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Lake Champlain, Vermont

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  • Lake Champlain, Vermont

    My wife Linda and I have had the good fortune to visit fellow Snaggedline member Terry Hill (Raptor) and his wife Allison at their summer cottage on the shore of Lake Champlain in Vermont this week. In addition to enjoying their wonderful hospitality and the beautiful Vermont scenery, Terry and I got on the water for three kayak fishing sessions.

    I used Terry’s Outback and he paddled his Santa Cruz Raptor. Here’s Terry in the Raptor with a nice smallmouth bass:

    P1010907 (2).jpg

    Our primary target species was smallmouth bass. And catch them we did. No skunks on any outing and we both caught our personal best smallmouth bass on this trip.

    Here’s few shots of the scenery:

    P1010868 (2).jpg P1010881 (3).jpg

    Rocks line the shoreline and are plentiful below the water. SAV was thick in areas, but usually not breaking surface. That was good because it left a lane to run lures on top of the grasses but 2 to 3 feet below the surface.

    A popular bait here is a Gary Yamamota worm rigged weedless and weightless like this:

    P1010870 (2).jpg

    I caught 10 smallmouth on it but in a very passive way. I simply let it trail behind my Outback as I moved about casting lures with my second rod – a quasi-trolling approach.

    My first catch of the trip, literally within the first 10 minutes of my first outing, was this smallmouth on the trailing worm:

    P1010856.jpg

    I knew instantly that the smallmouth here were bigger than my typical smallmouth catches on MD, PA and VA rivers.

    I also found that 3-inch Fat Sam paddletails on a 1/8 oz. jig head worked as well for smallmouth here as they do for stripers at home. Here’s a smallie that couldn’t resist Fat Sam:

    P1010914 (2).jpg

    Fat Sam was my most productive lure. I caught the majority of my smallmouth with it.

    Terry and I caught many smallmouth in the 13 to 15 inch range. They were the norm. We caught some dinks too but not many overall. And as you’ll see we each caught a memorable fish.

    Another bait that worked here is one I also employ in my home waters. It’s a 1/8 oz. jig spinner that I use for white perch, pickerel and stripers in Maryland. This 18-inch smallmouth took one of my perch spinners:

    P1010921 (2).jpg

    I cast the spinner in open water where I could see submerged grass beds rising to a couple of feet below the surface. The water is that clear, by the way. I was rarely in water too deep to see the bottom or the top of vegetation. I ran the spinner just over the top of the grass. Neither of us had electronics on our kayaks so I really don’t know how deep the water was under the vegetation. The excellent water clarity also enabled us to see the bass strike our lures on many hits.

    Terry ran his Yamamoto worm in similar areas, just over the tops of the grass. Typically, we were 75 to 100 yards from shore fishing in this manner.

    That is how we each got our personal best smallmouth catches.

    Terry gets top billing because his was 20 plus inches. Here he is with his personal best:

    P1010912 (2).jpg

    We measured it at 20 and a fraction inches on the Hawg Trough and that was without pinching the tail.

    Here’s my new personal best smallmouth. It was 19 inches. You can see in this photo that it hit one of my perch spinners:

    P1010886 (2).jpg

    I have caught hundreds of smallmouth in the Potomac, Susquehanna and Shenandoah during my river wading years. Never during those trips did I consistently catch smallmouth bass topping 13 inches like I did on this trip.

    The only non-smallmouth I caught this week was an 18-inch largemouth that hit a Pop-R in two feet of water near a shoreline. It was dusk and I decided to try topwater. I was surprised to find a largemouth in an area so heavily populated with smallmouth. I measured it and it definitely reached 18 inches and it was chunky. I wish I had a photo but at that time in the evening my camera battery had run out of juice. I also caught a smallmouth on the popper but it was a little guy.

    Altogether I caught 40 smallmouth and the single largemouth in three outings totaling perhaps 11 to 12 combined hours of fishing. Terry pulled in similar catch numbers.

    What a wonderful bass fishery Lake Champlain is. It was my first fishing trip here and I hope it was not my last.

    Linda and I will head home tomorrow. We offer many thanks to Terry and his wife for their hospitality and I owe Terry a special thank you for allowing me to use his Outback. As you can see in the photos it was often breezy on the water. Pedal drives are wonderful in such conditions.
    Last edited by Mark; 08-11-2016, 08:08 PM.
    Mark
    Pasadena, MD


    Slate Hobie Revolution 13
    Hidden Oak Native Ultimate 12
    Lizard Lick Native Ultimate FX Pro

  • #2
    Looks like a fun trip. I love the rocky northern lakes. I grew up in the New Hampshire lakes region and the fishing is just the same


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    • #3
      Looks like a really fun trip. I wish we had small mouth on the Eastern Shore; I hear they put on quite a display.
      ___________________________

      Hobie Fishing Team Member
      Survival Products, Salisbury, MD

      2017 Camo Hobie Outback
      2015 Olive Hobie Outback

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      • #4
        Great report! pound for pound one of the strongest fighters in freshwater
        Ryan
        Blue 2016 Hobie Outback
        Chesapeake Bay Kayak Anglers, Inc

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        • #5
          Nice report Mark. You guys did well on the smallmouth. Have a safe trip home.
          John Veil
          Annapolis
          Native Watercraft Manta Ray 11, Falcon 11

          Author - "Fishing in the Comfort Zone" , "Fishing Road Trip - 2019", "My Fishing Life: Two Years to Remember", and "The Way I Like to Fish -- A Kayak Angler's Guide to Shallow Water, Light Tackle Fishing"

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          • #6
            Great report!! Soooo jealous!
            Bruce

            Hobie PA 14
            Wilderness System, Thresher 155

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            • #7
              The smallies in northern lakes are amazing. Lake Erie around Erie in late May has produced 6 lb smallmouth for me. Winds can make it tough to fish the main lake but Presquile (spelling is my butchering) bay is somewhat sheltered, just doesn't hold the true Giants.
              Mike
              Pro Angler 14 "The Grand Wazoo"

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              • #8
                Nice going guys, looks like you had some good times up there. Going to be a little sticky when you return. Safe trip
                John Rentch
                Annapolis

                Native Ultimate 12 FX Pro
                Hobie Revolution 11

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                • #9
                  Thanks guys,

                  Got home tonight.

                  It was indeed a fun trip.

                  What a great fishery!
                  Mark
                  Pasadena, MD


                  Slate Hobie Revolution 13
                  Hidden Oak Native Ultimate 12
                  Lizard Lick Native Ultimate FX Pro

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Mark: Sounds like a great trip Nice fish!

                    Best Regards,
                    Stan
                    Wilderness Systems Ride 135

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