Category: Fishing Reports

UPDATE: I’ve recently released a list of fishing resources for Lake Champlain. If you’re interested in visiting the lake, go check it out!

Well, we’ve arrived back from Lake Champlain – another successful fishing trip with my kids in the books. I was a little concerned about the recent fishing pressure as the FLW tournament just wrapped up as we arrived, but they left plenty of fish behind as we caught 10 different species over 6 days and had an absolute blast.

My son and I were able to spend the majority of the week fishing as we were blessed with great weather. We didn’t feel a single rain drop until we packed up the car for the ride home. The air temperature was anywhere from 80-90 degrees. The water temperature was no lower than 73 degrees (and often substantially higher). There was very little wind on most days and never enough that I was concerned with safety. In fact, we often had to troll just to make our own breeze.

I followed my usual action plan for fishing with kids. We targeted panfish first and got a few in the livewell for my son to “check on” throughout the day. This was useful whenever he needed a break from fishing. Once we caught a few of those, we moved on to try and catch some larger fish. Since he is still little, that meant trolling spinnerbaits for pickerel and pike.

My boy had a good time on the 1st as he managed to land two 20″ largemouth. One was caught on a senko and the other on a spinnerbait. One’s tail was completely bloodied, indicating that it was still on the beds. This is a pretty late spawn for the area, but the water started off so high and cold this spring which may have delayed some fish.

On the 2nd, we doubled down on some trolling methods we explored back in May. We dragged 1/2 ounce Terminator Spinnerbaits in several weedy bays in search of pike and pickerel. If you think it’s a boring way to catch fish, you need to revisit your opinion! Learn how to do it by reading my article on trolling for chain pickerel!

On the 3rd, we were able to eat dinner early enough that we could head out for the evening bite. I told my son that we weren’t going for panfish – we were going for bass, and we were going to a very weedy bay where it would be very hard for him to cast on his own. He was fine with this and told me that he just wanted to net my fish, anyway.

We headed into a local bay and found largemouth bass just stacked around a creek mouth. I tried tossing a frog for them and had some success but I noticed the boat next to me kept catching fish on worms, so I brought out the senko rod and adjusted tactics (you always want to remember to let the fish tell you what they want instead of trying to force what you want). Once I made the change, it seemed like every cast brought another fish.

There weren’t any giants that night – they were all between 14″ – 17″, but the action was constant and my son had a ball netting all the fish. This was great for me too as it meant I finally had a chance to catch a few instead of always having to hand my rod over! By the end of the night, I had a great case of “Bass Thumb,” which is a very real concern when fishing Lake Champlain!

This area proved far too popular to take my son to during the day as there were constantly bass boats parked on it. My kid wasn’t much of an early riser this week and being four, I didn’t want to risk any meltdowns by waking him too early. This meant that we had to abandon any chance of fishing prime real estate on such a busy vacation week, but no matter, panfish and pickerel were all we needed for a good family adventure.

We spent much of the 4th and 5th at Bulwagga Bay. The western shore is full of boulders and rip rap which concentrates panfish of all types. I have noticed several freshwater drum there over the years and was hoping that my son would tangle with one, but that wasn’t meant to be. All the same, he did hook a nice 18″ largemouth on his St. Croix panfish series ultralight “Birthday Rod” that I got him this year.

I was very proud of the way he fought this fish. Earlier in the week he had lost a fish by reeling while it was pulling drag and not letting the rod load up. He made good on that mistake this time by playing this bass well and listening intently to my coaching. Every time the drag screamed he would stop reeling and just let the fish take some line and bend the rod. When the drag stopped running, he would start to reel again. It was certainly his best fight of the trip and the most ably I’ve seen him fight a fish in his four years. It was quite the sight to see!

After having our fill of the panfish and bass on the western shore, we would head to the south of the bay and start trolling spinnerbaits back and forth, looking for pickerel. They didn’t disappoint, and nor did this walleye that surprised me in 7′ of 80 degree water!

All in all, it was a great trip filled with some awesome memories. I can’t remember the last time Champlain was that calm for that long, and I’m grateful I was able to spend so much time on the water with my son.

If you’d like to make memories such as these with your kids, consider purchasing my book, Fishing with Kids: A Parent’s Guide. It features numerous tips on how you can help get your kids interested in fishing, and much of what I discuss uses Lake Champlain as an example. If you are trying to get your kids into this sport, or know someone who is, it’s worth a read, but you may also pick up a tip or two about the lake in general. Please consider purchasing it.

As Lake Champlain is vast, you also may want to hire a guide while you’re out fishing. Drop Captain Mickey Maynard a line – he’ll help you break down the lake in no time!

Thanks,

John Paxton

I hope all the dads out there had a happy and safe Father’s Day, preferably fishing with their kids!

There were some thunderstorms (or “boom boom clouds” as my son calls them) brewing, but he and I managed to sneak out to a couple local ponds for some panfish action.  We didn’t catch anything of any size, but it’s not like he cares. To a kid, a fish is a fish is a fish and all you need to do to keep your children happy on their fishing trip is put them in front of quantity.  Mission accomplished today!

While I was out there watching him cast and marveling at just how good he’s gotten over the past few weeks, I had to think back to my own childhood fishing with my dad on Lake Champlain.

He and his friend purchased a house up there back in the mid-eighties when I was very young.  They got a good price, but only because it was a run-down camp that need a ton of work.  My old man and his buddy had both worked the trades in their youth and so they did most of this job themselves.   

Renovating the lake house took my dad away from home most weekends and I remember missing him terribly.  In fact, one of my earliest memories is watching him pack up a suitcase for another long weekend away, and doing my best to squirm into it and “hide” so that he would accidentally take me with him.  I remember begging him to let me come along, but an active construction site is no place for a small angler and he always told me no.

Then, one day, he didn’t.  I was six-years-old at the time and ecstatic – my dad was going to take me on a fishing trip to Lake Champlain with him, all by myself! He bought me what seemed like an enormous tackle box and let me rifle through all of this to put together whatever lures I wanted, and he rigged up an Ugly Stik with a snap swivel on it, just for me!

I remember driving up the four hours to Champlain listening to Jimmy Buffet and Marty Robbins songs in-between a Yankees game.  We stopped for some burgers and ice cream at an old greasy spoon long-since closed before continuing on to the north country.

When we got there, he charged up the boat batteries while I poured over some older fishing books and VHS tapes and did my best to contain my excitement.  My dad’s friend was also there fishing from his Ranger, and he told us all about some far away bay that was just loaded with bass on the beds and big northern pike.

The next morning, we took off for our fishing trip in dad’s boat (which at the time was nice and new and not named “Sinky”) and headed for that bay.  I remember the ride seemed to take forever – Lake Champlain is massive and even the southern end just opened up like the ocean to my smile eyes.

I still remember how calm the bay looked that morning.  There was mist on the water and just the gentlest of breezes.  There seemed to be reeds everywhere with deep, enticing pockets of water almost forming alleyways between them.   Dad taught me how to cast a Timberking and keep the rod tip high enough for it to stay on top of the water and I delighted as fish after fish smashed and smacked at it.  A pickerel here, a bass there, they all seemed like giants to a six-year-old.

We then threw spinnerbaits in-between the reeds.  Dad told me to try my best to cast into the different pockets and start reeling as soon as they touched the water.  Each time I cast well he complimented and encouraged me and made it seem like some crazy, unthinkable happenstance if no fish struck after such a perfect cast.

The bites were fast and furious – it was the kind of constant action that all father’s dream of for their kid’s first fishing trip.  Each cast I made was a little more precise and went a little further.  I was so proud of myself as I didn’t need my dad to hand me his rod all the time (even though he still did religiously).  Eventually, I cast out a chartreuse spinnerbait with big, red painted eyes towards an alley when – THUD! – some monster from the depths struck and gave me the fight of my short life! Dad kept yelling, “Keep the rod tip high! Keep the rod tip high!” as I struggled with this beast! At one point it jumped and I saw its long, silvery form as it smashed back into the water with a giant splash.  After what was probably less than a minute real time, but ages to a six-year-old, dad netted my very first northern pike.  At 6lbs, it wasn’t any giant by any means, but anyone who has fought one can imagine what it felt like to a six-year-old fishing a flimsy ugly stick. 

Yeah, I was hooked for life.

That first fishing trip with Dad sealed the deal.  Dad and I have gone out together hundreds of times since then all across the country.  We’ve seen the sun rise across Lake Champlain as the loons call, and Alligators scatter as our boat approached them in some Florida Canal.  He and I have stood back astonished as Orca broke the surface near our lines in Alaska, and marveled as pike rocketed from the depths to strike a spinnerbait in Bantam Lake, Connecticut.  We’ve caught thousands upon thousands of fish together, some truly massive.  But none of those fish and none of those trips could ever quite match our first one together.

Yep, that was the trip that started it all and ignited my passion.  The fishing was great, but the most memorable part of it all was it was the first time dad took me out all by ourselves.  It was the first time he trusted me to cast all on my own and it was the first time that he took me out looking for bigger game fish.  It was my first truly special moment with my old man, and the first time I realized why this sport is so special.

I hope you all had an awesome day of fishing with your daughters and sons.  If you would like to learn how to make your trips more memorable, consider purchasing my book, Fishing with Kids: A Parent’s Guide, as it is filled with useful tips for fishing with your kids. Lake Champlain is a great place to take them. Consider booking a charter with Captain Mickey Maynard for some awesome memories with your family! Make sure to check out my guide on the definitive resources for fishing Lake Champlain before you head there!

It’s a great day for fishing,

John Paxton

I took the family up to the southern end of Lake Champlain for the Memorial Day holiday.  Fishing was pretty tough earlier in the week given a recent cold front and heavy rain on Tuesday.  We were fishing near a creek mouth and found that the water temp in the immediate vicinity dropped as low as 57 degrees Wednesday.  Further back from the mouth and into an adjacent bay the temps started climbing to 62 and finally around 64-65 furthest back in the bay. 

I was with my son who was about to turn 4, so I was targeting chain pickerel and panfish.  The trick to getting pickerel is to fancast weed beds in anywhere from 4-8’ of water with spinnerbaits.  White with willow leaf blades was the ticket this trip—very few were caught on chartreuse and none on red, even on overcast days.  They were pretty scattered throughout the bay.  Normally, the end near the creek mouth is best but I think the cooler water was pushing them away.  They aren’t like their pike cousins – they don’t seem to seek the cooler water and prefer warmer temps.

Another tactic that we used with some success was trolling with spinner baits along these same flats.  I am new to the tactic and might have been going too slow as I was only clocking about 1.5 mph.  Many sources online seem to suggest that 2-4mph would work better.  It certainly might have helped keep the weeds off the lures, anyway.  Regardless of the slower speed, numerous fish were caught with this method including the larger pickerel of the week.

For panfish, I took advantage of the bass spawn to locate giant schools of blue gills and pumpkinseeds robbing the bass beds.  They’re easy to spot this time of year as you can see their shadows and even if you can’t, their location is pinpointed after one of the guarding bass lunges at them, causing everything to scatter.  They come back moments later, never giving the parents a rest.  These schools produced good action and I like to think that we did the bass a favor as well as every panfish that we picked off presumably was one less that could rob a nest.

The water was very high (over 100’ while we were there) which meant that many areas that are normally marsh or even forest were accessible and this is where we found many of the bass beds and with them, panfish schools.  This made it a little tough for my son to cast as we were surrounded by trees, but he was a good sport about allowing me to make the casts and him to reel in the fish. 

It’s still catch and release season for the black bass, but I couldn’t resist throwing a wacky-rigged Senko out to a few of the beds to see what we could catch.  I still handed the rod off to my son with whatever bit, the largest being just shy of 20”, but with a very thick back.  It was all my son could do to lift it!

The high water allowed me to get further back into several bays with my Lund than I have ever tried before, and it paid off.  Although the 20” bass of approximately 4.5lb was the largest, we also caught several in the 3lb range, which isn’t too bad considering I spent very little time targeting them.  Senkos produced nearly all the bass with a scarce few coming from spinnerbaits.

Places that did not work at all were rocky points.  Sometimes this early in the year you’ll find a large number of bass grouped up in these areas preparing to spawn but it wasn’t to be.  On the other hand I only did try a few of them because I was fishing alone with my son and I didn’t want to bore him during the hunt.  Unfortunately, it is impossible to scout or pre-fish as the only thing he wants to do when he gets there is start, and he won’t accept any delays! It’s hard to fault him for that!

Want to Take Your Kids Fishing on Lake Champlain?

As you have read, I had a great time with my son on Lake Champlain. If you’re interested in learning some tips about how to fish with your own children on the lake, go check out my definitive list of fishing resources for Lake Champlain. You’ll find tips on charter captains, fishing forums, and other places where you can learn how to make the most out of your time there.

If you’re new to the sport, make sure you check out my article on how to make your fishing trip with kids as stress-free as possible to ensure you have a good time on your vacation. A big part of that is preparing well for your trip to make sure it goes smoothly.

Finally, you should definitely consider giving Captain Mickey Maynard a call and scheduling a charter. He fishes out of Plattsburgh, NY on Lake Champlain during the spring, summer and fall. You can find his website here.

Thanks,

John Paxton