Bassmaster lake Champlain

[Pogues2300]

I personally have more fun watching tournaments where multiple techniques are in play. Curious what the people who watch tournaments think. I really like the one or two they do a year where both largemouth and smallmouth are in play and kinda make it more a chess match. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Thought this place was a big fish factory, they've caught like half dozen to dozen fish around the 5lb mark.   Big fish is like 5.4.

 

They put these northern swing events during the dog days of summer for a reason, what else you gonna watch? ?

 

The best events are on true big LGM factories imho.  The Toledo Bend Open this year was fire, and yet it wasn't even covered except weigh in.    

[TOXIC]

They keep north in the summer because of the smallmouth and largemouth spawn and the possibilities of bigger bags.  I’ve fished Champlain and it’s a great fishery, I saw the day 1 totals and it was a majority of smallmouth weighed in.  Up north the smallmouth grow bigger and the largemouth are “normally” on the smaller side.  It’s more the opposite in the southern impoundments.  There’s always exceptions.  Factor in where each species is found and the time of year when the bigger smallmouth are catchable and that’s why they target them.  If when we go to St Clair at the end of May, we want to catch largemouth, we can go to the canals and thick weed beds and catch fish all day.  Traditionally they will be smaller than the smallies with an occasional ditch pickle thrown in. 

[TnRiver46]

Seth fieder catches a bunch of largemouth on Champlain in the same marina every year, including this tournament. I think he got a 6 lb in there one year. 
 

there have been many techniques as well, topwater and jerkbait mixed in. It’s just that the top 10 are all doing mostly the same thing. Justin Atkins is using an underspin 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

The commentators are realizing how awkward and hard to watch this is, they've been talking about in straight for 3 hours lol.   

 

The genie is out of the bottle, if SM are involved, scopes are going to win outside of spawning event like Cayuga.   BASS should hold these northern events during the spawn, hold the southern events in the winter.....best of both worlds.  Monsters in the South, exciting viewing in the North.   

[5by3]

I prefer to watch the largemouth tournaments where multiple techniques are in play. Champlain has been OK with a few guys targeting largemouth. St. Lawrence for me is a snoozefest with everyone doing the same livescope deal.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Imagine making the 10 cut and having Mercer emcee you onto the stage for the final 10 showdown.   

 

He's the greatest, and I can't wait until he does that in about an hour.

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, 5by3 said:

I prefer to watch the largemouth tournaments where multiple techniques are in play. Champlain has been OK with a few guys targeting largemouth. St. Lawrence for me is a snoozefest with everyone doing the same livescope deal.

Zaldain got a top 10, seems like it might’ve even been third place, on st Lawrence with a chatterbait and hair jig very shallow last year. I think it was earlier in the year 

[12poundbass]

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Imagine making the 10 cut and having Mercer emcee you onto the stage for the final 10 showdown.   

 

He's the greatest, and I can't wait until he does that in about an hour.

Hmmm, I wonder what he will say? ?

[TnRiver46]

Zaldain got 28th with a flutter spoon 

[gim]

7 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

The genie is out of the bottle, if SM are involved, scopes are going to win outside of spawning event like Cayuga.   BASS should hold these northern events during the spawn, hold the southern events in the winter.....best of both worlds.  Monsters in the South, exciting viewing in the North

I am in agreement with this. All the southern events are before summer, then the northern swing occurs and it’s mostly a video game strategy with a drop shot. It’s bush league.

 

I fish smallmouth in the spring here to purposefully avoid fishing like they do in midsummer. Other presentations are in play. The fish are in shallow water. I catch fish on a variety of moving lures and bottom contact.

 

I think part of the reason they always schedule it like this is because it’s ungodly hot down south beyond about May. They can’t have guys fishing for days in 110 degree heat in July. The temps are usually pretty comfortable in the north during summer.

[TnRiver46]

Walters is getting them on the jerkbait already this morning 

[TnRiver46]

Cody Huff said his trolling motor battery went to sleep…..

[AlabamaSpothunter]

14 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Cody Huff said his trolling motor battery went to sleep…..

You realize how true BOAT....bust out another thousand rings true when you watch these events.   

I'm always stupefied by the amount of top shelf, basically brand new gear breaks for these guys during a day.    They are no different than us.......something always is breaking ?

7 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Walters is getting them on the jerkbait already this morning 

If Bass fishing had a 5 tool superstar type player category, Walters would be in it.  

 

I'd say he's easily a top 10 angler in the world regardless of where he's fishing.  Most importantly he has the mental approach for the game it seems.  He's a super positive person without having to say he is like so many say they are.  

[Texas Flood]

Fujita!!!

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Never gets old seeing these guys achieve their ultimate dreams!    Makes me almost tear up, I can't imagine that feeling.   

 

Fujita is incredible, hopefully he learns how to fish down South a bit better which I'm sure he will.  

 

BASS HAS TO GET A JAPANESE TRANSLATOR!   It's 2023, come on!  

[gim]

7 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

BASS HAS TO GET A JAPANESE TRANSLATOR! 

 

[TOXIC]

Quote

BASS HAS TO GET A JAPANESE TRANSLATOR!   It's 2023, come on

Funny story, when I lived in Florida and had Yusuke Miyazaki stay with me when he fished the Elites I got a crash course in Japanese.  His English was pretty good.  When I moved back to Virginia, I stored his boat for 3 months while he went back to Japan to guide.  We got to meet his wife and 3 kids.  They all stayed with us.  His wife spoke very good English.  Both of them only spoke Japanese to the children.  When I asked why he said that he wanted them taught English by American teachers so they learned proper English.  

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Never gets old seeing these guys achieve their ultimate dreams!    Makes me almost tear up, I can't imagine that feeling.   

 

Fujita is incredible, hopefully he learns how to fish down South a bit better which I'm sure he will.  

 

BASS HAS TO GET A JAPANESE TRANSLATOR!   It's 2023, come on!  

He almost won at lake Murray, SC didn’t he? 

[detroit1]

Yeah, catching 4 & 5 lb smallmouth on a dropshot in 20+ feet of water really sux....

[AlabamaSpothunter]

7 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

He almost won at lake Murray, SC didn’t he? 

2nd and 3rd at Lake Murray and Lake Seminole.   Seminole was dominated by the scope, but his finish at Murray was pretty unique so I'll give him that.

 

Basically what I mean is he needs to learn how to fish like Jon Cox, Seth Fieder, and similar guys who can just go up shallow and power fish without electronics.    

 

He'll continue to dominate events that FFS ones, but I think he'll run into places he can't always scope his way into a solid finish.    

Just now, detroit1 said:

Yeah, catching 4 & 5 lb smallmouth on a dropshot in 20+ feet of water really sux....

There were like a handful of 5lb fish weighed in over 4 days.     Very, very few.  

 

[TnRiver46]

14 minutes ago, detroit1 said:

Yeah, catching 4 & 5 lb smallmouth on a dropshot in 20+ feet of water really sux....

? yeah….. what a drag…….. don’t throw me in the briar patch. Glad I was setting mouse traps in a 120 degree attic instead today 

[T-Billy]

3 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

They are no different than us.......something always is breaking ?

Yep... Usually it's their fluorocarbon. ?

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

Yep... Usually it's their fluorocarbon. ?

I saw that happen a couple times! 

[Hogs_n_Logs]

18 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

2nd and 3rd at Lake Murray and Lake Seminole.   Seminole was dominated by the scope, but his finish at Murray was pretty unique so I'll give him that.

 

Basically what I mean is he needs to learn how to fish like Jon Cox, Seth Fieder, and similar guys who can just go up shallow and power fish without electronics.    

 

He'll continue to dominate events that FFS ones, but I think he'll run into places he can't always scope his way into a solid finish.    

There were like a handful of 5lb fish weighed in over 4 days.     Very, very few.  

 

 

 

Fujita can fish just fine shallow without livescope, in fact thats what he grew up doing, off the bank  and hes won major bank fishing tournaments(which are a big deal over there) against guys like Taku and bank fishing specialists. An area he is likely relatively inexperienced in is grass lakes, with the notable exception of Lake Biwa there are very few bass waters in Japan with a significant amount of submergent vegetation to the level were it becomes a pattern-able factor. 

 

If we look at his year, his only really bad finishes were Okachobee and Santee Cooper. There is nothing like Okachobee in Japan, I think he just got stumped there. I have no idea what Santee Cooper is like. 

 

In any case, Fujita is obviously exceptional at FFS, but hes not really known as a FFS specialist in Japan. He is ability to deduce conditions, pick the right pattern, then execute it with efficiency is why he dominated. He has won every which way in Japan and I think he'll show he can do it in the US too once he gets more TOW.