Lake Champlain Bass Fishing Report July 19th 2014

 

 

Hello Bass Fishing Fans! This Lake Champlain Bass Fishing Report is from a Rayovac FLW Series tournament the I fished on July 17th - 19th, 2014. I came into this tournament ready to catch a lot of smallies, as it turned out largemouth bass wound up being my predominant catch.

 

News of polor vortex blanketing most of the lake had gotten back to me before I made the 8 hour drive up to Lake Champlain, New York. The weather forecast was to expect a 20 - 30 degree drop in temperatures and cool sunny days for this tournament.

 

 

I'm not much of a lake fishing expert but this news had me in a drop shot'n, weightless fluke state of mind. Last year I had some good fortune with both approaches on Lake Champlain. So before I left, I made sure that I loaded up my tackle boxes with a variety of Eco Pro Tungsten drop shot weights, Gambler Super Studs and Gambler Shakey Shads. 

 

 

During practice for this Rayovac FLW Series tournament I fired up my Mercury 250 HP Optimax and made a few short runs from the boat ramp located in Plattsburgh, NY. I wound up fishing around 20 areas on the lake in practice. Most of these spots I had found in last years tournament. 

 

I did land some really nice smallmouth in practice for this 2014 Rayovac FLW Series Lake Champlain tournament but something was different this year, the smallies were not grouped together and a couple of my hot spots that I used last year for smallmouth had big largemouth there.  

 

However, I did manage to catch a 7 lb smallie on the Gambler Lures Shakey Shad but I never found a bunch of big bass together. After catching several big largemouth bass on the same Gambler Lures Shakey Shad in practice, I decided to target largemouth bass heading into day 1 of the tournament.

 

On day 1,  I ran to my hot spots on the Vermont side of Lake Champlain and started catching largemouth on top water first thing in the morning. I switched over to the Eco Pro Tungsten drop shot rig paired with a Gambler Lures Shakey Shad up through lunch time. Focusing on areas of the Lake that had 30 ft of water, that seemed to be the magic depth for my Shakey Shad lure presentation. After a couple hours of drop shot'n, I ran to a creek where I remembered catching a couple little fish in last years Rayovac FLW Series Lake Champlain bass fishing tournament.

 

As soon as I could pull up into the mouth of this creek and shut the Mercury Outboard motor off, I dropped my Motor Guide trolling motor into the water. Took one throw and bang, frog fish on the first cast! They were missing the frog more often than not, when I would see them blow up on the frog, I would follow it up with wacky soft plastic stick bait and would catch them every time. 

 

 

On day 2, I ran to the mouth of this creek first thing in the morning and it was on! I had my limit in 30 minutes all on a frog and one of them was a 4 lber. When it came time to think about upgrading my limit. I kept scanning my memory bank for a special hot spot that I had fished in the past but could not locate on my Lowrance HDS 10 graph on day one or up to this point on day 2. This hot spot was special and it was up to memory to find it in time to upgrade my catch.

 

 

This whole tournament I was thinking about an island I had fished last year and loaded up the boat with some above average smallies. With an hour to go I finally found the hot spot I was looking for and boy was it loaded with 4 and 5 pound smallies!!! In no time flat, I culled out all my top water frog fish but one and my co angler culled all of his fish out from the morning top water bite as well. I really wish I could have remembered where that island was sooner, it could have made a big difference in my tournament results. 

 

If I could do one thing different for this Rayovac FLW Series Lake Champlain tournament?

 

I would have studied a Lake Champlain map for week or two leading up to the event and each night of the tournament. Electronics are great but sometimes a good map can be irreplaceable. Especially when your dialed in mentally at the site of your current tournament location.

 

The Okuma reel that helped me reel in the majority of my bass in this tournament was?

 

My Okuma Helios 35s spinning reel help me reel in the most bass while using top water frogs, Gambler Shakey Shads and soft plastic swimbaits on Lake Champlain.

 

 

The two Big Bear Fishing Rods that I landed the biggest bass with on Lake Champlain were?

 

 

Total Lake Champlain Bass Per Day:

 

Dozen Bass In Practice

Day One Caught About 15 Bass

Day Two Caught Around 30 Bass 

 

Best Baits On Lake Champlain Per Day:

 

Best Bait In Practice    = Gambler Shakey Shads

Best Bait On Day One = Gambler Shakey Shads

Best Bait On Day Two = Top Water Frogs

 

Biggest Lake Champlain Bass = 7 lb Smallie 

 

This ends my Lake Champlain bass fishing report. Thank you for reading and please visit my Rayovac FLW Series sponsors before your next bass fishing trip. Zeko Shoes, The Crab Place, Lizard Leds, Mercury Marine, Motor Guide, Flatbellies Fishing Lures, Premier Marine, Okuma Fishing, Rat-L-Trap, Gambler Lures, Eco Pro Tungsten, Big Bear Fishing Rods, Buckeye Lures, Pro Sites Unlimited, War Eagle Lures, Amphibia Sports and JWB Art Unlimited.

 

Special thanks to FLW Outdoors for having these great Rayovac FLW Series tournaments and to the folk's in Plattsburgh, NY for allowing us anglers to go out on your awesome bass fishery!!!

 

Tight Lines & Heavy Limits,

 

Melvin Smitson