Lake Champlain Fishing Report: Wrath of the Rat-L-Trap

If I were a lizard or some other cold-blooded critter, Lake Champlain would be the rock on which I’d bask. There’s something about fishing there that sets me at ease and warms me to the core. I’ve fished plenty of other places from Florida to Alaska, and while they all were fine, fishing in the north country is something special indeed. It doesn’t hurt that we live near one of the best fishing spots in Lake Champlain, either!

Dad and I returned to the lake this weekend after a long absence, thanks to COVID-19. We didn’t manage to fish more than an hour or two in all of 2020, but we returned with a vengeance. While we spent most of our time there opening up the house, we did manage to get out for several hours Saturday and enjoy a May-like day on April 10. The weather was perfect, the fish were biting, and I and found one of the best rat-l-trap colors out there. It’s a little gem they call “cherry craw,” but which I’m forever going to call “the Vader.” All this set us up for one of the more memorable trips in some time. After our long absence, it was almost like the lake was welcoming us back home.

A Special Kind of Day…

I was prepared for a long weekend of vacuuming bugs, trying to get the sulfur smell out of the water pipes, and not much else. Most years, April is the time for the salmon trollers and diehard anglers. When I make my way up there, even much later in the month, it’s usually a frigid day spent clawing for a few scarce bites, so I wasn’t expecting much.

This weekend flipped that script. Friday and Saturday were both in the mid-70’s. The water temps in several areas were pushing 56 to 57 degrees. The water was glass flat and calm. It was as though someone stole a day from May and plunked it on the calendar four weeks early.

Well, that changed things in a hurry. The bugs were vacuumed up in haste, the pipes probably still smell like sulfur, but the boat was gassed up and launched and off we went.

The Afternoon Bite

Dad and I got out on the water around noon. We figured this would be fine for this time of year — it would give the water a little time to warm up and the fish to get going. It paid off.

When it comes to Lake Champlain south of the Crown Point bridge, there’s always a question of which side to fish. While you can find diverse cover on both banks, the New York side, for the most part, tends to have wide, shallow, weedy bays. Vermont, on the other hand, finds the shoreline much closer to the drop off and significantly rockier. Largemouth bass are found on both sides routinely while most smallmouth are taken on the Vermont side in my experience. If you fish there all the time, you’re going to get pretty well keyed in on where to go, but since this was our first trip of the year, it was anyone’s guess.

After a short discussion, we decided that we’d start in New York and see if any fish were sunning themselves in the shallow bays. I had a Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap tied on while Dad was throwing a scatter rap. Most times of the year, the New York side would get too weed-chocked to use these, but as of now there weren’t many weeds in yet and we were able to get them through OK if we kept our rod tips higher.

Good Ol’ Chainsides for the First Bite

There was a little breeze coming from the south, so we motored up that way and drifted across what will become a grass flat in a few weeks. It was a little slow going at first until we came across some clearer water towards the north end of the bay. There, a few good-sized chain pickerel were lying in wait. We hooked up with three good fish to get the skunk out of the boat.

To Vermont!

Even though we caught a few chains on the New York side, they weren’t exactly lighting us up. We decided to head over to Vermont and start casting to rocky points. Again, we let the wind drift us down considerable shoreline. It’s the same area Dad used to take me fishing when I was a little kid. It feels good to repay the favor 30 years later and gets me a little sentimental at times. It’s interesting how the roles have reversed. Now I’m doing everything from boat control to taking care of tangles so he doesn’t jab himself with the hooks trying to free his own lures.

We stuck with the same lures, and here’s where that Rat-L-Trap really started to shine. Numerous largemouth and smallmouth bass were had, with the biggest smallie going 20″. They were fighting aggressively and it was all I could do to keep them from jumping.

We got into maybe 12-15 fish on the Vermont side over the course of an hour or two. Most of them were decent size, some 3 – 4lbs, certainly, with a few fat enough that they might have been pushing 5lb (though that also could just be the long, COVID-compelled forced respite talking too)!

Fishing with Friends

The action was consistent and no one was complaining, but Dad wanted to get back and do some chores (he hates vines and needs to cut them on sight), so I headed back to the dock. We swapped passengers there, as my friend and his son came out with me to catch up and catch fish.

We started off on the Vermont side and Jay’s son caught this beauty of a largemouth. It gave him a good fight and acrobatic show and you can tell from his smile, he was pleased. After fishing Vermont for a bit we thought we’d head back to New York and see if we could entice a cat or bowfin on a minnow, but they weren’t biting. The kid did land another good bass there though, so he was happy.

The Evening Bite

When Jay and his son had to go home for dinner, Dad and I went back out on the glass-calm lake to stretch out every last inch of sunlight. I again tossed out the Rat-L-Trap (that I being very gingerly with, might I add–I retied nearly every fish as I only had one of that color) while Dad started using a Rapala Shadow Rap. These are great jerkbaits for early in the year especially. They seem to catch more fish than X-Raps, but the issue is they’re nowhere near as hardy. They have thin wire hooks that are annihilated by any good sized fish, and Dad had several.

The lake was special that day. Again, it was like a day in May tossed into the beginning of April – quite unheard of if you ask me, but I’ll take it. I know the big man in the sky has plenty of other issues to deal with far greater than me, but I swear, the times Dad and I have really needed a good fishing trip, he’s delivered. This trip reminded me quite a bit of one six years ago when Dad lost his mother, my grandmother. Everything seemed to align, the fish were eager to bite, and we managed to land all the big ones. We held out as long as we could before heading back in. Multiple bass of good size were landed before we called it a night.

Want to have a great trip like this? Read my list of definitive fishing resources for Lake Champlain for advice on fishing the lake.

How’d I Settle on Fishing a Rat-L-Trap?

While I think every fisherman has a few Rat-L-Traps in their tackle box, I’ve never really committed to fishing one for an evening like I did last Saturday. I’m glad I did, though, as I was definitely getting more bites on them than Dad did on the scatter rap during the day (the shadow rap gave a good accounting for itself later on).

You know a guy is working out well for his sponsors when he’s convincing folks who haven’t fished with him for years to go buy all of their products. It has been a few years since I’ve fished with Captain Mick, but I’ve been following him on Facebook with envy seeing all the huge fish he’s bringing his charter clients daily. I know he’s been on the Pro Staff for Bill Lewis lures for a bit now, and I also know he doesn’t just endorse anything. It’s one thing for a professional tournament angler to pitch a product, but quite another for a charter guide who is responsible for putting all their clients, with varying skill sets, on fish. The charter captains aren’t going to push lures that don’t work, or they won’t be charter captains for long.

That’s my theory, anyway, so when Mick keeps posting lures he’s using on Facebook, I trust him that he’s actually using them and that they actually work. Seeing that he had a really good Friday, I picked up a couple of 1/2 oz Rat-L-Traps at Wal-Mart in Ti on the way up. I decided to go with cherry craw just because red lures seem to work well early in the season for me. I only thought to grab two because I figured I’d be throwing a jerkbait before too long.

How to Fish a Rat-L-Trap

There’s no wrong way to fish a Rat-L-Trap. You can burn them back to the boat, work them back in on a series of snap jerks and flutter falls, or run them over the top of submerged weeds, “ticking” every one of them on the way back and hoping for a strike. This weekend, however, I went with a slow roll and banged it up against all sorts of rocks and cover trying to elicit a response. I figured it made sense to slow things down given the water temps weren’t even 60 degrees yet, nice though the day was.

Best Rat-L-Trap Colors?

Whatever one works, of course! As mentioned, I was throwing red this time around. In the past, when I’ve bought them I’ve tended to load up with some sort of silver baitfish look, or a yellow perch variation. Red is usually a pretty good color for lures early in the year as well as on overcast days, especially in murky water like so much of Lake Champlain is south of the bridge. If I was fishing in Bulwagga Bay, I likely would have gone with the perch or baitfish.

Other Observations

The lake is LOW. Scary low. So scary low, that I’m concerned when I return with my family in a few more weeks, we might not be able to use our dock. Normally, it works just fine through August, when things start to get a little hairy. This year, however, it seems to be several feet lower than normal. It’s only at 96.55 feet. I’m sure some expert out there could tell me how close to record that is or isn’t. All I know is that this time of year, I’d expect the water to be up to at least two or maybe three of these blocks.

I sure hope the place gets some rain before we head back up there. While the town launch isn’t exactly far, it’s a pain with small kids and I’d certainly prefer to just dock the boat all week. There’s also the matter of wanting my daughter to get a chance to fish off our dock. It’s going to be hard to do that in 6″ of water!

Until Next Time…

It was a much-needed trip and I’m blessed God made the weather and fish so cooperating. It’s always hard to leave all the fish Lake Champlain alone again, though I’m sure they’ll have others to keep them company. I’m looking forward to returning, though I don’t know what this early break will mean for the spawn or season. If I were the fish, I’d be thinking about spawning now while there’s still some water in the lake, as the levels are quite concerning.

Well, there’s nothing that can be done about that, I suppose. I’ll just have to sit here and bide my time until I can return to Lake Champlain for another great fishing trip with Dad. Until then, I’ll just have to watch Facebook with envy while all the rest of you slay them!

Thanks for reading,

John Paxton