clr9933

I got an invite from a guy in my club to fish from his boat a few days ago... It was my first time actually getting out on Champlain this year rather than fishing from shore, and it was GREAT. I always laugh when taking off in a bass boat because I know it means the day is going to be so much cooler than standing in a bush on shore trying to cast through a thicket of crap. We were in the northern part of the lake, and we started the day at 6am fishing for smallies. We kept the boat in about 6ft of water and were catching fish casting out into 8ft and towards shore into 3ft. They were crushing topwaters first thing in the morning, and we got a few off beds. It is a lot of fun to watch fish react to your lure, but there is a part of me that feels guilty when bed fishing. When I watch a fish pick up my jig just by the trailer, move it out of the bed, and then drop it without me ever feeling it happen, it makes me wonder how often that happens when my jig is out of sight. Anyways, the smallies were good on topwaters, but neither of us got any on jerkbaits, which I thought was strange. Around noon we headed to the back of a bay to do some largemouth fishing. As we were getting into the dirty grassy water I got a decent one on a big swim jig. We caught some in the grass, and a few out of rootballs along the shore that had less than a foot of water around them. While in close to shore the trolling motor hit a log and the shear pin broke. We ended up cutting one of those two-for-seven-dollars flippin' hooks to replace the pin for the rest of the afternoon. We didn't weigh any fish, but the biggest one caught was definitely a smallie, and I guessed it to be around 3.75lbs. Our biggest largemouth I guessed was about 3.5lbs. Now it's back to shore fishing for a bit, no biggie!

I got out to cast from shore the other day, and the smallies were hitting jerkbaits again. However, before I caught any bass I hooked up with, second cast of the day, a 3lb 5oz salmon. I knew right away it wasn't a bass, but was not expecting a salmon at all. I've received some strange looks the past few days when I tell people that I went smallmouth fishing and caught a salmon which I thought of as a "nice bonus fish." They look at me like I should be salmon fishing and consider a bass a bonus fish... But I'm quite happy bass fishing and don't plan to switch it up any time soon..or ever. I hope everyone was able to get out for a bit this past week. I'm interested to see/hear about Mainebass and Shane's fishing trip- guessing there was a fish or two caught between you both.

I fished Champlain from shore yesterday. I went out first thing in the morning to a point I fish from a lot, but only got two fish in a few hours. I took a break in the middle of the day and went back to the same spot later in the afternoon when it had warmed up and had a couple hours full of nice smallies. Even though I've now witnessed it many times, I'm always amazed at how the fish turn on and off with the wind. It was overcast and hot Saturday, and the wind started rippin' and I immediately started catching fish. I caught a couple on a perch colored jerkbait, but switched over to a watermelon super fluke with a little weight to it because it's a lot easier to cast in the wind. I saw some gulls pluck baitfish from the same spot a couple times, so I sent my fluke in their direction and caught a 4lb smallie that cast. I continued casting to where the gulls were feeding and caught multiple smallies around two-and-a-half pounds, and another good one that weighed 3lbs 12oz. It's fun to see how quickly the fish react to the weather/wind conditions, and was pretty neat to watch what the birds were doing and get some good fish as a result. I hope everyone was able to get out this weekend and lip some nice bass!

I made a trip home to NH this past weekend (from VT) and fished Saturday and Sunday from shore. It was one of the best weekends of fishing I have ever had. I was throwing a small jig with rage craw trailer and a spinner bait both days, and had nearly constant action. The Spinner bait bites were vicious, and made catching two pounders tons of fun, but I was lucky enough to get into some early season big ones that were even better. I caught a 3lber on the jig, and a few casts later caught a 5lb 8ozer on it. Both came off hardwood. The fish in the picture here is one I caught Sunday, and weighed 5lb 15oz. This one hit at the end of a long cast with a spinner bait. I didn't catch a fish like this last year, so it feels great to get two 5+lbers early on. I hope this gets your bass adrenaline pumping! And hope everyones gettin' lucky on the water!

Enjoyed some of the meanest top-water strikes I've ever seen this afternoon. The smallies were getting completely airborne hitting my walking bait. For the most part they were 2 1/2lbers- there were a couple dinks mixed in but I'll take them all. I was getting them either right along the shoreline (they were pretty beat up and clearly still on beds guarding fry) in a foot of water, or out over a growing weed bed. The weeds aren't to the surface yet but I remember where they were last year so I was casting to that area and getting bit.

Yesterday I spent two hours catching smallmouth on topwaters... So that was great. Every one I caught was real shallow- I was fishing from shore so everything was fairly shallow, but I'd catch more casting parallel to the bank in 3 feet of water vs catching them at the end of a long cast straight out. They were decent fish but I imagine the big ones are sitting out deeper at this point. I'll take a consistent topwater bite anyway though. Good luck this weekend guys, sounds like there's some tournaments going on so hopefully those go well for ya!

Mainebass where'd you end up fishing down south? I have a tournament this Sunday out of South Bay. I'll be a coangler so I won't have a say in where we fish, but just wondering what it was like down there. Also... I don't know how many people you've been fishing against but consistently ending up in 4th place sounds pretty darn good to me!

Don't poke the bear Nev! Just kidding, of course I want to see giant bass.

Sounds like an awesome day, those smallies look glorious. Way to go!

Alright Jitterbug, I have fish number 5. I seem to be stuck on 15 inch fish lately... Time to start culling! This thing could be 14 3/4"- I forget how precise we are supposed to be. Call it whatever you think is fair, she won't be in the livewell long!

Got a few smallmouth this weekend. Like last week, I didn't get a bite until the wind picked up and then they started hitting my jerkbait. I didn't get any big ones, but even with the small ones it's awesome when they knock slack in your line or load your rod up when they hit. Had a couple treble hooks get straightened out... Smallmouth rock. Got one largemouth on a jig, watched it swim right out of the roots of a stump and take it. Way to go everyone, happy bassin'.

I will certainly be out this weekend. I'm trying to find a place to keep my boat up here in VT, it's killing me to have it fixed and just sitting in NH. For now though I'm fishing from shore at a few places around Burlington. Jerkbaits, squarebills, and jigs have been most productive fore me so far. Good luck this weekend guys, looking forward to some pictures come Sunday night!

One more from this afternoon. It was 15 inches, didn't notice the glare on the tape when I took the picture. If you would like to count it, it would get me 15 inches closer to losing to Maine!