front we knew it was going to be a hard day on the water. The water had dropped down to 47 compared to 57 the week before... We started flipping anyways and although it was a slow bite we still managed to get a few largies in the boat. We moved around looking for warmer water but it wasn't until the afternoon that we were able to finally get temps over 50. The fish were very tight to cover and they were not going to chase anything... we really had to put it in their faces if we wanted to get a bite. We explored the lake a bit for smallies just to see if maybe they would've been more cooperative. We were able to locate a nice flat where I caught a small one and Ben had a giant follow his jerkbait but nothing more. Seeing as the water was warming up we decided to go back to see if the largemouths were more active.

It was nice to finally be able to fish lake Champlain... Conditions were tough but I got to see the huge potential this lake has. I am looking forward to my next trip there and hopefully we'll get higher water temps and better results!

What a start for 2010!

May 1st, 2010

Marc, Caro and I were on Lake Massawippi for not only our first trip of the year but it was also our first attempt to catch a lake trout. Water temps were ranging from 46 to 50 depending on where we fished and we had a no wind in the morning and maybe a 5km/h S wind in the afternoon. We casted hair jigs, crankbaits and jerkbaits for most of the day but only found bass so we relocated often. I got tired of casting my jerbait so I decided to troll a bit seeing as it was a very popular technique. After only about 5 mins, I hooked this big laker and the fight was on! It took a few minutes before we were able to see her but I knew I had a decent fish on the line. We forgot the net but thanks to Marc we were able to bring her in anyways. She weighed in just under 10lbs and she was back in the water after a few pictures. We will definitely be going back to this beautiful lake this season and I will be there next year again for the opener.