Lake Champlain Report *PICS*

[steverowbotham]

Okay, so its been a few days since I returned from Plattsburgh, NY fishing the B.A.S.S. Federation Nation 6 Man Team Event.

 

Day One

 

I drove down after work with another teammate who I was rooming with, we got down around 9pm on Monday night and got out on the water by 6am on Tuesday morning. We had an area that we had decided to try out first thing and made the 30 mile run to check it out. We were planning on dropshotting deepwater humps but on the flat calm water, passing by an island, we saw fish busting all over the place and stopped to try our luck. First cast with a popper and Gerry lands this nice smallie.

 

 

We kept fishing the area and caught a bunch of 2-3 pounders so left for new water, after marking a few waypoints.

 

We stopped at some deep water and set the Lowrance units to start marking some fish, which it did not, occasionally we would find the odd hook and catch a small 12-13 inch smallie. Nothing happening out deep.

 

We moved into shallower water again around a lonely rock. First cast with a zoom super fluke produced a pig of a smallie.

 

 

We started developping a pattern that underwater points with weed growth were holding the best quality fish. 3 pounders would be good fish for this tournament, 4 pounders would be bonus fish.

 

Here's the "average" smallie from day one.

 

 

We figure we would have had a 14-15 pound bag today.

 

Day Two

 

Day two was a tidbit rougher. The lake is 114 miles long and runs north south. We had a 10 MPH wind from the south and launching half way up the lake was, well, bumpy.

 

I fished with another member of our team and we decided to target shoals closer to home in search of some smallies. Ryan did more catching than me today. I landed lots of 2 pounders, he landed the better fish. Here's one to show...

 

 

We figure we had 14-15 pounds again.

 

Day Three

 

Day one of the tournament and we blast off at 5:15am ( a bit earlier than our Canadian tourneys). I was fishing with Ryan Johnson, my pre fish partner from day 2. We pulled up to a point and had 4 fish in the boat by 6:15. One was around 3.5 pounds, the rest were little rats.

 

The wind was blowing again and we made a bumpy run up lake to fish a mid lake shoal. After no luck, we searched out shelter, and started fishing a point uplake. I landed a nice 2 pounder on a jerkbait right away to fill out our limit. After about 20 more minutes, we started seeing more bait busting on the surface. We started throwing flukes and topwaters with little success. We soon realized that white bass were feeding on the surface and smallies were picking off the smaller whites. So we started imitating white bass and started getting bit. We landed lots of fish and weighed in at 16lbs 9oz, the 4th best weight of the day.

 

 

Day Four

 

Day two I fished with Gerry again and we went to camp on the spot that Ryan and I found the day before. Ryan also fishing it, we worked together to find fish, shouting to eachother when we found a school. Gerry and I lost a lot of fish and even forgot about a 1.5 pounder in our second livewell and culled a bunch of 2 - 2.5 pounders, thinking they were the smallest. That cost us a bit, and we weighed in at 12 lbs 10 oz. Ryan weighed 16 lbs 12oz from the same spot. We never got a pic on stage, but here's the biggest that Gerry landed, and a pic of Ryan on stage with his bag.

 

 

Overall, we finished 5th as a team and will now advance to the National Club Championships in Oklahoma in October.

 

Great week, I cant wait to go back!

[Leecher]

Awesome steve 5th place overall.... cool

Good luck for the upcoming National Club Championships!!

Thanks for sharing!

Leechman

[misfish]

was following you and the boys.

It seems the Barrie club along with the rest of the Canadian teams did very well.

Great job by all the Barrie boys.

 

Maybe I,ll get a chance at this great tourny.

Edited July 28, 2008 by misfish

[lunkerbasshunter]

wow that second pic is aweosme! The gut on that thing is massive!!!!! congrats on the good showing!

 

Cheers!

[fishindevil]

Congrats guys !!!!!.. i wish you luck at the upcomming event,its great to see those big,smallies for sure!!!...cheers

[MCTFisher9120]

Thanks for sharing, it must be fun to fish a tournament. Best of luck at the National Club Championships!!!!!

 

Mike

[Mike the Pike]

WTG Steve congrats on 5th place and think of it I live 45 mins from Platsburgh its time to look into buying my New York Licence.

 

[tibbs]

Congrats on the 5th place finish!

 

Great pics too!

[MrMike]

5th of 9 teams seems kind of average, but your story tells of how you stung 4to6 pounds more of fish in practice than you caught on tourny days, doesnt seem to be very good planning to go sting fish you need the next day for a good weight, yes the pics are nice, but it would seem to me that maybe you should save the photo ops for tournament day, maybe something to keep in mind for the future, find the fish during prefish, dont fish for the fish during prefish.

[holdfast]

Wow that lake is getting better every year, My biggest bass was a seven lber caught on a live perch years ago.

I grew up living on the lake for 15 summers when I was a kid. We had a small cabin on the Vermont side between Alburg and Rouses Point. I had such great times. thanks for the thread. Yea Lake Champlain Rocks.

[solopaddler]

Congratulations Steve, well done!

[b2kptbo]

WTG...

[TroutnMuskieHunter]

Good one Steve and good luck in the Championship round!!

[steverowbotham]

5th of 9 teams seems kind of average, but your story tells of how you stung 4to6 pounds more of fish in practice than you caught on tourny days, doesnt seem to be very good planning to go sting fish you need the next day for a good weight, yes the pics are nice, but it would seem to me that maybe you should save the photo ops for tournament day, maybe something to keep in mind for the future, find the fish during prefish, dont fish for the fish during prefish.

 

You obviously dont understand prefishing. We never pulled more than 2 fish off of a single spot durig pre-fish before marking it and leaving to find new water. When fishing a new lake, you need to catch a few fish to determine the size of the fish in the area, or else you might find yourself fishing for the 12 inch "bites" you got the day prior.

 

Our Day One weight was better than any day of pre-fishing, and our day 2 weight could have been better if we didnt lose so many fish (our own fault yes). 5th out of 9 teams does seem pretty average. But, no disrespect to my other team members, I had the best weight on day one, and 2nd best on day 2.

 

My pre-fish obviously put me on fish, and we found them every day. If I was going out fun fishing, and stinging a bunch of fish off each spot, then it would be a ridiculous strategy. For two days of pre-fish on such a big lake, I thought it went very effectively and wouldnt have done anything differently.

 

The wind blew hard both days, and we have a much older team member who couldnt make a long run and stuck around the launch area to only manage 10 pounds and 8 pounds, which although kept us in qualifying postition, hurt our overall placing.

 

All I'm saying is that I've been fishing tournaments for 9 years, and my pre-fish strategy works well for me, and if you do it differently, all the b est to you, dont scorn me for mine.

[bpsbassman]

Congratulations Steve.

Looks like a great time!

[snag]

That was a nice fatty you got there.

 

5th on a foreign lake is impressive to me.

 

Congrats

[misfish]

5th of 9 teams seems kind of average, but your story tells of how you stung 4to6 pounds more of fish in practice than you caught on tourny days, doesnt seem to be very good planning to go sting fish you need the next day for a good weight, yes the pics are nice, but it would seem to me that maybe you should save the photo ops for tournament day, maybe something to keep in mind for the future, find the fish during prefish, dont fish for the fish during prefish.

 

 

Interesting theroy.

 

I am still a newby doing the prefish thing. I always found when I prefished, it was good to land a couple of fish just to see what was in the area.

Then I prefished with a few others with many years experience,and they did the turn hook thing, and just brought the fish to the surface or close too, to see what was there ,without stinging the fish.I use both methods depending on the area I am fishing. I did find doing the turned hooked on docks and floating swim platforms, did serve me better,and the ones in the deeper waters,it did not bother them.

If your not familer with an area,I would say what Steve did was correct. Then again if you know the area and know fish are there or should be there,then a turned hooked is the way to go.

I was also told that a bucket once stuck,will hit later i the days then a smallie.

I am just speaking from my min of experience.

Edited July 29, 2008 by misfish

[MrMike]

When I see 16+lbs in photos the day or 2 before a tourny, I will never be convinced that it was the right thing to do, fall of the year when they school up,not so bad,summer time when they roam alone, not so good.

[steverowbotham]

When I see 16+lbs in photos the day or 2 before a tourny, I will never be convinced that it was the right thing to do, fall of the year when they school up,not so bad,summer time when they roam alone, not so good.

 

Well I guess thats what makes tournament fishing interesting. Different strategies. And I assure you.... Champlain fish do not roam alone.

 

P.S. I still dont know where you're getting the whole 16+ pounds in pre-fish thing. I clearly stated 14-15 for each.