Dad and I opened up the house this past weekend on Lake Champlain. While we briefly journeyed north of the bridge, the majority of fishing was done around Crown Point, NY. Water temps where we caught them were around 55 degrees though we found areas warmer near by. The two lures that were most successful were a cherry craw colored Rat-L-Trap and a clown Rapala Shadow Rap. Weather conditions were stable on day one progressing into pre-frontal south winds on day two. For more details, read up on our fishing trips below.
Day 1: April 21, 2023
We drove up early Friday and were able to get on the water for the evening bite. Since we were only going to have a few hours, we decided to stay close to home and just fished the area near the house. It’s always tough on the first trip up, as you aren’t quite sure where the fish are going to be staging this year, and you also have to wonder what debris the raging winter has left behind. With both in mind, we tried the usual spots.
We had absolutely no luck on the Vermont side, even on the rocky points that have in the past been top producers. We’d do a few drifts with nothing doing which is unusual, but I did notice the water temps were pretty high (even in the 60’s in some bays), so I figured maybe they weren’t at their pre-spawn staging areas. We switched it up to the NY side fishing creek mouths and bays and managed to tie into some good sized bass, including the 4.82lb smallmouth below.
All fish on this day came on a cherry craw Rat-L-Trap that has proven to be one of the best early-season lures on Lake Champlain over the past three years (as some earlier fishing reports will show).
Day 2: April 22, 2023
We wanted to try fishing the rip rap on Bulwagga Bay’s western shore on a nice Saturday in late April — prime salmon trolling time. We didn’t catch anything there (I did have a good smallmouth on for a moment) and really after noticing the gentlemen I accidentally cut off were also throwing red crankbaits, we decided to head back south instead.
The wind was fine in the morning but picked up heavily in the early afternoon as a major front was coming through that would dump rain all across New England. We headed back to areas around creek mouths south of the bridge and found a few fish. They wanted clown colored Rapala Shadow Raps this time, and we obliged.
We managed a few bass but the pickerel bite really picked up. Most bites came on a pause, and I started getting hit more when I would let the pause linger a bit.
All in all it was great to be back on the lake! I’m hoping with the divorce finalized that I’ll be able to get up there far more often this year to update this blog, so hopefully I’ll see you around.
Thanks all,
John Paxton
