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
