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
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