2022 was a tough year for me personally, so I didn’t have much time or inclination to write about my fishing adventures on Lake Champlain. Even so, that doesn’t mean I didn’t have a blast up there fishing with friends and family.
The First Fishing Trip – May 20, 2022
One of the first real fishing trips I took to Lake Champlain this year was with my buddy Andrew. He was the same friend I nearly killed last year when the weather got a little out of control. Since we had such luck last year at Bulwagga Bay, that was where we concentrated this year as well.
As usual, we focused on the western shore making our way down the rip rap of railroad track fill. We tied into some absolute monsters, mostly while using the same Rat-L-Traps we had such luck with the year before. This lure produced both a giant bass for me as well as a real shocker – an Atlantic Salmon (the first I’ve caught casting!) Both were caught right along the rip rap early in the year.
While we did spend most of that trip up in Bulwagga Bay, we also messed around a bit hitting rocky points and creek mouths south of the bridge. We didn’t have as much luck with the points (the water was high, cold, and murky at this time of year), but the creek mouths certainly produced, including this nice Northern Pike for Drew.
May 20, 2022 Thoughts:
The following were some of our observations for this fishing trip:
- The water was much colder than we were expecting. We didn’t find much luck with fish on the beds though a few bass were clearly full of eggs.
- We attempted to follow the railroad tracks north of Bulwagga Bay but the water temps absolutely plummeted once we left the bay and got past Port Henry’s marina.
- Fish were stacked along creek mouths holding into the wind, apparently waiting for prey to cross their path. Crankbaits that dug in a bit were really working for another boat we observed.
- The water levels were higher this year after a crazy low season the year before, but not as high as I’ve seen them.
May 29-30, 2022
Having scouted out the lake with Drew and having a good idea of where to find fish, it was time to take Tristan and my dad up for a Grandfather-Father-Son adventure a week or so later. However, even though Drew and I had our best luck up north about 10 days earlier, the three of us decided to concentrate on the south.
Tristan caught his fair share of largemouth as well as a number of smaller freshwater drum. We were mostly using drop shots with nightcrawlers (fully living ones, mind you) and concentrated primarily on the tried and true Vermont side of Lake Champlain south of the Crown Point bridge. While Tristan is starting to get to the age where he can cast really well, it’s just so hard to fish with anything besides worms when you bring a kid along. They work so darn well.
As always, it was so much fun taking my son and dad out fishing. I’m grateful we got another year worth of memories in the books.
June 19 – 20th – Fathers’ Day Weekend
Tristan and my next trip to Lake Champlain was during their annual LCI Derby. I coughed up the money for the entry fee just in case we caught something massive, but we didn’t catch anything worth weighing in. That didn’t stop us from having a great time together. I always enjoy taking him up there with just me. It takes me back to my first fishing trip with Dad on Lake Champlain so many moons ago. I hope my son will remember the memories we made as well.
July 4th Weekend 2022 Fishing on Lake Champlain
The family and I headed up to Lake Champlain, as usual, for the July 4th holiday. There really isn’t a better place in America to celebrate the Republic’s birthday than the Adirondacks. Ticonderoga has a fun fair and great fireworks, and the fishing (and especially the frog bite) really kick into high gear.
Since we were up all week, we fished all over creation. One day, we hit up Bulwagga Bay (mostly trolling) and tied into a few nice largemouth bass that hit white War Eagle spinnerbaits.
The next, we trolled the same way in Giard’s Bay (never a top producer for me) searching for Pike. Tristan managed a nice one in about 8-10′ of water.
All in all, a fun trip as always that didn’t disappoint.
July 16 – 17, 2022
For our next big fishing trip to Lake Champlain, Tristan brought his friend. They were both born days apart from each other so they’ve grown up together, but this is the first time we were able to get the two boys up to Lake Champlain for some fun.
For the most part, we threw drop shots with the boys, which led to Tristan catching a very nice channel catfish all by himself (he did ask me to hold it for the picture though).
We also tried our hand at trolling a bit, seeking out Northern Pike. Tristan’s friend caught the big pike of the weekend which made for a great photo with him and his father. This is a great technique to cover a lot of water quickly and is also great for when kids aren’t quite at the age where they can cast far enough to use a spinnerbait well. If you’d like some tips on how to do it, check out my article on trolling for chain pickerel.
We finished up the boys’ trip with a lesson in frogging. I warned them that we probably wouldn’t catch much, but it was just too much fun not to try given how much fun it is to see fish jump out of the water and smack your lure. We did end up landing a few doing this, and everyone in the boat was hooked.
Of some annoyance, the water was already too low for me to use my boat launch by this time. I usually can stretch it out until August, but not this year. Even so, it was better than in 2021!
September 24-25, 2022
The last trip I’d take Tristan to Champlain for was on a long weekend in late September. The fishing was harder than usual, so it was a good thing we hadn’t been there for several weeks and a little fish like this was still enough to please him. He hadn’t caught many smallmouth this year, so he was just excited to get a new species!
The scenery and weather was beautiful, however, and Tristan had a ball playing with all his friends up north. While I naturally spend most of my time documenting our fishing, Tristan has a ball playing with his friends as well and it was great to see them.
November 5 – 6, 2022
My last trip of the year was in early November. Ostensibly, we were going to close up the house, but Dad and I couldn’t resist dunking the boat in at Port Henry for one last shot. We decided to concentrate entirely on Bulwagga Bay, as it has become a staple in recent years. It did not disappoint. I wrote a full-sized fishing report on it here. Read it if you want to see why Dad was so happy!
The Year in Review
All in all it was a decent year for fishing. I’m glad that Lake Champlain rebounded a bit from 2021, which was a very tough year with very low water. Who knows what will come in 2023, but I pray to God that I’ll live to see another site like this. I find that each year as I walk to the water for the first time, I feel a huge weight fall from my shoulders as my lungs fill up with the scent of the lake and my heart starts to lift.
I can’t wait for that feeling again, but it’ll be at least another four months from now! Until later, Lake Champlain!
Thanks,
John Paxton
